Training Example: Bluebox Creative Learning Centre – Review the Data, Give Your Score & Compare to the Real AI Evaluation

[H4] CREATIVE ARTS THERAPY FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

[H1] Welcome to blue box
life changing intervention

LEARN More

[H2] HELPING CREATIVITY THRIVE WITH LIMERICKS CHILDREN

Blue Box Creative Learning Centre works with schools and families in Limerick and the Mid-West to provide psychotherapy services to vulnerable children and young people who have experienced trauma, bereavement or loss, and who present with behavioural, emotional or psychological difficulties. Our goal is to support them in realising their full potential through research-based, innovative, and professional Play and Creative Arts Therapies.Priority is given to the most socially and economically disadvantaged children. Parents and guardians can also self-refer to our therapy centre in Roxboro, Limerick.

Learn More

[IMG: IMG_64691]
[IMG: shutterstock_44234305-e1433861132469]
[IMG: pexels-pixabay-159579]
[IMG: pexels-anastasia-shuraeva-6966323]
[IMG: pexels-boom-12585854]

[H2] OUR CHILDREN NEED YOUR SUPPORT
TO SUSTAIN THESE ESSENTIAL INTERVENTIONS.

DONATE TODAY

[H3] WHEN A CHILD IS FEELING ANXIOUS, SAD OR HURT IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A THERAPIST WHO PROVIDES A SECURE, SAFE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO GO TO.

[H2] IN 2024 BLUE BOX

[H2] DELIVERED 2,480 SESSIONS!

In 2024, Blue Box made a significant impact by delivering 2,480 sessions to children and young people in the Mid-West. These sessions provided much-needed support and therapeutic interventions, fostering mental health and well-being through creative arts. Our commitment to offering innovative and professional therapies has made a remarkable difference in the lives of many, helping them navigate challenges and build resilience.

[H2] HELPED 131 CHILDREN IN NEED!

In 2024, Blue Box made a tremendous impact by helping 131 children in need. Through their dedicated efforts and innovative therapies, these children received the support and care they required to navigate life’s challenges. Our commitment to mental health and well-being has brought about positive changes, empowering children to build resilience and thrive.

[H2] DELIVERED SERVICES TO 11 SCHOOLS!

In 2024, Blue Box extended their invaluable services to 11 schools, providing vital support to students in need. Through their innovative and professional therapies, they helped foster mental health and well-being, creating a positive and nurturing environment for learning and personal growth. Our dedication to reaching out to schools has made a significant difference in the lives of many young individuals, offering them the tools and guidance to navigate challenges and thrive.

Blue Box Creative Learning Centre is a registered charity based in Limerick. We provide support to children and young people facing anxiety, emotional or behavioural difficulties, trauma, and psychological challenges, helping them reach their full potential through Play and Creative Arts Therapies. Our approach is trauma-informed and non-directive, placing the child and family at the centre of the process.Through innovative Play and Creative Arts Therapy programmes, we are making a meaningful impact every day.

[H2] Who We Are

[H4] Executive Director Bryan Gough believes in the power of play and creative arts therapy to heal and transform lives. "Our mission is to provide high-quality play and creative arts therapy services to children and families in need, fostering emotional well-being and resilience through therapeutic play."

[H3] blueboxcatc
@blueboxcatc

We’re delighted to share that Blue Box has been sh
[IMG: We’re delighted to share that Blue Box has been shortlisted as a Finalist in the Child Health & Wellbeing category at the Irish Healthcare Centre Awards 2026 ?
Our project “Play & Creative Arts Therapy in DEIS Schools” has been recognised for its work supporting children’s emotional wellbeing through creativity, play, and therapeutic engagement in schools.
This recognition is a testament to the incredible young people we work with, the dedication of our team, and the support of our partners and schools across Limerick ?
Thank you to everyone who continues to support the work of Blue Box in creating safe, creative spaces for children to express themselves and thrive.
#BlueBox #ChildWellbeing #CreativeArtsTherapy #DEISSchools #MentalHealthMatters #IrishHealthcareCentreAwards
@ihca2025]

