What Is Art Psychotherapy?

A regulated form of psychotherapy in which images, materials and the creative process can become part of the therapeutic relationship.

Art Psychotherapy offers a way of approaching experience through both image and language. It can be particularly valuable when something is difficult to explain, but its purpose is not simply to compensate for a lack of words.

Making an image can bring us into contact with experience differently. Something may become visible before it is fully understood, or take a form that could not have been planned in advance. The image then becomes part of the therapy: something we can encounter together without needing to reduce it immediately to a single explanation.

I offer online Art Psychotherapy to adults across the UK. Our work may take place through conversation, image-making, or a movement between the two, depending on what feels most helpful and appropriate. There is no expectation that you use art materials, and no artistic experience is required.

This page looks more closely at how image-making can enter the therapeutic process, what happens around the artwork within a session, and how Art Psychotherapy differs from the many broader uses of the term.

You can also visit the Psychotherapy Welcome Page for an overview of my approach and practical information about beginning therapy.

Art Psychotherapy is a regulated profession

Art Psychotherapy is an established and regulated form of psychotherapy. In the UK, the titles Art Psychotherapist and Art Therapist are protected by law. A practitioner using either title must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.

HCPC registration requires practitioners to meet professional standards relating to competence, conduct and ethical practice. Qualified Art Psychotherapists undertake postgraduate clinical training and remain responsible for continuing professional development throughout their careers.

I am registered with the HCPC as an Art Psychotherapist and undertake regular clinical supervision with an experienced psychotherapist.

You may have encountered the term 'art therapy' used more generally in connection with creative workshops, wellbeing activities or the therapeutic benefits of making art. Such experiences may be valuable, but they are not necessarily the regulated profession described on this page.

I generally use the term Art Psychotherapy because it makes clear that this is a form of psychotherapy. Art Therapy is an equally recognised professional title in the UK and refers to the same regulated profession.

More than an alternative to words

Art Psychotherapy is sometimes described as therapy for people who find it difficult to express themselves verbally. It can indeed offer an important form of communication for children or adults who do not use spoken language, as well as for those whose experience feels difficult to put into words. However, this is only one aspect of what the work can offer.

Images have their own qualities and forms of intelligence. They can hold contradiction without forcing an immediate resolution, and may bring together aspects of experience that the conscious mind has kept separate.

Colour, form and material can also affect us directly. The pressure of a mark, the resistance of a material or the appearance of an unexpected image may carry psychological significance before we know what to say about it.

The purpose is not to decode the artwork or assign it a fixed symbolic meaning. We remain curious about what has appeared, how you experience it and what relationships gradually become visible.

How does Art Psychotherapy work in practice?

A session may begin through conversation, image-making, or simply by attending to what feels most present.

You may arrive with something particular that you want to explore. On another occasion, you may feel uncertain about where to begin. We can remain with that uncertainty rather than needing to fill it immediately.

When art materials are used, I do not judge the artwork according to artistic skill or conventional ideas of success. Nor do I interpret an image from a predetermined dictionary of symbols.

We may notice what it was like to make the image, what draws or resists your attention, and whether it changes as we spend time with it. Meaning may arise through your own associations, through our conversation, or through the continuing presence of the image across several sessions.

The artwork is therefore neither a test nor merely an illustration of something already known. It can become an active presence within the therapeutic relationship.

The image within the therapeutic relationship

Art Psychotherapy is not simply an individual making an image while a therapist observes. The work develops within a relationship between client, therapist and image.

An image can sometimes allow something to be approached indirectly before it can be spoken about more openly. It may create a degree of distance from an overwhelming experience, while also making that experience more available for reflection.

At other times, the image may intensify an encounter. Something unfamiliar, affecting or difficult to dismiss may have entered the room. We can take time to notice what it asks of us without assuming that it must be understood straight away.

The therapist’s role is not to take possession of the image’s meaning. I accompany you in developing a relationship with what has appeared and in considering how it belongs within the wider movement of the therapy.

Do I need to be good at art?

No artistic experience or ability is required.

It is common to feel hesitant about using art materials. You may worry about doing it incorrectly, producing something childish or being judged. These responses can be acknowledged without placing pressure on you to overcome them.

Sometimes the hesitation itself tells us something about the place of creativity, exposure or self-judgement within your life. At other times, it may simply mean that image-making is not what you need in that session.

You remain free to decide whether you use art materials. The possibility is available, but it is not imposed.

For some clients, image-making remains occasional. For others, it gradually becomes an important part of the therapy. Both are valid ways of working.

What can happen through image making?

When we make an image, we do not always know in advance what we are making. The process may begin with a feeling, a colour or a physical impulse rather than a clear intention.

This can allow forms of experience to emerge that have not yet been organised into a familiar story. An image may reveal an unexpected relationship, give form to an absence or bring us close to something that has remained beyond conscious attention.

The artwork may also resist understanding. It can remain ambiguous, continue to change in significance or return to mind long after the session in which it was made.

This uncertainty is not a failure of the process. Images can carry more than one meaning and may continue to unfold alongside the person who created them.

Creativity, imagination and psychological life

Creativity within Art Psychotherapy is not limited to artistic production. It concerns the capacity to respond to life rather than only repeat what is already known.

Imagination can open a space between present circumstances and what may become possible. It can help us experience the world differently, encounter neglected parts of ourselves and give form to ways of living that have not yet fully emerged.

Art Psychotherapy does not treat creativity merely as a technique for producing insight. The creative act may itself become meaningful: a way of participating more fully in psychological life and discovering a different relationship with uncertainty.

My approach to Art Psychotherapy

My approach is informed by depth psychology, with particular influence from Jungian and psychodynamic traditions. I am also attentive to spiritual experience and to dimensions of life that may feel larger than the individual self, as well as to our relationship with the natural world.

This means that images are approached with seriousness, but not subjected to rigid interpretation. They may connect with personal memory and relationship, while also opening towards cultural, spiritual or imaginal dimensions of experience.

I am interested in what the image means to you, but also in how it exists beyond immediate explanation. Sometimes its importance lies in what can be said about it. At other times, its continuing mystery may be part of what gives it life.

My own visual art practice also informs my respect for materials and for the autonomy of the image. My artwork and clinical practice remain distinct, but both involve sustained attention to how images arise and how they affect us.

Is Art Psychotherapy right for me?

You may be drawn to Art Psychotherapy because words sometimes feel insufficient, or because creativity already holds an important place within your life.

You may also be interested in a form of psychotherapy that takes imagination and symbolic experience seriously, even if you do not currently think of yourself as creative.

Art Psychotherapy may not suit everyone, and there is no expectation that you decide in advance how prominently image-making should feature. An initial consultation gives us an opportunity to consider what brings you to therapy and whether my approach feels appropriate.

Taking the next step

I currently have availability for new clients.

If you would like to explore whether we might work together, you are welcome to contact me to arrange an initial consultation using the form below, or email me directly at APhillipsPsychotherapy@gmail.com.

It is helpful to include a brief outline of what has led you to consider therapy and what you hope to explore or change. There is no need to include sensitive or highly personal details in your first message.

A full overview of my therapy practice can be found on the Welcome Page.

I usually respond to enquiries within 48 hours unless I am away from the practice.
If you do not see my reply, please check your spam folder and contact me again if necessary.