Art Therapy in Washington, DC

What is art therapy?

Art therapy offers ways of exploring experience that aren’t limited to words.

Sometimes there are things we understand intellectually but experience very differently emotionally. Sometimes an image, material, gesture, or process makes something more visible that has been difficult to articulate. And sometimes making something simply creates a different way to stay with an experience and become curious about it.

The art doesn’t need to be beautiful, skillful, or even recognizable. You aren’t being evaluated on artistic ability, and there is no “right” way for the artwork to look.

What might art-making add to therapy?

Words are extraordinarily useful, but they aren’t the only way people think, remember, feel, or make meaning.

Working visually or physically with materials can sometimes make it possible to approach an experience differently. An image may hold several feelings at once. Making something can slow an experience down enough to notice it. A metaphor can give form to something that has felt difficult to name.

At other times, the value may simply be in doing rather than explaining.

Do I have to make art?

No. Art-making is always optional in my practice. Some clients use art regularly, some occasionally, and some prefer to talk.

You also don’t need to consider yourself artistic or creative. Art therapy isn’t about making something impressive or technically accomplished. We may spend an entire session talking; at another point, something we’re exploring might lead naturally toward an image or material.

The work can move between words and art depending on what feels useful.

Making meaning from the art

I don’t assume that a particular image, color, or symbol has a predetermined psychological meaning. If something in the artwork becomes important or interesting, we can become curious about it together—what you notice, what associations arise, and what it might mean to you.

Sometimes the process of making is as important as—or more important than—the finished image. We might notice what it was like to choose a material, make a mark, change something, get stuck, begin again, or respond to what appeared on the page.

My graduate training in art therapy integrated psychotherapy with the clinical use of art-making and creative processes. That training, along with 15 years of clinical experience across hospital, community, and private-practice settings, informs how I work.

Art therapy with children and teens

For children and teens, art-making can offer another way to communicate and explore experience alongside conversation and, depending on age and developmental needs, play or sand tray.

Children do not necessarily need to be able to explain everything they are experiencing in words for therapy to begin. Creative work can become one part of how we get to know what they are experiencing and how they make sense of their world.

Practical information

Curious about whether art therapy might be a fit?

You don’t need to decide in advance how much—or whether—you want to use art in therapy.

You can request a brief consultation to tell me a little about what you’re looking for, ask questions about how I work, and see whether working together might be a good fit.