Expressive Arts Therapy: 15 Creative Activities and Techniques

However, art therapy alone isn’t enough to treat drug and alcohol addiction. Art can be therapeutic on a less formal basis, as well. The thoughts you’re having can be difficult to say out loud, and you may be unsure how to accurately depict how you’re feeling, but art therapy makes the process easier while still reaching the intended goal. Even if you’re simply creating art solo or as a small group, the healing power of art may be exactly what you need to express your own feelings. As children, we’re shown how to color and paint pictures in ways that show off our creativity.

Creative Ways to Use Art Therapy Activities with Adults

As they fill the jar with these emotion-evoking items, they’ll remember positive moments in their lives and bring up good sentiments. While addiction https://ecosoberhouse.com/ knows no bounds, it disproportionately affects certain groups of people. As baby boomers age, they’re more likely to develop an addiction.

• This process not only deepens your self-awareness but also improves your ability to convey your experiences and emotions to others, enhancing both personal and therapeutic relationships.
• It does this by providing compassionate care and evidence-based content that addresses health, treatment, and recovery.
• Use a pencil to draw a circle with a diameter that matches the size of your head.
• For example, when I was in grad school, our studio art therapy professor asked us to make a box out of cardstock that represented our memory bank.
• This residential program is like no other.

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Also in the Toolkit is Drawing Grief, an expressive arts tool that aims to help bereaved clients explore their thoughts and feelings about their loss through drawing. It can help clients clarify thoughts and feelings and forge a deeper connection to their needs, aspirations, and goals. This activity can also be continued between sessions as an adjunct to therapy then discussed during sessions. In this article, expressive arts therapist Shelley Klammer explains the wider benefits of expressive journaling. Bridge drawings make excellent art therapy directives for exploring these life transitions. They can also help clients explore what they need to get to the other side of a tough situation.

• Watercolor, in general, creates soft, beautiful pieces of color that evoke all sorts of emotions.
• Then write a short story about it.
• Then, encourage them to make marks with colors that represent their feelings and draw and paint their problems away.
• At Sabino Recovery I safely focused deep within to unleash harmful secrets and self-degradation.

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Think of all of the things in your life that have helped you in one way or another and draw them. Draw yourself as a strong warrior. art therapy for addiction Pick up a pencil or paintbrush and create an image of yourself as that strong warrior. Draw your favorite childhood memory.

Gives You a New, Healthy Hobby

• But there are some issues that are universal.
• The creative process can be used to assist clients in feeling empowered and capable.
• After adding paint to paper with lots of water, use a thin tube to blow toward the painting to create various color spots and mix the colors.
• It’s important to remind participants that this activity is not about who can draw the best and that there’s no wrong way to draw zentangles.
• Developing ways of coping with cravings, negative emotions, and addictive triggers is often critical to a client’s recovery.

Many people with SUD experience denial, and many who complete treatment are unsure regarding the work they need to do to maintain recovery. However, art can be reflective of who you are as a person. If you notice your drawings contain imagery of darkness and loneliness, this may help you realize how you feel about yourself.

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