? Corporate Social Responsibility in Action ? Thi
[IMG: ? Corporate Social Responsibility in Action ?
This week, we were delighted to spend time with the Dell Finance Graduate Programme in Limerick, where graduates from around the world came together to create care packs for the children and families supported by Blue Box.
Each pack was thoughtfully assembled with creative and calming items, along with handwritten messages of kindness and encouragement. Small gestures that can have a very big impact.
At Blue Box, creativity is a powerful tool for connection, regulation and healing. These care packs help extend that support beyond our sessions and into homes, reminding families that they are seen, valued and supported.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved for your time, care and generosity. ?
Partnerships like this make a real difference.
#BlueBox #CSR #CorporateVolunteering #CommunitySupport #CreativeTherapies #Gratitude #Limerick]

? Remembering Sr Mary Carmel O’Donoghue ? Blue Bo
[IMG: ? Remembering Sr Mary Carmel O’Donoghue ?
Blue Box joins the Limerick community in mourning the passing of Sr Mary Carmel O’Donoghue, founder of Blue Box and a lifelong advocate for compassion, creativity, and inclusion.
From her pioneering work with marginalised and disadvantaged families to establishing spaces of healing through the arts, Sr Mary Carmel’s legacy lives on in the lives she touched and the community she built.
Reposing at Cill Leala, New Road, Thomondgate, Limerick V94 R8YK on Tuesday (11th November) from 5pm to 7pm.
Funeral arriving at St. Munchin’s Church, Clancy Strand on Wednesday (12th November) for Requiem Mass at 11am followed by burial in Castlemungret Cemetery.
#SrMaryCarmel #BlueBoxLimerick #LimerickLegacy #InMemory #CommunitySpirit #CreativeHealing]

✨ Every step makes a difference! The Cook Medical
[IMG: ✨ Every step makes a difference!
The Cook Medical Mini Marathon is supporting Blue Box Creative Arts Therapy, helping children and families in Limerick heal through creativity. ?
? Want to help?
? Donate directly to Blue Box for this run and support vital therapy for children.
? Or partner with us to make an even bigger impact in our community.
? Location: University of limerick
? Date: 12 pm Sunday October 5th
? Donate: www.eventmaster.ie
#CookMedicalRun #SupportBlueBox #RunForCreativity #Limerick#charityrun
#charity, #running, #run, #funrun, #charityevent, #charitywork, #marathon, #runningcommunity #CommunityWellbeing]

✨ We’re so excited to share our brand-new Teen & Y
[IMG: ✨ We’re so excited to share our brand-new Teen & Young Adult Therapy Room ✨
This welcoming space was created to offer comfort, safety, and creativity for young people who come through our doors. ?️??
A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this possible, from supporters and donors, to our amazing team who brought it all together. ? Your generosity means that young people will have a space designed just for them to feel heard, supported, and inspired.
Here’s to new beginnings, healing, and hope ?
#ThankYou #CommunitySupport #TherapyRoom #BlueBoxLimerick #SafeSpace #YouthSupport]

Blue Box has been chosen as a lucky recipient of t
[IMG: Blue Box has been chosen as a lucky recipient of the Toy Show Appeal! ?
This generous funding will directly support our creative arts therapy services, helping children and young people in Limerick to heal, grow, and thrive.
We’re incredibly grateful to @latelaterte, rte, and the amazing donors who made this possible. Together, you are helping us make a real difference. ??️
#ThankYou #ToyShowAppeal #BlueBoxLimerick #CreativeArtsTherapy #CommunitySupport #ChildWellbeing #HealingThroughArt #LimerickCharity]

