C R E A T I N G | S P A C E
Personal and Professional Development Group
Using the Arts in Therapy
" It is important to have experienced personally that which you wish to adopt professionally. When you have experienced this process to be healing for yourself, you are ready to take the next step: using the arts to aid others in expressing themselves."
Natalie Rogers, The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing
This is a group for student, newly qualified and experienced counsellors who are interested in incorporating creative expression into their practice. The sessions will enable you to experience using a variety of creative media in your own self development, with a supportive group of like-minded professionals, so that you are then able to safely offer these resources to your clients. There is also the possibility that the group evolves into a creative supervision group.
I charge £40 for a 2 hour monthly workshop. All materials are provided and you will leave with experiences that you can share and a whole toolbox of resources.
Limited spaces available as we work in small groups of 4 max.
If you already have a trusted group of people who you would like to do this work with, I would encourage you to approach me as a fully formed group.
Some of the many resources we will explore and how they may be used therapeutically:
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cards (I have many different cards and these are often a good place to start your creative work)
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shape, line and colour, drawing, doodling
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clay modelling
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sand tray and miniatures
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lego building and games
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therapeutic stories, using fairy tales, 6 part story method, poetry
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music, sound making and rhythm
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collage, natural objects and working outside
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bilateral movement and dance
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mapping the nervous system creatively, working with sensations - Polyvagal informed
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the mind body connection, somatic attachment, the felt sense and inner relationship focusing.
"Creativity is not the possession
of some special talent.
It's about the willingness to play."
-John Cleese
Group member - Person Centred Counsellor in Private Practice and Counselling Tutor
As counsellors we are advised to engage in personal development activities to grow our core condition skills and to maintain our well-being. I personally love this aspect of the job, however I found it difficult to find quality and fulfilling PD activities. Then, I accidentally met Dawn and I was instantly attracted to her way of creative thinking and sound understanding of what the therapeutic work entails. On top of feeling nurtured personally, I have grown in confidence as a counsellor and feel much more relaxed (congruent) in my sessions with clients. I love trusting my playfulness and I am amazed how deep a creative activity can reach, without feeling overwhelmed by the depth. Dawn has great capacity to hold space for my explorations and I feel an increasing openness and curiosity towards my processing. As a result of our PD group sessions I’ve made my own therapy cards, started offering art and creative materials (pens, paints, sandtray, stickers, clay, storytelling etc.) to my clients, which they seem to love and get a lot out of our sessions. I warm-heartedly recommend Dawn’s creative PD group to any aspiring or established counsellor who wish to look after their practice by enhancing their core condition skills in a nurturing space.
