To mark World Trauma Day, we caught up with one of our Creative Psychotherapists to find out more about her work, its relationship to trauma, and how she practices therapy in the prison environment.

1. Who are you and what is your role at Belong?

My name is Evridiki and I am a Dance Movement Psychotherapist. I have been working with Belong for three years as Creative Psychotherapist in various projects such as, PLAN A, Me-Time and now on a Violence Reduction project at HMP ISIS.

2. What is creative psychotherapy?

Creative Psychotherapy is an alternative to Talking Therapy. Alongside theory and techniques from talking interventions, practitioners utilise other mediums such as the Arts, which can include; art, music, drama and dance/movement. Creative Arts Psychotherapists use their modalities to offer the client a non-verbal and embodied approach to exploring their life; past, present and future.

3. How is it different to other types of therapy?

Creative Psychotherapy is an umbrella term, but what it offers is flexibility and innovation. There is no one way to engage or practice in Creative Psychotherapy; some therapists are integrative in different capacities – they utilise other artforms with an informed lens of their own training. Others are creative in the use of therapeutic styles, whether these are psychodynamic, humanistic, existential or psychoeducational alongside their art form. Creative Psychotherapy is informed by the participant and their experience, the here and now and/or the past. The therapist offers containment, scaffolding and emotional safety with ethical practice at the forefront.

4. Are there any specific types of trauma it is most effective with?

Research is currently ongoing to provide more evidence around the impact of creative art psychotherapies targeting various trauma affected populations, for example victims of war, institutionalised trauma, sexual trauma and others. Currently the evidence base we have around Creative Arts interventions show the effectiveness in allowing individuals to explore their trauma in a safe, non-invasive way. Creative therapy offers an experiential and empowering approach to unpacking difficult-to-voice experiences alongside supporting sensory stimulation, nervous system regulation and reduction of anxiety and depression. Each modality of art can offer the participant various ways of exploring, reframing, integrating and reclaiming their body, mind and story.

5. How does it work in practice in a prison setting?

In practice the most difficult part of the work is being able to explain to people who are not in the room the value of what we offer as well as keeping consistency due to busy prison regimes. At times there is a dissonance between the suitability of the intervention and what others deem appropriate for ‘criminals’. Creative Psychotherapy in prison is surprisingly more popular than some might think with participants. Being able to utilise freedom of expression, bodily autonomy as well as produce something beautiful, emotional, positive with a body that has caused harm is a sensory and embodied experience many cherish. When you are constrained and your freedom is limited, being creative is a way to freely externalise what you want to say without having to share or be vulnerable in ways that are difficult in prison. In addition, the joy and playfulness that creativity bring to the room allows for quite difficult conversations and topics to be safely explored outside of the self and then integrated when appropriate. It is safe, it is joyful and it is tolerable, in an environment designed to be uncomfortable.

Thanks to Evridiki for writing this blog. To find out more, read about our Creative Psychotherapy services here, and see the following for further reading on the subject: 

• A creative model for recovery from child sexual abuse trauma – ScienceDirect
• The paradox of expressing speechless terror: Ritual liminality in the creative arts therapies’ treatment of posttraumatic distress – ScienceDirect
• Art as a healing path: Trauma-focused therapy for Syrian children post-earthquake: A pilot study – ScienceDirect
• Playing with race: A theoretical framework and approach for creative arts therapists – ScienceDirect
• Effect of Audio-Visual-Based Art and Music Therapy in Reducing Adolescents Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – ScienceDirect
• Creative Arts and Somatic Therapies | 23 | v2 | Psychodrama, Eye Movem
• A review of research and methods used to establish art therapy as an effective treatment method for traumatized children – ScienceDirect
• Therapeutic use of art with active duty military members and Veterans with PTSD: A scoping review | Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health