Why Expressive Therapy?

Movement, creativity, and play are intrinsic ways for individuals of all ages to explore and understand themselves and the world. Expressive therapies harness these innate processes, promoting harmony and integration within developing minds and bodies. This enrichment influences functioning across all levels and enhances overall well-being.

Renae, with over a decade of experience, skillfully applies trauma-informed practice principles to support mental health in both children and adults through Expressive Therapy. Her approach is rooted in principles such as safety, empowerment, trust, collaboration, and choice. These principles create a secure and respectful framework for healing. Renae's methodology is characterised by its gentleness, supportiveness, and emphasis on nurturing relationships, while also maintaining a focus on individual preferences and needs.

Expressive Therapy proves to be invaluable for individuals who have navigated challenging life circumstances, such as family changes, grief, medical trauma, and social isolation. Furthermore, it is equally effective for those requiring specialised support in socioemotional development, language and learning, or individuals with distinct sensory sensitivities and cognitive processing needs.

NDIS Supported

Expressive Therapy embraces an interactive body-focused intervention, inviting active participation. These therapeutic avenues are open to individuals, including those who receive NDIS support for intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory, physical, or psychosocial needs. The benefits of Expressive Therapy are far-reaching and encompass:

Alleviating anxiety and stress
Enhancing vestibular conditioning, balance, coordination, and muscle tone
Nurturing fine motor skills, attention, and focus
Fostering self-assurance and self-esteem
Cultivating social skills
Engaging in joyous play and promoting a sense of enjoyment

Expressive Therapy is delivered by Registered Clinicians with a Master Degree in Mental Health.

Choose a Program That Suits You

We offer a variety of programs in North Tamborine Mountain, where children and adult can also benefit from the natural surroundings of the rainforest, birds, and wallabies. There is evidence that being in nature lowers blood pressure and the heart rate, and lowers the stress response from stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

We also offer sessions virtually via Zoom which offers a secure professional online platform and offers the benefits of not having to leave home. This requires having a safe, private, and appropriate space allocated in the home environment.

The Group Therapy program is comprised of up to 2 children or adults grouped by age and, where possible, referral reasons. Sessions are up to 90-min and are recommended for a period of 10 weeks within the school terms.

The Individual Therapy program supports individuals in a one-on-one setting in 60-minute sessions. Program duration is assessed on a case-by-case basis and ranges from 10-20 weeks.

The Dyad Therapy program is a process where the caregivers join their child on their therapeutic journey in these joint sessions which are delivered by one Expressive Therapist in 60-minute sessions over a period of up to 20 weeks. When appropriate, this program can also include therapeutic support for carers and the younger siblings of participating children.

Expressive Therapy

Creativity Heals

How to Apply

To ensure a network of care around the child, all children must be referred by a suitable professional currently working with the child and/or family - usually from the health, education or welfare sector. Examples include GPs, school counsellors and caseworkers. Children cannot be referred by a family member. Please contact us if you would like to discuss an appropriate referrer for your child.

Feedback and Recommendations
Upon completion of a program, referrers and caregivers receive a summary of the child's participation in our program with any further recommendations - if required. To validate the program's efficacy, we ask caregivers and referrers to complete an online evaluation/questionnaire.

Referral Process
Referring professionals are required to contact us for a referral pack. One referral form, including a signed consent form by the caregivers and referrer must be completed for each child in consultation with caregivers.

Completed referrals should be emailed to: [email protected]

For more information, please don't hesitate to contact us.

EXPRESSIVE THERAPY FAQs

What qualifications do you need to practice Expressive Therapy?

Expressive Therapists are mental health professionals who are trained to use creative methods in their work. Under the NDIS, Expressive Therapy is classed as an Allied Health Provider.

There are significant risks in seeing a practitioner who does not have adequate training or oversight and supervision of their work.

Expressive Therapists should meet the qualification standards required for professional membership of the Australian, New Zealand, and Asian Creative Arts Therapy Association (ANZACATA). This usually requires a Master’s degree or equivalent.

Some qualified Expressive Therapists choose to register instead with the Counselling Associations, such as the Psychotherapy and Counselling Association of Australia (PACFA) or the Australian Counselling Association.

Through any of these memberships, you have assurance about (and oversight of) the quality of our practice and our work is represented by the Allied Health Professional Association.

What exactly is Expressive Therapy?

Expressive Therapy draws from a variety of expressive art forms that involve active participation such as creative movement and music, therapeutic movement, breath and sensory regulation therapy, story-telling, visual arts, ritual and symbolic play.
Rather than focusing on aesthetics or making something ‘beautiful’, in Expressive Therapy these mediums are used for therapeutic purposes to harness your capacity to reflect, express, restore, imagine and integrate mind and body. In Expressive Therapy the creative process becomes the pathway to emotional wellbeing and supports healthful coping strategies to deal with life challenges.

