Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive Arts Therapy is a psychotherapeutic model that employs the arts (music, drama, poetry, dance, visual and tactile arts) to promote awareness, change, and recovery through the act of creating. By creating images, sound and/or movement, clients can open pathways from their inner beings to their outer world, allowing real insights and resources to emerge. The client becomes an active participant in bringing about desired life changes and wellbeing as a result of his or her own experiences rather than as an observer or receiver of outside information.
EXAT does not rely solely on conversation, avoids interpretation of the work and offers no opinion about artistic skill or quality of the end product, so EXAT therapists are less likely to be perceived by clients as judgmental, invasive, threatening or intimidating. One of the most attractive aspects of the EXAT approach is the fact that the images (a collective term for all forms of artistic presentation utilized) are not used as diagnostic or analytic tools.
EXAT is based upon relationships - the client and their images, the
materials, and their community (i.e. family, cultural background,
social positioning) and most importantly, between the client and the
therapist.
For more information, please visit our EXAT therapist's website at www.insight-out.ca.