Drawing and Talking Therapy (Art Therapy)

What is Drawing and Talking Therapy?

It is a child-centred therapy focusing on prevention, early intervention and recovery. The therapy is a gentle, non-intrusive method of working with children who need a little help to support their emotional and learning needs. It supports children who have suffered trauma or who have underlying emotional difficulties. It also supports children are do not realise their full potential, either academically or socially.

How often will Drawing and Talking Therapy take place?

A trained adult, from the school staff will work with the child for one 30 minute session every week for twelve weeks. If we feel the child would benefit from some further sessions we will continue this for a few more weeks to make sure the child gets the best from the therapy. Our trained Drawing and Talking therapists are Emma Sutton, Tracey Dewar, Gen Bryden and Jennie Frost. 

What happens in the sessions?

The purpose of Drawing and Talking Therapy is to encourage the children to draw with a person they feel comfortable with at the same time each week. The trusted adult will ask a number of non-intrusive questions about the drawing and over time the child will open up and discuss the picture and talk about their feelings. It is important that the child sets the pace and decides what to bring to the session. The adult will only discuss what the child wants to discuss. Once a child feels safe, their imagination does begin to unfold. However there are cases where the child does not want to engage, we do keep trying however if the child feels it is not right we will cease the therapy and look at alternative support.

What do the children think of Drawing and Talking Therapy?

The children have responded really well to the therapy and have really been able to describe their pictures well. They have opened up to the trusted adult and some have requested further sessions.