Two ways that Art therapy can help someone living with chronic illness

Choice & Imagination

I am sitting here thinking of you. Yes you! The person who has been lingering on the cusp of wanting to try therapy for a while now. The person who isn't quite sure that Art therapy can actually help.

I see you.

There are so many options out there that sometimes it's easier to sit on the wall looking at them rather than jump down and choose.  

In this blog I will share just two ways that art therapy can help anyone, but especially those living with chronic health issues.

This is my way of lending you a hand down from the wall.

So here goes. Are you ready?

Choice

Many of us with chronic health concerns have experienced a life in which choice is more limited or significantly narrowed.

Sometimes the choices we are left with may be unappealing or laced with pros and cons. 

Maybe your energy or pain levels mean that you have too many mundane choices to make on a daily basis and you feel flat and tired out by it all.

Sound familiar?

This is where Art therapy brings in a beautiful, novel array of choices for you to pick from. This isn't like any other experience you will have. It is tailored and created by you.

Picture it...

Your sessions could be a place where you get to make small, positive and creative choices. Choices that enliven and put some power back into your hands quite literally.

You get to speak about your life (if you choose to) and you get to decide what needs further attention in your art making.

Along the way you decide everything from the size, shape or colours of the pictures you create. This is done at your pace so it won't be rushed, intrusive or overwhelming.

Artistic skill isn't required, just a willingness to give it a go and let me (or your chosen art therapist) guide and accompany you.

Oh and you decide how much you want to say about your art once you make it.

We don't need to talk when the art says it better.

It's your choice.

When combined these seemingly small decisions and the freedom to make them, can build up a sense of self -determined direction in therapy that goes beyond the to and fro of speaking.

For anyone who lives with chronic health conditions this can be incredibly empowering which is no small thing.

Imagination

As anyone with chronic ill health can attest, we have great imaginations. The only problem is we sometimes use it against ourselves.

Is it any wonder when flare ups have us imagining bleak futures and any new symptom can leave us imagining the worst possible outcomes.

None of this is eased by the dreaded tests, scans, or hospital appointments.

I can imagine them all now and it definitely doesn't spark joy.

Between you and me getting your imagination working for you and sparking joy is one of my secret goals as an Art therapist.

Art helps with this in little steps.

Maybe you begin by imagining how colours could blend.

Or you experiment with how a piece of clay could be shaped to convey your feelings.

You could imagine a difficulty you are facing, create art about it, then imagine a pathway through or beyond it.

I know that your imagination can transport you.

It can give you a break,

it can offer solutions or new perspectives

and

it can give you breathing room.

How freeing is that!

You could use your art to imagine and amplify your strengths or bolster your sense of safety and resilience. Whatever you need on that day.

As if this weren't already enough there is more.

If you'd like and only when you are ready...

you could shine a light on those darker imaginings that you keep to yourself. We all have them so don't worry.

You probably realise that if kept in your imagination these fears can grow wings and spoil a perfectly good day or week.

But

if drawn out into the light of day,

in a picture,

framed by a page,

we might see them for what they really are...

pictures and stories imagined in our heads.

Let's imagine better stories.

It starts with you making a choice to begin therapy.

I hope this has helped you envisage what art therapy could do for you.

Please reach out with any thoughts or questions. I'd be so happy to help.