I feel like I need to introduce myself to you all over again as it’s been a year since I last posted on this blog!!

I do have something of an excuse in that I was immersing myself from head to toe in the world of arts therapy (completing the Post-graduate Diploma of Arts Therapy through Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design). Alongside full-time work, there was almost literally not a moment left to do much else. And, if truth be told, it’s taken me the three months since the end of the course to actually get back to a sense of normality!

Yes, it was incredibly rigorous and damn hard work but, without doubt, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. I gained so much experiential and academic knowledge, made life-long friends with some amazing people, and witnessed/ experienced first hand the healing capacity of art.

How can I summarise everything I got from last year into one blog post? It’s impossible of course. But, if I could suggest some of the most significant things I took away, they would include:

  • Realising that arts therapy is not just about painting. We used almost every conceivable art material – from the usual drawing and painting media, to fabric, clay, movement, sound, music, assemblage art, collage, doll making and poetry, to name a few. Nature played a big part as well, and we regularly went into nature to create and commune.

  • Learning to trust that the materials would become what they needed to become. I found it so difficult to let go the need to pre-plan what I was going to create and just allow the process of art-making to do its thing. Behind my reluctance to let go was undoubtedly a fear that others would judge my ‘childish’ looking art as rubbish which, of course, never happened!

  • Learning to be comfortable within my own body. If I’d have known that movement was such a key aspect of arts therapy, I might never have applied! But guess what, it turned out that movement became my favourite part of our rituals and ironically, the biggest cathartic moment for me came out of a movement activity.

  • Learning to trust that I wouldn’t be judged by my fellow students. It turned out that each and every one of us carried a bucket load of personal traumas and fears. When we each realised that (from day one) it allowed us all to relax and be ourselves. It turns out that there really is no ‘normal’ – we all have hurt and pain.

  • Recognising that art really can heal. I was a bit cynical of that when I started out, but witnessed and experienced enough to now know 100% that when you move away from conscious thought and let whatever is inside of you come out through your art work, remarkable shifts can happen. I managed to resolve old wounds through the simplest of arts activities.

While I’m yet to return to my art practice after completing the course, something I have been working on over the past couple of months, is developing online and local courses that combine painting with arts therapy techniques and activities. I feel there is so much to share with people, particularly those who want desperately to be creative but who are too scared (or scarred) to start. I’ll keep you updated on that too.

Meanwhile, if you’re interested in applying for the Whitecliffe arts therapy course and have any questions about the experience, do feel free to contact me. Until next time…

“HEALING ART IS BEING BORN AS WE SPEAK. THE CONCEPT IS CATCHING FIRE, IS AWAKENING IN PEOPLE’S SPIRITS…ARTISTS, MUSICIANS AND DANCERS ARE REALIZING THEIR IMAGERY HAS MEANING….THAT THEIR IMAGERY HEALS THEM, OTHERS, THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD, OR THE EARTH.”
MICHAEL SAMUELS