?? Help Blue Box Make a Bigger Impact! ?? We’re th
[IMG: ?? Help Blue Box Make a Bigger Impact! ??
We’re thrilled to announce that Blue Box is eligible for the AIB Community Fund 2025 — but we need your help to make it happen!
? Nominate us today and support our mission to provide Creative Arts Therapy to children, young people, and their families across Munster. With your support, we can continue helping vulnerable individuals realise their full potential through play, music, and art therapy.
?Charity Name: Blue Box Creative Learning Centre
? Charity Number: 20052836
? Social Theme: Education & Opportunities
? Nominate here: www.aib.ie/community-fund
Every nomination counts. Let’s bring creativity, healing, and hope to more lives. ??
#BlueBoxTherapy #AIBCommunityFund #SupportLocal #CreativeArtsTherapy #ChildMentalHealth #LimerickCharity #PlayTherapy #MusicTherapy #VoteBlueBox #CommunitySuppo]

A huge thank you to Éanna and his team at @revival
[IMG: A huge thank you to Éanna and his team at @revivalharmony for their generous donation! ?
This incredible support will go directly toward providing a child with access to free creative arts therapy. Your kindness makes a real difference ??
#Gratitude #CreativeArtsTherapy #CommunitySupport #ThankYou #BlueBoxLimerick]

Instagram post 18124354462437722
[IMG: Instagram post 18124354462437722]

Instagram post 18084423538628618
[IMG: Instagram post 18084423538628618]

*6 Weeks To Go* If you wish to get involved, be su
[IMG: *6 Weeks To Go* If you wish to get involved, be sure to follow @blueboxcatc and click the link in our bio to find out more @greatlimerickrun @ilovelimerick #limerick #greatlimerickrun #creativearts #musictherapy #playtherapy #arttherapy #fullmarathon #halfmarathon]

Are you or your child planning to participate in t
[IMG: Are you or your child planning to participate in the @greatlimerickrun this May? Why not consider @blueboxcatc as your charity of choice this year!. Funds raised will allow us to continue to provide a low cost therapy service to families locally. Check out the link in our bio for more information. @regeneron @eventmaster.ie @ilovelimerick
#greatlimerickrun25 #fullmarathon #halfmarathon #10k #childrensfunrun #limerickcity #creativearts #playtherapy #musictherapy #arttherapy #creativeartstherapy #fundraising #donatetoday]

A huge thank you to the volunteers and staff who h
[IMG: A huge thank you to the volunteers and staff who helped revamp our music therapy room in preparation for our newest music therapist ??. Our furry friend Dash has given his approval ?
#TheBlueBox #musictherapy]

While we didn't win Best Not For Profit the Limeri
[IMG: While we didn]

A big thank you to @analogdevices for their incred
[IMG: A big thank you to @analogdevices for their incredible award of €2,000?. Your support will provide much needed Therapies to children who need support with their mental health. Together we can support vulnerable young people and the families to realise their potential through Creative Therapies ?]

?? Huge THANK YOU to @the_wickham and Bambi for th
[IMG: ?? Huge THANK YOU to @the_wickham and Bambi for their incredible support in raising funds for Bluue Box ?. Your fundraising will alow us to provide therapy to those children who need it. Blue Box aims to support children who experience trauma, emotional or psychological challenges.]

We are thrilled to announce that we are national f
[IMG: We are thrilled to announce that we are national finalists in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards ??
This incredible recognition celebrates the hard work and dedication of our team and supporters who have helped us make a positive difference in our aim to support children who are experiencing emotional, behavioural and psychological challenges.
#nationallottery, #goodcausesaward,]

Admin@bluebox.ie https://www.activelink.ie/node/10
[IMG: Admin@bluebox.ie
https://www.activelink.ie/node/109192
#recruitment,#vacancies,#Limerick,#jobfairy,#creativearts,#playtherapy,#bluebox]

A big thank you to @Tesco Roxboro and the customer
[IMG: A big thank you to @Tesco Roxboro and the customers who supported Blue Box through the Tesco Comunity Fund. This generous donation will go towards the upgrade of our much needed and used therapy rooms ?
#tescocommunityfund #tescoireland #bluebox]

Today, we had the honour of welcoming students fro
[IMG: Today, we had the honour of welcoming students from Xavier University, Ohio to Blue Box.
Their visit focused on inclusive education. Blue Box Clinical Manager Niamh explained our innovative strategies to support children from disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Limerick. A huge thank you to the dedicated team from Xavier.]

