WHY CREATIVE THERAPIES?

Using the arts as therapeutic medium is a transformative experience that reaches participants in a way that broadens and deepens the journey of self-discovery. Using techniques native to drama, dance, and many other creative arts, participants are able to build awareness of the connection between emotions and the body.

 

Through creative arts therapies, people can take on roles in a way that benefits self-concept and expands world view. Because the arts utilize a range of dramatic play, written expression, dance and movement, and studio art exercises, creative art therapies are uniquely suited to the needs of a diverse audience. As active and experiential forms of therapy, the creative art offer a forum to put into action the goals, stories, and feelings standard to most therapeutic models.

 

The creative therapies provide a working process for at least the following three integral relationships. “These are, ‘the whole person’,  the person as the individual or self, the person and the whole, a creative ongoing developmental process,  and the therapeutic processes of the client and the therapist-in-role” (Brogden 2017). The inherently playful atmosphere and safety of the creative space allows participants to go deeper into their self-exploration as compared to other approaches, and practice in vivo the tools developed through that exploration. The creative arts are ideal therapeutic and educational modalities which can be used in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational and forensic settings, and in nursing homes, day care centers, disease prevention, health promotion programs and in private practice. They are effective for individuals with developmental, medical, social, physical and psychological impairments.

 

The Creative Therapies Center (CTC) is pleased to present an array of support groups, community workshops, and professional development classes to bring these valuable techniques further into the therapeutic conversation.