Art Psychotherapy Counselling Services

Welcome

Thank you for visiting. This site is to provide you with information regarding this private art psychotherapy practice. Also included in this site you will find mental health resources, examples of art creations executed during treatment sessions, a blog to provide an on-line outlet for questions and comments regarding mental health, and when you become a registered user you will receive a monthly Newsletter from Art Psychotherapy Counselling Services. Please visit us again.

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By drawing and visually expressing their feelings, even if they can't identify or label their emotions, clients have a starting point from which they can address their issues.
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The Effective Tip Corner

Family comes first. That’s what we all hear and those are the words we all try to live by. However, sometimes we all deserve a little ME time so that we are refreshed and levelheaded enough to give our best selves to our families. Life is busy and messy and we can easily burn out if we’re not careful. Below, find a list of our favorite getaways and essential reminders for our personal wellbeing.

1. “I’m in it for the endorphin rush.” One of the best ways to clear your head and elevate your mood is through exercise. This could be as simple as a walk around the neighborhood to an hour at the gym or even an impromptu dance party after the kids are asleep (thanks to a pair of headphones. Whatever gets the blood going.

2. Get caught up in someone else’s life. At your wits end? If your kids are old enough, pop a DVD in, turn on the baby monitor in the TV room and lock yourself in the bathroom (with the other monitor to keep an ear on the activity) and finish up that last chapter of the book you’ve been dying to read.

3. Massage a la tennis balls. Don’t have time or the funds for a luxury day at the spa? Instead, buy a can of tennis balls, and, in an open space (like the living room floor) set the balls down and lay on top of them (making sure all of the balls end up directly under your back). Take a few minutes or more to roll around with the balls kneading at your back. Dim the lights, put on some soothing music, and light a candle, and you have an instant spa.

4. An Apple a Day… Let’s get serious for a second. Our families mean the world to us, but where would we be if we didn’t take care of ourselves? There is never enough time in a day, but there is enough time in a year to make sure you schedule an annual physical, dental appointment etc. There is no excuse. To remember when you had a last appointment, try to schedule it around your birthday or mother’s/father’s day. These milestone dates act as a great reminder and ensure you won’t forget next year.

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Art Therapy offers opportunities to access experiences in a controlled way.
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Art Therapy Update

The Canadian Mosaic: Art Therapy approaches from East to West
Nov. 5, 6, 7 2009

Clarion Hotel Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canadian Art Therapy Association

30th Annual Art Therapy Conference

The Canadian Mosaic is an international conference which aims to represent and share knowledge about the many diverse applications of Art Therapy in contemporary practice across Canada. Featuring an historical and developmental perspective of the field of Art Therapy within North America, the conference also endeavors to provide hands-on experiential Art Therapy workshops and similarly showcase other Creative Arts Therapies.

This conference will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from November 5-7, 2009. Canadian and international practitioners, researchers, artists, students, and allied professionals will gather to celebrate the Creative Arts Therapies in Canada and engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue and workshop experiences around the current practice of Art Therapy and Creative Arts Therapies.

Conference Contact person: Tanis Dick - tanis_art@yahoo.com

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Art allows us to explore our inner life and nourish our creativity.
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In the News

Reducing the trauma of divorce on your child

Be honest about the potential for emotional trauma on each of your kids. Some children respond to adversity by withdrawing emotionally or freezing. These quiet children may be more upset, and in greater need of help, than children whose emotional upset is obvious.

Allow your children to communicate openly. Encourage them to describe their feelings and express the sadness, fear and anger they may be experiencing. This gives you an opportunity to provide comfort and reassure them that they will be loved and continue to be cared for and safe.

Offer your children choices, whenever possible, to increase their sense of power over their lives. These can include food choices, clothing choices and other choices that don’t disrupt your routines or endanger their well-being.

Find support for yourself and your children. It takes a village to get things right. Reach out and ask for help from friends, family members, religious and secular support groups, counselors and therapists.

Provide continuity. Children need the sense of continuity provided by a certain amount of structure such as dependable meal and bed times, leisure and work times.

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Some people find it difficult to verbalize their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
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Interesting Monthly Feature

15 Ways to Discourage your Child from Drug Use

1) Eat together as a family as much as possible.

2) Have family outings weekly, monthly or annually: Something that they can look forward to.

3) Talk with your children, not to them – Always listen.

4) Don’t belittle your children in public – Praise them and/or reinforce their positive behavior.

5) Don’t solve their problems and don’t make all their decisions for them – Children need to play an active part.

6) Don’t leave the responsibility of teaching morality and spiritual training to the Schools and the Church – Be a positive Role Model.

7) Allow your child to experience: cold, fatigue, adventure, injury, risk, challenge, experimentation, failure, frustration, discouragement, etc… Children learn from their experiences.

8) Don’t threaten your child. (i.e. “If you ever try drugs, I’ll punish you.”)

9) Don’t expect your child to get “A’s” in all school subjects. Don’t expect perfection.

10) Don’t always pick up after your children. Encourage them to accept responsibility.

11) Encourage your children to talk about their feelings. (i.e. anger, sadness, fear, etc.)

12) Don’t be overprotective. Teach your child the meaning of the word ‘Consequence’.

13) Never make your child feel that their mistakes are always unacceptable or unforgivable.

14) Don’t put your child off when they ask “Why”, or tell them “Because I said so”.

15) Trust them!

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Art Therapy provides an opportunity to find insight into one's self.
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Recommended Therapeutic Resource

'1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder'

Authors - Veronica Zysk and Ellen Notbohm

A time-saver. A life-saver. Parents and professionals can now bypass countless hours spent seeking answers to the mystifying day-to-day challenges of autism. In snappy, can-do format, 1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum offers page after page of try-it-now solutions that have worked for thousands of children grappling with sensory, communication, social, behavior, self-care issues and more.

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Psychotherapy has a way of energizing, nurturing, teaching and mirroring our true selves.
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Inspirational Video