Load More

Follow on Instagram

[H3] Play Therapy
Play Therapy provides a developmentally sensitive way for children to express and resolve emotional or psychological challenges through play. By using age-appropriate activities, children communicate non-verbally with the therapist, working through trauma, anxiety, and other difficulties. Play Therapy is beneficial for children as young as two and helps build self-confidence, problem-solving skills, and emotional well-being.

[H3] Art Therapy
Art Therapy combines creative expression with therapeutic techniques to help clients explore their emotions non-verbally. Clients use visual art to express inner experiences, allowing for self-discovery and emotional healing. The focus is on using creativity, rather than artistic skill, to address personal issues, making Art Therapy an effective approach for clients of all ages, especially those who struggle with verbal communication.

[H3] Music Therapy
Music Therapy uses the power of music to help clients express emotions, communicate, and build self-esteem. Clients engage in musical experiences, such as improvisation, to explore their feelings and foster personal growth. Music Therapy is not about musical skills but about using sound as a tool for emotional and psychological support, suitable for people of all ages.

[H3] Dance Therapy
Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) uses movement as a way to explore and express emotions, with the belief that movement patterns reflect inner feelings. Through guided movement, clients can develop new emotional and psychological insights, fostering personal growth. DMT is practiced individually or in groups and adapts ancient healing practices with contemporary therapeutic techniques to support clients’ emotional journeys.

[H4] OUR MISSION

[H1] Blue Box Creative Arts Therapy Centre transforms vulnerable children's lives with innovative, research-based Play and Creative Arts Therapies, fostering Positive mental health and well-being.

[H2] About Us

The mission of Blue Box is to provide psychotherapy services to children, young people and their families to help them realise their full potential through research based, innovative, professional and accredited Play and Creative Arts Therapies.We support the wellbeing and mental health of vulnerable children and young people of all abilities, aged 3 to 18 years. Through Play and Creative Arts Psychotherapy, we address the emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and developmental needs of children and families living across the Mid West.Our therapy interventions are designed in direct response to the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, whether delivered in schools, community settings or in our purpose built therapy centre in Limerick City.We partner with the HSE, Mental Health Services, Tusla, Youth Services, schools and other community organisations to respond to the growing need for child appropriate psychological interventions.Through the medium of Play and Creative Arts Psychotherapy, we empower children and their families to build healthier relationships and to take a more active role in their lives, schools and communities.Blue Box is the only charity providing free Creative Arts Therapy services to children and young people in 13 DEIS schools across the Mid West. In 2024, we supported 131 children and their families, delivering over 2,480 hours of therapy both in schools and at our Limerick centre.We welcome parent, carer and family referrals for our therapy services. If you are interested in referring your child, please get in touch with us by phone or email for guidance on the referral process.Please note that we cannot accept referrals from professionals unless they are funding the service. Parents and carers should contact us directly.We recommend checking with your health insurance provider to see if your policy offers reimbursement for Creative Arts or Play Therapy.

[H2] ACE'S

[H3] Adverse Childhood Experiences

Since 1998, Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda and colleagues have accumulated evidence that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) literally attack the structures of a child’s developing brain, leading to “lasting effects on brain structure and function”. This brain injury – acquired in infancy or adolescence – has serious individual and societal costs.There is a preponderance of evidence that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) result in harmful physical, learning, social, emotional, and behavioural health outcomes during childhood, with far reaching effects lasting across the lifespan.Through Play and Creative Arts therapy Blue Box provide therapeutic approach for children who have experienced ACE’s. By providing a safe space for emotional expression and regulation children can process their trauma and can learn to problem solving and coping skills.The therapeutic trusting relationship that the child builds in Blue Box, children with ACE’s can process their experiences, develop resilience, and move towards healing and recovery.Ray et al., 2021 states that play and creative arts therapies appears to be a practical and effective intervention for children who have experienced ACEs and at-risk for trauma disorder.

