Art therapy

Art psychotherapy is a part of Community CAMHS.

What is art psychotherapy?

Disruptive or challenging behaviour, self-harm, anxiety, low mood or becoming withdrawn and isolated can all be signs that a child or young person is feeling unhappy, angry, or worried.

Art psychotherapy can help children and young people discover better ways to express their feelings. Drawing, painting, and making things in art psychotherapy can be a safe way for children and young people to begin to show how they feel.

How will art psychotherapy help me?

The art psychotherapy room has many different art materials which can be used to explore ideas and feelings that are not easily put into words.

Art psychotherapists can help children and young people to understand their artwork and begin to make sense of difficult feelings, thoughts, and experiences.

What will happen when I start?

To begin with your child or teenager will be offered a short number of weekly sessions, usually between 4 and 6, as a period of assessment.

This allows time for the therapist and your child or young person to find out whether art psychotherapy is going to be helpful at this time and to start to think about goals for therapy.

If we agree to more sessions, the art psychotherapist will arrange blocks of sessions with regular review meetings for you to join your child to review their goals and discuss progress in therapy.

Each session usually lasts an hour, and the length of treatment is dependent on individual need. This will be discussed regularly with you at review meetings.

What will happen to the artwork?

Your child’s artwork is stored in the art psychotherapy room during therapy. At the end of therapy your child can decide which pieces of artwork they would like to take home.

If you have any questions about art psychotherapy, please do call CAMHS and ask to speak to one of the art psychotherapists.