WHAT WE DO
At Developing Minds
We offer a specific method of psychotherapy that uses art to act as a bridge between the young persons unconscious thoughts and their hidden relationship with the image they create. This form of therapy helps children and adolescents to find patterns in their emotions, thoughts and beliefs to gain insight into their current self. Our focus is to promote healthy psychological development so the young person can flourish in all areas of their lives while offering support to parents/guardians.
Child Art Psychotherapy can help with the following...
Developing self-awareness/personal insight; improving sense of self and self-identification and resolving inner conflicts. Promotes resilience; improving coping skills, encouraging self-expression and maintaining healthy psycho-social functioning. Supporting neuro-psychological growth, improving self-confidence and self-esteem and emotional self-regulation.
SPECIALIST AREAS
FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION
CHILD ART PSYCHOTHERAPY CAN HELP YOUNG PEOPLE ADOPTED OR IN FOSTER CARE TO
SHAPE A SECURE ATTACHMENT
BUILD A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS THEY ARE NAVIGATING
MINIMISE CONFLICT AND REDUCE THE RISK OF FOSTER PLACEMENT BREAKDOWN
MENTAL HEALTH DIFFICULTIES
TRAUMA
ATTACHMENT DEFICITS
SELECTIVE MUTISM
ADHD
DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY DISORDERS
SEPARATION AND LOSS
RESEARCH AND ART PSYCHOTHERAPY
Recent developments in neuroscience show that traumatic memories are stored in the right hemisphere of the brain, making verbal declarative memory of trauma more difficult, therefore non-verbal expressive therapy can be more effective than verbal therapies when working with children exhibiting attachment difficulties. Also, traumatic experiences can be expressed safely via artwork, thus containing anxiety to a tolerable level. Treatment, which relies heavily on art therapy, is a feasible treatment for posttraumatic disorders.
Reference: Klorer, P. G., 2001. Expressive Therapy with severely maltreated children: neuroscience contributions, pp. 213-220
Children will express themselves much more authentically through a drawing, this expressive technique is the way the child knows the world. The image created is of things that happened in their lives, that is still with them, art is the child's language.
Violet Oaklander