[H1] Play Therapy
Children may experience problems with feelings or behaviours that cause disruption to their lives and the lives of those around them. Play therapy provides a child with an opportunity to ‘play out’ their thoughts, feelings and problems just as, in certain types of adult therapy, an individual ‘talks out’ their difficulties.It can be described as being a developmentally sensitive therapeutic modality, in which a trained play therapist uses the therapeutic powers of play to help children prevent or resolve psycho-social difficulties. Play permits the child to communicate with adults non-verbally, symbolically, and in an action-orientated manner. Play Therapists use approaches, interventions, media, and activities that are appropriate to the age and developmental stage of the client.Children enter into a dynamic therapeutic relationship with the therapist, which enables them to express themselves, explore and make sense of the world in which they live, and resolve any difficult or painful experiences through the medium of play.Any child can benefit from play therapy. It promotes self-confidence, imagination, creativity, concentration, communication, problem-solving skills, self-esteem, and most importantly the happiness of the child. Play Therapy is suitable for children as young as two or three years old and there is no upper age limit.Play therapy is relationship based – the power of the therapy comes from the strength of the relationship between the Play Therapist and the child.Children must be approached and understood from a developmental perspective. They must not be viewed as miniature adults. Their world is one of concrete realities and their experiences are often communicated through play. Unlike adults whose natural medium of communications is verbalisation, the natural medium of communication for children is play activity.– Landreth, 1991
[H1]
[H1] Play Therapy Can Help Kids Speak the Unspeakable
[H2] Play is the language of children — which is why play therapy can help kids speak the unspeakable.
By Dani McClain, July 21, 2020Dee Ray doesn’t learn how children feel by listening to their words. Ray, a researcher and counselor in Texas, learns by watching them play.She directs the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas and often works in schools, where she sections off a 10 feet by 10 feet area in a classroom and fills the space with toys — a child sized kitchenette, puppets, a bop bag that a child who needs to work out some aggression can punch.With one client, the toy that led to healing was a snake. The interaction involved a 5-year-old Black girl who attended a school where 90 percent of her classmates were Latinx and white, Ray said, obscuring some details to protect the child’s privacy. During their second session together, the girl chose a toy snake to play with, then covered it in sand in an effort to make it white. If the snake were black, people wouldn’t like it, she told Ray.The child’s game prompted some simple, empathic reflections from Ray: “It seems like they don’t understand her. They don’t know that she wants to be their friend.” But the child’s imagination led their time together. The snake got sick, and she nursed it back to health. She made sure it had a safe place to sleep and helped it make friends with other animal figurines.To Ray, this was progress. In the first session, the child had simply shown interest in the toy. Now, she’d gone deeper, using the sand and playing out different scenarios. By caring for the toy, the child showed confidence that she could accept and nurture herself, even in the face of adversity. The therapist had affirmed how she felt about being excluded because of her race. It was painful and confusing for the girl, but it was also a normal reaction.
[IMG: Nurture House is a facility co-founded by Paris Goodyear-Brown and built around the ideas of play therapy.]
Nurture House is a facility co-founded by Paris Goodyear-Brown and built around the ideas of play therapy. Kristine Potter for The New York Times.“She was the one who had to figure out how to work through it,” Ray said. “If I were to say, ‘This is because of racism and this isn’t your fault,’ it shuts down her expression of what she’s experiencing.”Play therapists encourage children, typically between ages 2 and 12, to express their thoughts and feelings through playing rather than by talking about what’s happening in their lives.Ray practices child-centered play therapy, in which the therapist follows the child’s lead while witnessing and narrating. In other approaches, the therapist eventually takes a more directive role, engaging the child in activities intended to teach something and reorient behavior.
[IMG: Dee Ray poses with a young girl (not a patient) in a play room at her Texas offices. Many kids who can’t express their emotions in words can do it easily through play. ]
