services
Psychotherapy / Somatic & Creative Arts Therapy
At Make Sense Creative Therapies, we integrate Acceptance & Commitment Therapy with Somatic & Creative Arts Therapy to facilitate healing and growth. Our approach is grounded in the principles of accepting what is beyond your personal control while committing to actions that enhance your life.
Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness, breathwork, and body awareness techniques are utilized to help you process and release stored trauma and stress from the body. Combined with creative arts processes, we offer a holistic therapeutic experience that addresses both the mind and body.
Art making serves as a powerful tool for uncovering behavioural patterns, connecting with your values, and expressing the unspoken. By engaging in art, you become an active participant in your therapy, contributing from your own perspective.
Art psychotherapy enables you to give form to abstract ideas, memories, or felt experiences that may be difficult to articulate verbally. The creative process can evoke deep emotions, release old patterns, and pave the way for new ways of being. As you allow your creative spirit to unfold, you intuitively unlock unconscious insights and prepare for change.
We believe that everyone possesses innate creativity and wisdom for healing and growth. Regardless of artistic talent, art making allows you to reconnect with your authentic self and explore layers of your being. By stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing expression, you tap into the joy of creativity and uncover hidden aspects of yourself.
Through a space of respect and curiosity, we guide you to explore challenging life experiences and reconnect with your inner child. Art making becomes a safe vehicle for healing, enabling you to transcend trauma and chronic stress. Our goal is to support you in growing beyond limitations and nurturing your mind, body, and soul.
Experience the transformative power of creativity and somatic processes at Make Sense Creative Therapies. Discover the unique healing experience that awaits within you.
“Creativity is a force of nature, the mainstream of imagination accessible to all.”
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing was established by Peter Levine to provide individuals, families and communities with effective tools for healing overwhelming traumatic experience. As a practitioner I am working with a response in the nervous system, not to an event as many might imagine. Clients are often surprised and challenged by the fact that their story is not centre of focus. I work with part of the story to access activation of survival energy, hence I am working with the physiology of the response to threat. The autonomic nervous system regulates all the basic functions of our bodies and it operates automatically, it is the source of our survival response. Somatic Experiencing maintains the framework that the body-mind can heal from trauma rather than being permanent. Together we will access physical sensation, imagery and motor patterns rather than focus on your cognitive and emotional processes. Healing takes place in the 'here and now' and so it is a gentle and present time way of working with overwhelming events of the past. Somatic Experiencing has a useful metaphor known as The Stream of Life Model, which represents our emotional life running like a river (thoughts, feelings and behaviours) contained within its banks (boundaries). When trauma occurs our protective 'river bank' boundary is ruptured.
“Trauma is an internal straitjacket created when a devastating moment is frozen in time.”
Sensorimotor Art Therapy
Sensorimotor Art Therapy is a body-focused and trauma informed practice which includes Guided Drawing and Work at The Clay Field. This approach is not necessarily focussed on making images as other forms of Art Therapy may be, instead the attention is applied to the client's sensate experience and encourages awareness of innate body impulses in the muscles and viscera.
Guided Drawing applies an archetypal structure and the philosophy of Jungian Depth Psychology. The client works with crayon or pastel on a large sheet of paper with eyes closed. There is a relationship between perception and expression that guides new awareness and healing.
Initiatic Art Therapy
Initiatic Art Therapy incorporates Jungian Depth Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Gestalt Therapy, Meditation and Bodywork
Couples Therapy
For relationships to be truly connected and successful, commitment to the ‘couple bubble’ is essential. You, as a couple, will receive the tools you need to understand one another more deeply and overcome the barriers that come with relationships. You can create the relationship that dreams are made of! Book a chat to discuss the benefits of working with a PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy) trained therapist, session structure and availability.
