What is Expressive Arts Therapy and Coaching?

Expressive Arts is a discipline of helping and healing that uses art as its basis for discovery and change. What sets Expressive Arts Therapy and Coaching apart from other forms of art therapy is its use of all five disciplines of the arts: visual, dance/movement, music, drama/theater, and writing, rather than using only one modality. Clients do not need to be artists, processes are simple and no previous art background is needed. Simple low skill art making in these different areas (visual art, music, movement, writing and drama) help open the senses and access our imagination so we can find our own resources that we hold within ourselves and that our art brings to us.

The arts have been an integral part of life for humans throughout history. We painted caves and painted our faces and bodies. We danced around the fire singing and playing drums and flutes. We gathered, told stories of our day, of our ancestors, of our dreams through words or actions. Shamans used the arts to heal their communities, through the use of dreams, singing, dancing and stories. Spiritual pursuits throughout history used song, dance and visual arts as a community activity. It has been only in recent times that we as humans have become so separate from art, we began looking at art rather than creating it ourselves. Expressive Arts offers a safe place to reconnect to our art making.