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What's on at Inside Out...
"Children are our finest teachers. They already know how to grow, how to develop, how to learn, how to expand and discover, how to feel, laugh and cry and get mad, what is right for them, what is not right for them, what they need. They already know how to love and be joyful and live life to its fullest, to work and to be strong and full of energy. All they (and the children within us) need, is the space to do it." Violent Oaklander, 1988.
It is not true that 'time heals'. Time itself most certainly does not heal. If you resist the process, all that time will do is push the grief deeper into the unconscious, to grow there like a cancer until one day, maybe many years further on, it can no longer be contained. Heather Teakle, 1993.
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What is Expressive Therapy?Expressive Therapy uses a range of self-discovery processes to bypass the logical mind and tap into that world we know exists but cannot seem to comprehend consciously. This experiential and holistic way of working involves more than ‘just talking about the problem’, and provides the opportunity for real and lasting change. It is based on the belief that each person has their own inner wisdom, and that the expert on who we are and what we need is actually inside us. This allows a client to not just express in words a particular issue, but to then feel the energy of their inner experience. When we connect with and really feel this energy we become open to new ways of understanding the problem. This method allows a feeling of release, insight, increased energy and a sense of well being and resolution. Expressive Therapies are a coordinated collection of personal growth methods developed specifically for helping children and adolescents in Australia since 1987. This approach is based on the research and writings of several of the Twentieth Century pioneers in human development and psychology. Methods and approaches are drawn from the work of Stanislav Grof M.D., Fritz Perls, C.G. Jung, Dora Kalff, Arthur Janov, Alexander Lowen and others. The main principle that unites the Expressive Therapy approaches is the belief that we all have an inbuilt movement in our psyche towards healing and wholeness. The Expressive Therapy methods aim to encourage and cooperate with this natural impulse. We each have an 'inner healer', so our therapeutic and self discovery work supports the wisdom of this part to come forward and direct our healing journey. Expressive Therapy allows for deep healing by involving the mind, the body and the emotions in a context of respect for each individual's spiritual nature. The Modalities
Focussing on the body allows awareness and release of the emotional hurt held in the body. Bioenergetics are specific exercises that awaken the flow of emotions and energy within the body. Held-in emotional pain is often felt as physical pain or tension. The body has many habits of physical holding and muscular contraction. Under this is a healthy energy core. So freeing the body is a vital aspect of connecting with our deeper self.
Free visual expression of the inner process, assists with expression and integration. An individual's artwork can be used as the basis for more open discussion and exploration or to provide a personal record of self-discovery. It also supports relaxation and closure after emotional release work. SANDPLAY THERAPY
SYMBOL WORK 
Symbol Work, a process developed in Australia by Mark Pearson and Helen Wilson, is a gentle but more direct way of dealing with specific problems identified by the client. Representing an issue symbolically allows the client, in their own time, to project feelings, gain visual clarity and discuss issues in depth, all within a framework of the client's own personal understanding.
SELF DISCOVERY WORKSHEETS & JOURNAL WRITING
The gentle guided processes of self-discovery worksheets and journal writing are further methods of coming to greater self awareness and clarifying our direction in life. Worksheets and writing processes can support the healing of memories from the past, clarification of current issues, identification of future directions, whilst reclaiming our creativity.
EMOTIONAL RELEASE PROCESSING
This method can help deal with feelings that may be driving our behaviour. Through process work we can connect with current feelings and work back through the past to old patterns at the base of our behaviour. For most of us these imprints from the past contribute strongly to sabotage in our current daily life. Emotional processing can release both conscious and unconscious emotions. Process work provides a safe, structured way of encountering our issues and supports the deep healing of anger, grief, loss, rage and resentment. |
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Sandplay is a transformative process that involves the choosing and arranging of small symbolic figures in a sand tray to explore, clarify and resolve emotional issues by giving them visible form. The method of Sandplay used has been developed from the background of Margaret Lowenfeld's play therapy in England and the exploration of symbol work by Carl Jung and Dora Kalff. Sandplay Therapy combines Jungian and Gestalt approaches to work with symbolic objects in a sandtray.
