ArtTherapy4All - Blog

Art therapy group to support homeless women in London

17/9/2019

We are delighted to announce that ArtTherapy4All have received Lottery Community funding to continue our work in a centre for homeless and rough sleeping women in London for another year.
Art therapy can help homeless people through:
• Building self-esteem and reducing isolation
• Encouraging creativity and self-expression
• Exploring alternative approaches to communication
• Providing support and encouraging others
The group is a weekly open studio group and helps women to connect with others in a safe and confidential setting. The group offers a space where women can work through feelings and life experiences through the available art materials such as paint, pastels, collage material and clay.

Exploring dreams with art therapy in Freud's garden

3/9/2019

Garden of Dreams
Sigmund Freud’s garden in the glorious sunshine was the perfect setting for our 'Egyptian Dreambook' themed workshop, exploring the unconscious.
Participants in our workshop were invited to explore their innermost thoughts by translating the contents of their dreams into their own dream book using an array of art materials.
The books produced took many shapes and forms other than a regular book – horizontal, vertical, concertinaed and even shaped from clay.

The 'royal road to the unconscious'
Freud considered dreams to be the “royal road to the unconscious”. Dreams perform important functions for the unconscious mind and serve as valuable clues to how the unconscious mind operates.
Facilitated by Art therapist, Melanie Stevenson, the workshop took place in the garden of the Freud Museum in Hampstead.
The theme was based on Egyptian Dream Books, to coincide with the museum’s current exhibition Between Oedipus and the Sphinx: Freud and Egypt.
Melanie was assisted by Board Member, Jacqui Temple and Art Therapist Irene Whitehead.
Look out for details of Art Therapy4all's next workshop coming up soon.

Creating a group artwork with older adults living with Dementia

12/8/2019

Art Therapy is not just an activity, its a way of helping
to stimulate and preserve mental capacity along with maintaining dexterity to improve quality of life. Art Therapy4all offer weekly groups for older adults living with Dementia.
In this activity, group members were invited to draw an outline of their hand and then decorate it in a way that expressed something about themselves... using paints, pastels or any medium of their choice.
Art therapist, Fi Grainger explains:
"I then photocopied their artwork, before cutting each one out and and pasting together to form the petals of flowers in a vase. I added some sheet music as a background to reflect the fact that this group also enjoys singing together during our art therapy sessions."

Please note: Names have been blurred out to maintain confidentiality.

Top 5 reasons why art therapy can help support people living with dementia

4/7/2019

At Art Therapy4all we are promoting the benefits art therapy through our 'Beyond Words Project' as a way to help people living with Dementia cope better with adjusting to life changes. Art therapy can:

1. Build self-confidence through creativity
2. Encourage expression of emotions
3. Help distract the mind from pain and discomfort
4. Achieve a sense of freedom and self awareness
5. Enable adjustment to changing self image

We offer weekly art therapy groups for older adults though our Beyond Words project.

'Beyond Words' Project Outline

Care homes and day centres across London are offered the opportunity to participate in the scheme which provides weekly art therapy groups for older adults for 3 terms.
The first term is offered for free. For the second and third terms the care homes are asked to contribute towards the cost.
Each group is facilitated by a trained art therapist, alongside a volunteer support worker.
Weekly groups offer participants the chance to engage in art-making, alongside group discussions which encourage reminiscence and sharing of stories.
Therapists are also able to offer therapeutic support for those with issues such as anxiety and depression.
The therapists and volunteers receive training and supervision to support them throughout the project.
Therapists provide the care home staff with weekly reports on each participant’s level of engagement and feedback on how they are doing/causes for concern.

Find out more about our Beyond Words Project. Providing Art Therapy groups for Older Adults in London. In partnership with Alzheimer's Society Dementia-friendly communities.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10 weeks FREE art therapy when you sign up for 3 terms.

‘The Secret Garden’

1/7/2019

Art therapist, Elaine Homer writes: This art therapy exhibit comprises a selection of the artwork created as part of the 'Beyond Words: Art therapy for Older Adults Project' and is a celebration of the end of our first term.
Artworks on show were created from imagination or by looking at flowers and paintings in the sessions and reminiscing about their visits to art galleries, gardens or their favourite artists.
The group’s influences included Chinese watercolours, Van Gogh, Kandinsky and a replica painting from Ben Uri Museum, Dora Holzandler, (pictured above) with its lively patterns and textiles.
The art in the show explores an array of colours, patterns and styles inspired by nature; evoking different emotions, the seasons and natural forms through figurative and abstract art.

Celebrating the end of term...

1/7/2019

The end of June saw some of the care homes who had participated in our 'Beyond Words: Art Therapy for older adults project' celebrating the end of their first term with a display of their artwork.

Art therapist, Helen Cooper says:
"The group evolved throughout the 10 weeks and by the end there was cooperation, thoughtfulness and encouragement demonstrated by all the group members.
One particular client always expressed gratitude at the end of each session and the artworks speak for themselves.
I am looking forward to the next 2 terms to see what magic the residents can come up with in the creative and therapeutic space of the art therapy group."

Workshop at the Freud Museum

14/6/2019

We were delighted to welcome the 14 participants who attended our workshop 'From the Unconscious to the Conscious Mind on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Hampstead this week at The Freud Museum.
The workshop encouraged people to explore their unconscious mind through a series of art therapy exercises.
Our next workshop at the Freud Museum will take place on 29th August. To book a place visit their website.

Creativity and Wellbeing Week

23/5/2019

Art Therapy4all are delighted to be taking part in this year's Creativity and Wellbeing Week - the annual event will take place from 10-16 June 2019.
Join our art therapists Mel and Cate for a workshop at the Freud Museum, along with many other interesting events, exhibitions, workshops and much more.
For full details visit: Creativity and Wellbeing Week

Health & wellbeing week for students in higher education

29/4/2019

One of our therapists, Anna Giannotti, spent a day at The London University of the Arts, running a stall to promote the benefits of art therapy as a part of health and well being week for students in higher education.
Anna says: "I feel that mental health for Higher education students should be addressed further. Whilst universities offer some counselling, Art Therapy is usually not in their agenda. On the day I approached some Uni reps, who said they received various proposals to offer art therapy from former students who became art therapists, but unfortunately they do not have rooms available for it on campus"
On our stall we set various info leaflets from BAAT, The London Art therapy Centre, and The Art therapy Agency, as well as our own. Few picked them up. About 8 students joined for some art making and a chat. At the end of the afternoon we managed to fill a board with images made by them.

Funding for Beyond Words: Art therapy for older adults 2019/20

29/3/2019

ArtTherapy4all are delighted to announce that we have been awarded generous funding to continuing our art therapy groups for older adults in 2019/20.

Our aim is to support, stimulate and enhance the lives of older people through the introduction of 8 new ‘open studio’ style art therapy groups in care homes across London.

This will offer older people the chance to develop skills and interests as well as enhance emotional wellbeing, reduce isolation and strengthen relationships in care home communities.