Sustenance and Sensorimotor Art Therapy®
When I first came to Sensorimotor Art Therapy® over 10 years ago it was with the intention to find new ways to support clients to find a pathway through their troubles. As someone who has a leaning towards lifelong learning and deepening knowledge of various options, I had long wondered about the ways that Art Therapy could be utilised with children, adults and in particular at that time, with people impacted by family violence. It has been through the unfolding my own learning journey since those early days that I discovered that many of the tools and techniques I had been using over the years had a definite ‘art therapy’ quality to them.
It is important to me that there is an overlap of science and evidence in the work I do. This enables a confidence of knowing that through the work, wit and wisdom of neuroscientists and research findings, we in the helping and therapeutic professions continually have an ever-growing body of knowledge well to draw from and how this knowledge has identified the significance of implicit memory in how we interact with the world around us. In my trainings I have found that Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory has been pivotal in understanding how both the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous systems are in constant flow as part of our lifeforce, working to keep our bodies safe and connected. How Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing work on understanding the somatic aspect of these implicit memories has enabled the processing of experiences without the possibility for the triggering and retraumatisation that can come with more cognitive based therapies. And the list goes on with the work of, for example, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Deb Dana, Bruce Perry, Dan Segal, Babette Rothschild, and many others exploring, researching, discovering, and sharing findings that enable practitioners like myself to be confident of keeping within an environment of ‘do no harm’ whilst supporting many people to process the often unspoken impacts of trauma. And this is where Sensorimotor Art Therapy® and the work of Cornelia Elbrecht and Heinz Deuser comes into its own.
Guided Drawing® and Work at the Clay Field® are two of the most frequent players in my clinic space. Both of these techniques incorporate rhythm and movement to support and engage people with their felt sense, locating tension and/or impulses in the body and discovering pathways to resolution or completing an experience which may not have been able to be completed before. This is one of the ways that trauma becomes lodged in the body, as there were not enough opportunities or protective factors to stop, escape or defend.
Whilst I am frequently amazed by the resilience of human beings to survive and thrive in overcoming various adversities and I try not to play ‘favourites’ in the clients I work with, I must confess that children will always have a special place in my heart.
The Playroom at my clinic is a special space, where children can enter and take control, playing out their stories in many and varied ways. Invitations to engage with a box of clay are eagerly taken up, as are the opportunities to create paintings using the hands as paintbrushes or to unfold the magic that awaits in the sandtray. Witnessing and supporting them as they express joy at the squishiness of the clay, as they beam with the discovery of moving their hands through copious amounts of paint on paper, as they magically convert the sandtray to battlefields, forge beautiful nature landscapes, go treasure hunting deep in the sand, it is the understanding of sensorimotor process that provides opportunity for me to become a point of co-regulation and to share delight or honour the pain as each adventure unfolds.
Some of my special memories include wrapping a small child into a womb-like environment as she voiced her request that we pretend that our mother is gone and everything is broken – our legs our arms and our hearts – and to see her emerge from the experience whole and sparkling again. To work with the wordless child who after many sessions, suddenly decides that it is safe to speak whilst announcing the colour of the crayon in their hand. To watch as the anxious child folds their arms and rests on the sandtray or the Clay Field, going to a place of such stillness and calm that their nervous system finally finds a moment of safe rest. To hear the words ‘satisfying’ repeatedly coming from the Clay Field, the sandtray, the kinetic sand and the painting experience. To see the dysregulated child emerge from a session beaming and happily re-engage with their parent in a more regulated state.
This is what sustenance is all about in the work I do. It sustains me, sustains my practice, and feeds my soul.
Chris has spent a lifetime studying a range of modalities that can be used to support wellbeing and recovery from trauma including Educational Kinesiology, EMDR, Sandplay, Child Centred Play Therapy, Experiential Education, Outdoor experiences, Counselling, Family Violence, Somatic Experiencing, Polyvagal Therapy, Somatic Touch Therapy, Expressive and Creative Arts Therapies, and of course Sensorimotor Art Therapy®. She runs her own private practice Storm Insight, is a registered supervisor for Arts Therapy, Community Services, and Counselling practitioners and is a Senior Faculty member of the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy. She has been spending the COVID19 months working online from her studio in her garden, reflecting on life and enjoying the opportunity to take a ‘pause’.
AThR, SEP, M.Ed, CCPT, ACA, ANZACATA
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Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing®
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Learn the fundamentals of Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing® using the unique Sensorimotor Art Therapy® approach of Guided Drawing®. Presented by Cornelia Elbrecht, this course provides both practical expertise and a theoretical basis to trauma exploration. High quality video lessons are complemented by round table discussions with Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy faculty, filmed therapy sessions and supported by our Moderated Student Forum.