Therapeutic Art Sessions | Rehab
If you find it hard to find the right words to express yourself then you are not alone.
When you’re suffering with an addiction, its important to treat both your physical and psychological health in order to reach long-term recovery.
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Alongside detoxification and the most traditional theory treatments, therapeutic art therapy is an important art of drug and alcohol rehab, since it helps you to build confidence in your personal self-expression.
By relearning how to express your emotions you’ll find it easier to control them in daily life. This, in turn, will help you to sustain long-term recovery.
What is Art Therapy?
You don’t have to be an artist or have any previous experience in art to undertake this form of therapy, in fact it’s quite the opposite, as you want to use the medium to explore your thoughts and feelings.
You may think that simply taking an art class may be sufficient enough, and art is considered tone extremely positive for mental health, hence the therapy, but that is not the aim of art therapy.
So, rather than teach you about art and the specific techniques, art therapy aims to:
- Provide you with a safe space in which to explore the art medium with someone that won’t judge you
- Help you make sense of your emotions and feelings
- Help resolve complicated emotions
- Find ways to manage your emotions
- Teach you how to better communicate and express yourself
Usually art therapy is provided in groups, but depending onyx needs you may also undertake art therapy individually with your therapist. Throughout the sessions you may utilise a whole range of mediums including, but not limited to:
- Colouring
- Painting
- Sculpting
- Collage
- Drawing
- Photography
- Writing
- Working with clay
What are the Benefits of Art Therapy?
When you think about therapy, your mind initially thinks about the more traditional types of theory that involve discussions, group discussions and counselling. However, art therapy provides a different way of processing emotions and analysing feelings.
Sometimes it can be hard to put into words how you feel, which is where art therapy van be an extremely useful tool in undertaking your own thoughts and emotions.
Through the power of art you can slowly untangle complex emotions and learn how to manage complicated feelings in daily life.
Since it helps with mental health, art therapy is particularly beneficial for those that have suffered emotional trauma, domestic abuse, anxiety, depression, physical violence, substance misuse or other psychological issues.
Art therapy used in conjunction with addiction treatment is something that we offer at Cassiobury Court, as we believe its hugely beneficial in helping recovering addicts to express themselves and learn how to manage emotion.
Art Therapy and Addiction Treatment
When you suffer with an addiction, due to the mental health implications, your emotions often become heighten, meaning that you become more irritable, anxious, depressed and find it harder to judge emotion on others as you become more self-conscious.
Therefore, at Cassiobury Court we provide Therapeutic Art Therapy to clients twice a week as part of their recovery programme. These sessions will give you the chance to visualise your emotions and eventually verbalise them.
There are three ways in which art therapy can be used and these include:
- Gestalt Method – using art to express yourself in the hope that this provokes deeper conversation and the ability to verbalise your emotions.
- Active Imagination – encouraged to create and use your imagination to create pieces of art, whilst the therapist asks you questions based on your work.
- Third Hand – the therapists helps to create the artwork based on your instruction, meaning you verbalise your thoughts.
Since art therapy provides a safe space to explore feelings, it works well in conjunction with more traditional therapy options, when treating addiction.
Here at Cassiobury Court, you’ll have the chance to undertake these sessions once you’ve complete dyer detox and whilst you undertake other forms of therapy.
Art combined with other Therapy
Art therapy, like a lot of therapies, works best in combination with other forms of therapy. However, to begin every patient has to undergo detoxification initially. Without a clear mind you cannot expect to reach full recovery, which is drug or alcohol detox must be completed before your theory can begin.
At Cassiobury Court your art therapy sessions will be provided in conjunction with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most common types of therapy used in addiction treatment. CBT works through the process of psychoeducation, whereby you identify the root causes of your addiction, the negative thought process and habits that fuel your addiction and then you retrain your mind, through various exercises and strategies, to develop new healthier and positive thought process and habits.
Since CBT is a a talking therapy, used in conjunction with art therapy, it unleashes the ability of self-expression and understanding, since it can help you make sense of these complex emotions and processes that you would have been unaware of.
Equally group theory sessions used in conjunction with art therapy can also prove extremely effective, since peer support is one of the strongest motivators within recovery.
At Cassiobury Court we provide the option to undertake group therapy sessions or individual therapy, to suit every need.
Long-term Recovery
Here at Cassiobury Court we provide a wide range of addiction treatments to suit every need. We understand that recovery is a personal journey and no two journeys are the same, which is why we provide personalised treatment programmes.
Their of every treatment programme is for the individual to sustain long-term recovery.
Therapeutic art therapy is a beneficial aspect of your treatment programme aimed at equipping you with self-expression, understanding of your emotions and the tools required to re-enter life outside of the centre feeling confident and in control. Therefore, helping you to sustain long-term recovery.
Raffat is the art therapist at Cassiobury Court and she is an experienced, well-qualified therapist, who has a long history working with people at Cassiobury Court. She is committed to helping you through your recovery.
Sources
https://www.baat.org/About-Art-Therapy
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/arts-and-creative-therapies/about-arts-and-creative-therapies/
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-art-therapy-2795755
https://www.healthline.com/health/addiction
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897895/
