THE SUCCESS OF ART THERAPY

By Raveena Hargun & Chloe Jones

Raveena Hargun: Why did you start art therapy?

Chloe Jones: I started art therapy at a dark time when I was grieving so many friends who had passed due to various reasons. The grief was amplified during covid as we were told to isolate ourselves and go against human nature; keep our distance from one another. The statistics of deaths were rising and we couldn’t even come together for comfort and affection.

The only thing that got me through was being able to create and paint, dedicating some of my days to zone out of responsibilities and the gruelling reality at the time. I would just draw and it was fun to enter the flow alone, but when I thought how good it would feel to be with all my friends creating, I decided I would try to make this space happen.

Mojatu helped me arrange everything, gave me the community centre hall, money for supplies, helped me promote it online, make it covid safe, and invited the CBT therapist James. I want to take a more professional route and begin my journey of becoming an Art Therapist however this community-based work now feels so rewarding and fulfilling, I will continue to do it till I can’t.

RH: What does art therapy mean to me?

CJ: Art therapy to me is about melting away the boundaries of art, letting any insecurities or fears that prevent people from creating, disappear. Encouraging people to connect with their inner child and just create for playful reasons as opposed to producing something capitalistically ‘worthy’ at the end. Teaching people the tools to express their feelings through art. I think there are many reasons why adults grow up and lose their creative touch but the level of self-criticism we develop as we age definitely prevents us from loosely creating for the fun of it.

Self-esteem and comparing our outcomes to others. I also believe adults are too scared to behave ‘’childishly’’ however in the right setting, this is so beneficial for healing and growing. Having people choose to come and dedicate an entire hour and a half to play together and engage with their feelings and express them in means like painting, drawing, talking, writing, is so rewarding.

RH: What impact does it have on the participants?

CJ: I’ve noticed during the drawing games everybody is engaged and working together, people are laughing and although there still remains a level of self-criticism and worry about the ‘’quality’’ of their drawing, they stay engaged and continue creating which is something everyone should be proud of.

James the therapist helps us consider our daily feelings and emotions and encourages us to discuss them which personally leaves me feeling a weight lifted off my shoulders.

RH: How successful do you think art therapy has been?

CJ: Successful is such an objective term. Personally, I measure my success on how it makes me feel. So far art therapy has made me feel fulfilled. It feels like an achievement after every session when I’ve got such a variety of characters, age, race, and gender, together who state they aren’t artistic, but they are laughing and creating very abstract and expressional art.

The exercises we do are transferable, are not restricted to English speakers, and can be used again in a non-group setting. They continue to come back every week. That feeling is incomparable, I’ve begun to take it further and navigate the sessions to be slightly more therapeutic, making a feelings wheel and using colour to express each feeling. Drawing with shapes and colours that represent our childhood/happiness/safe spaces. This session made me feel proud of everyone for getting involved in the activities with even less fear about the drawing as it was more to do with their feelings, meaning there is no room for error really.

The feeling is so freeing and being in the group also helps me melt away at the art block. This is the true meaning of success for me.

RH: Have you led art therapy sessions before?

CJ: Only with Mojatu, if I go to study it at university I will continue my sessions here as well. Thank you to everyone who helped make it successful.