Trauma informed art therapy

An experience of trauma at any age can leave you feeling disconnected and unsafe.

A response to trauma is generally beyond your conscious control. The response often lingers after the initial trauma event(s). You may experience some of the following signs as a result.

  • Hypervigilance / Hypersensitivity to certain situations, noises, people, areas

  • Self- destructive behaviour / Hostility

  • Mistrust

  • Inability to form lasting or meaningful relationships

  • Avoidance / Pretense / Guilt / Feeling persistently tired

  • Depression/ Fear / Anxiety / Social isolation

  • Feeling alone or that something is wrong with you

  • Flashbacks / Insomnia and/or nightmares

  • Emotional detachment or unwanted thoughts

A trauma response is mostly sub-conscious and non-verbal. It is the body’s implicit response to perceived danger and that response will differ from person to person. Whilst you cannot change what has happened, you can rebuild a feeling of trust and safety in yourself and consequently embody a sense of resillience and empowerment. As a result a lot of the symptoms mentioned above will diminish, and if they do reappear, you are better placed to understand them and be with them without consequence, free from judgement and shame.

It is possible to find ways to reconnect in a safe and productive way so that these symptoms can be understood and met without reliving the traumatic event(s).

HOW?

To counteract the underlying feeling of hypervigilance toward danger that the trauma body has established, the body needs to find a way to reconnect to calm and safety so that it can discern what is truly dangerous and not to be trusted from what is not.

A feeling of calm and safety in the body is encouraged through embodied means such as art making and trusted relationships. Trauma informed Art Therapy helps by providing both of these components. It applies a bottom up approach - focusing on easing the body first so it can then reconnect solidly with the mind. Once the body finds new ways to ground and feel safe it can move from flight or fight mode to conscious awareness which in turn supports mindful decision making and self-trust.

As a result your relationship with yourself, your wider world and others will feel less combative and more hopeful. Your ability to befriend your emotions and make choices that serve you is enhanced.

“Art therapy encourages the awareness of the implicit felt sense: It fosters the development of new neurological pathways that can bypass traumatic memories to restore wholeness and wellbeing.” Cornelia Elbrecht 2018

‘Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives’ Bessel van der Kolk