What happens in an Art Therapy Session?

Individualised and person-centred therapy

Each session is individualised, and what a session looks like greatly depends on the person in therapy, their age and what they wish to get out of therapy. A child-led session for a child with ADHD who struggles with sustained attention will need a different approach to a young adult who suffers from anxiety. However, sessions do have some similarities. Below is a general guide to show you what a session could look like:

Before the first session:

Before we officially begin therapy, I will meet up with you for a conversation about the reason you seek therapy (or seek therapy for your child), to explain a little about art therapy and what you can expect and to answer any questions you might have. You can then determine if art therapy with me is the right fit for you or your child.

Beginning of session:

Each session will begin with a check-in. Sometimes this will be with a mindful activity, sometimes it will be with psychoeducation and sometimes it will simply be a chat about the week and what has happended since last session.

Middle of the session.

This is where the art-making comes into play. Again, the kind of art we make will greatly vary, and depends on who you are and what you need to work through. I will either use a top-down or bottom-up appraoch. From experience, I have learned that children generally work best with a bottom-up approach, in which I let the child decide the materials they wish to work with as well as what they would like to make. A top-down approach can be a good choice when someone is suffering from anxiety. In a top-down model, I will give art directives - for instance: “use any materials you like to create an artwork that have positive meaning to you”. Or it can be more directive - for instance: “use pencils and coloured markers to create an artwork of a space that is peaceful to you”.

During the art-making, I will be guided by you or your child. Sometimes this time is spent quietly creating, sometimes it will involve conversation. I will sometimes create art along-side of you or your child.

No prior knowledge or art experience is nessecary to gain the benefits of creating art in sessions.

End of session.

This is when we will explore the meaning of the art you have created. Sometimes our conversation will be about the finished artwork and sometimes it will be about how it felt to create art. Sometimes this section (the discussion of the art or the process of creating art) will be embedded in the main part of the session, and we will talk about the art as it is being created. I find that this often happens when working with children. And sometimes we will not discuss the art at all.