Can I use my NDIS funding for Expressive Therapy?

Yes, Expressive Therapy is usually funded from the Improved Daily Living budget. However, some participants are eligible for Disability Related Health Supports which can be taken from the Core budget. The commonly used NDIS line items are listed below:

15_610_0128_1_3 – Assessment, Recommendation, Therapy and/or Training – Art Therapist

15_056_0128_1_3 / 01_741_0128_1_3 - Assessment, Recommendation, Therapy and/or Training (including Assistive Technology) - Other Professional

15_005_0118_1_3 - Capacity Building Supports for Early Childhood Interventions - Other Therapy

What NDIS goals can an Expressive Therapist help me reach?

Expressive Therapy can support a very wide range of goals, such as:

Health and wellbeing
Self-care and self-management
Daily living skills
Community participation
Social skills
Confidence building
Improved relationships

It can also support more specific goals, such as employment, education, or improved living arrangements.

It does this by assisting the participant to explore barriers to achieving their goals and/or generate new strategies for working towards them.

Expressive therapists in early childhood will often focus on using a range of creative methods to support communication, social interaction, learning and/or emotional regulation.

The practice model is flexible, person centred and emergent, which requires being responsive to the participant’s needs in each session.

This provides a safe space in which they can explore and express the issues of most significance to them and can be done while achieving therapeutic outcomes and tangible steps towards their goals.

What can be treated with Expressive Therapy?

Diverse physical and emotional challenges presenting through out our life span can be supported with Expressive Therapy. Some areas where Expressive Therapy is very effective is in the treatment of:
Chronic Pain and Sensory Sensitivities
Depression and Anxiety
Social, Communication and Language Challenges
PTSD and Sleep Disorders
Addiction and Self Harming Behaviours
Emotional Regulation
Trauma, Grief and Loss

Is Expressive therapy supported by science?

With the support of neuroimaging studies on the brains’ creative processes and the impact of this on the neural integration, the popularity of body-based expressive therapy interventions is rapidly growing in the international sphere. In Expressive Therapy, the study of the neurobiolgical processes of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity can be understood within a mental health recovery framework.

What does an Expressive Therapist do?

An Expressive Therapist uses a multimodal therapeutic approach combining psychology and the creative process inviting a client to choose from a variety of tools that may help tap into their imagination, body sensations, feelings, emotions, and thought processes to promote personal growth and healing. Using creative processes can help remove barriers to expression as it does not rely on words as in traditional talk therapies.

What does an Expressive Therapy session look like?

Expressive Therapy is not a technical art or movement class and there is no ‘typical’ therapy session. In the session, the client will have the opportunity to choose the modality and task within the guidance of the therapeutic goals of the session. During the creative process, the therapist will assist a client to safely explore and creatively communicate their physical, emotional and cognitive experience. The therapist may provide the client with psychoeducation to assist in more deeply understanding their experience and developing skills in emotional regulation.
During the session, the therapist may observe a client’s unique way of expression, movement and implementation of the creative process and invite enquiry about the individuals experience of these elements of themselves to promote self-reflection and insight.
These are some of the things you might expect from an Expressive Therapy session:
Opportunities to connect to your sensory and physical body.
Time to explore issues in your life through creative expression.
Choices of modalities such as movement, drawing, painting, creating collages and moulding materials.
Reflection upon what you have created. Your therapist may ask you a range of open ended and clarifying questions to assist in your personal enquiry.

Can Expressive Therapy Support Sensory Sensitivities?

Everyone has different sensory preferences, however some people may experience hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to certain sensory input. Hypersensitivity occurs when an individual has a low threshold for sensory stimulus. This person may benefit from environments that have natural lighting, reduced background noise and are scent-free. They may also benefit from a gentle approach to movement, support to balance, and points for focused visual tracking. Some people may also have hypersensitivity to the internal body sense, known as interoception. This may cause some one to feel strong sensations, discomfort or pain in their body even when there is no presence of pathology.
People may also present with hyposensitivity and have a high threshold for sensory stimulus. This person may seek increased intensity for stimulation from tactile, visual, auditory and kinesthetic inputs.
Some people may also have a hyposensitivity of their internal body sense which may make it difficult to determine when they feel full, thirst or understanding their bodies responses to emotions.
Just as we all need a individual diet to suit
Aerial Yoga Therapeutics and Expressive Therapy can be adapted to satisfy an individuals optimal 'sensory diet' that supports a sense of safety, regulation and equilibrium.

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