What is art therapy?

Berkhamsted art psychotherapist Debi Magonet explains art therapy.

When words aren’t enough

Not everything we feel begins with words. Anxiety might arrive as tightness in your chest. Grief as a heavy weight. Joy as colour and movement. Our experiences are often held in the body as a jumble of sensations, shapes, textures or sounds long before we can name them.

This is where art therapy comes in.

Talking and creating

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses both talking and creativity. Of course, we can talk through your problems, which naturally we do. As trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk explains, traumatic experiences are often stored in the body beyond the reach of language.

Art therapy recognises that our thoughts, feelings and emotions aren’t linear. It opens up ways to explore at a deeper level using drawing, painting, clay, movement, sand tray, poetry, and sound, making space for what is unspoken, embodied and difficult to put into words.

You don’t need to be ‘artistic’

This isn’t about producing beautiful paintings or being good at art. There’s no requirement for training or skill. Our embodied senses and thoughts often emerge in ways that are raw, messy or uncomfortable, and that’s just as valid. The focus is on expression and meaning, not on making something ‘good’.

Who is it for?

Art therapy can support people through anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and relationship difficulties. I’m especially interested in life transitions – the moments when we feel ourselves moving from one stage to another – such as loss, illness, or times of change and uncertainty. This also includes perinatal experiences of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood.

Finding your own language

Art therapy offers a different way in; one that doesn’t require you to have all the words before you begin. Whether it’s kneading clay, moving across paper with paint, or simply sitting with what emerges, each act reflects something of your inner world at that moment.

The process creates space for what needs to be expressed, witnessed and understood. Sometimes the shifts are quiet, sometimes profound. But they’re always yours, discovered at your own pace in a safe and
confidential space.

Debi Magonet is an HCPC-registered integrative art psychotherapist practising in Berkhamsted. She offers both in-person and online sessions.