Art therapy for Children

Children and adolescents need to express their feelings, to be heard without interruption, and to try to understand the sometimes confusing world. They need to find a balance between tension and relaxation, sadness and happiness, confidence and humility. Often children need help in understanding why and how things have happened. They often need guidance and support in growing up.

Art therapy provides the time and space to give appropriate emotional support when parents and carers are unable to do so. Even the ‘best’ parent cannot always be the 'best' therapist for the child.

Most children enjoy painting and drawing in a relaxed atmosphere, where there is no competition or expectation to produce a ‘pretty picture’. In this environment children can talk spontaneously about their lives and can benefit from having their own special and private place to do this.

Adolescents often need extra help over difficult periods or crises. Sadly parents can be the last people adolescents feel they can confide in, and the search for role models continues in society at large.

Art therapy provides a neutral space to explore emotional, physical and social development.

Additionally where there is a specific learning difficulty e.g.. Dyslexia, ADHD health problems there can be associated problems of low self-esteem which can be remediated through art therapy.
Hephzibah Kaplan initially trained in Special Needs Education and has a particular interest in the autistic spectrum disorders.

As adults, we tend to forget that seemingly small problems (or one’s that we have overcome) can appear to be very big problems for children.

*Being abandoned by friends
*Being bullied
*A teacher being nasty
*Anxiety about exams
*A new sibling in the family
*A pet dying
*A family argument
*Fear of the dark
*Wetting the bed

Moreover many children will feel the impact of:

*Parental divorce or separation
*A family bereavement
*Long-term illness
*Emotional, physical or sexual abuse

What happens when you come to Art Therapy?

You and your child will initially be invited to an assessment session. I will spend 45-50 minutes with your child painting and drawing and then we can spend 10-15 minutes together reviewing the session.

Short Case History:

Dina (pseudonym), age 6 was referred for art therapy with emotional behavioural problems, most likely exacerbated by a difficult parental separation. Dina felt that she was being manipulated by both parents and became very confused, and soon became a victim of school bullying.

Dina spent a lot of time in the art therapy sessions painting an idealised vision of an external world in which we would all be celebrating birthday parties every week. As she learnt to trust the art therapy process, Dina would disclose to me about the mess and confused state of her inner world.

In parallel her mother sent me this (edited) note: "By the time she was about 3 years old, (Dina) seemed to have developed a phobia for buttons where she would refuse to wear any clothes with buttons, and would not let me wear buttons either. In fact still today, if I, or my sister or my parents, wear clothes with buttons (Dina) will absolutely refuse to come near us till we have changed out of these clothes."

"Dina wears her paper shirt with different buttons."

Dina occasionally mentioned the button phobia, but very sparsely and without a clear understanding of its source. As Dina grew in confidence, I was able to start introducing button conversations as well as real buttons into the art therapy. We started by making paper buttons that we sewed onto a paper shirt. Dina loved this exercise and wanted to repeat it often. Then I brought in a selection of real buttons which we sewed onto her clothes. And finally we sewed letter buttons spelling her name onto her spare school shirt.

Towards the end of our therapy, Dina¹s mother sent me the following note: "I wanted to let you know that following today's session (Dina) has been really buoyant and happy and significantly more confident. After last week's session it was like I was taking home a different child to the one I brought in to see you, in that she was really happy and seemed to be quite relieved
- I guess it must have been quite a release for her to be able to speak freely to an independent adult who was interested in her and listening without judgment. After today's session, (Dina) was really happy and relaxed in herself. This is really encouraging for me to see. (Dina) has always enjoyed painting/drawing/colouring, and this is why I chose Art Therapy as a medium of healing for her."

Regular Sessions

If it is felt that your child could benefit from art therapy you will be invited to make a short-term commitment. Short-term interventions are preferred - approximately 6-12 sessions, though occasionally medium to long-term work is required. This will be reviewed on a regular basis.

You do not need a referral to make an appointment, Hephzibah Kaplan will coordinate with other professionals, eg school teachers, the medical profession and educational psychologists and will write full reports, where appropriate.

If you would like to make an initial appointment or discuss how art therapy may benefit your child, Please contact us here.