Dee Ray poses with a young girl (not a patient) in a play room at her Texas offices. Many kids who can’t express their emotions in words can do it easily through play. University of North Texas Center for Play Therapy.What unites them all is the belief that play itself is therapeutic. The toys, musical instruments or art supplies aren’t used to keep children busy or distracted while they talks through problems. Instead, play gives them an opportunity to “work out the trauma in their bodies,” said Paris Goodyear-Brown, a play therapist and co-founder of a treatment center in Franklin, Tenn., called Nurture House. “Play provides a sense of competency for children.”Play therapy has been around since the 1940s. Some researchers trace its origins to Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham, psychologists who worked with British child refugees during and after World War II. In the United States, Virginia Axline, a psychologist, developed the child-centered approach and popularized it through her 1964 book “Dibs In Search of Self,” about the progress made by a reclusive child with whom she worked.Recently, driven in part by a groundswell of public interest in trauma and trauma-informed care, academics and practitioners have been focusing play therapy’s potential for kids with Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. These children have been neglected, abused or exposed to violent conflict at home. They’ve often also experienced community-level ACEs, such as enduring poverty or racism, or witnessed violence in their neighborhoods. The effects can be long lasting. People with ACEs are at increased risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and chronic physical health conditions such as diabetes and cancer later in life.Play therapy can reach children who have experienced ongoing stressors or multiple traumatic events in a way that talk therapy can’t, said Goodyear-Brown. “There’s so much wisdom inside little people, and they just don’t have all the ways of showing and telling that adults do.”What many of these children have experienced is “unspeakable,” she said in her 2018 TEDx talk, so leading with words isn’t the way to reach them. Because some children’s traumatic experiences began before language developed, encouraging a verbal account of what’s happened might not elicit much.When kids struggle to regulate their emotions and thoughts, their behavior can just look like acting out to adults in their lives. But what they’re searching for is a sense of control, said Diane Stutey, an assistant professor in the department of counseling and human services at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
[IMG: One of the many play rooms at Nurture House in Franklin, Tenn.]
One of the many play rooms at Nurture House in Franklin, Tenn. Kristine Potter for The New York Times.In 2015, Stutey and her colleagues began a study at an after-school program in the South with Black children between the ages of 5 and 9 who were exposed to ACEs. For many of these kids, the lack of control they felt in their lives expressed itself as anxiety. First, the researchers engaged the children in individual play therapy, and then in group play therapy.At the end of the study, the students reported feeling less anxious. Their teachers, who were also surveyed throughout, said the students had been less disruptive in class after six weeks of playing one-on-one with a therapist and six weeks in a group setting.Stutey described one child who repeatedly sharpened his pencil until it was down to the nub. What was to him a self-soothing ritual was distracting to his teacher. “They were seeking control in ways that could be seen in a school setting as acting out or misbehavior,” Stutey said. “Really what they were trying to do is figure out, ‘Where is my place where I am safe?’”This child’s search for safety was evident in the playroom. He moved quickly and without much focus, picking up a toy briefly before putting it down and speaking erratically. But, after becoming more comfortable with the therapist, things changed. He could sustain calm interaction with a toy and talk about how he was feeling.“In the classroom, they’re being told, ‘no.’ They’re being told, ‘stop,’” Stutey said. But play therapists met those same behaviors with what they call “unconditional positive regard” or witnessing the behavior without expressing judgment. So the child received the message that being himself was OK.Once adults ceased telling the child to stop, “you’d almost see the anxiety melt away,” Stutey said. During play therapy sessions, the child eventually developed other more acceptable coping skills that he could use in class.Play therapists typically see students with ACEs in schools or after-school programs. They also work in outpatient clinics or pediatricians’ offices. But because of physical distancing, play therapists, like other mental health professionals, are working with children online.“I’m supervising play therapists right now who are doing virtual play therapy,” Stutey said. “It’s not impossible, but it’s not the same.”A therapist might drop a box of toys off at her patient’s home before a session, but often children don’t have what they need to engage remotely. They may not have access to a computer or tablet for the length of a 50-minute session. They may not have the privacy they need to feel comfortable sharing their experiences honestly.For many of these kids, the world already felt unsafe. Now they’re living through a global pandemic in which they’re constantly told that previously innocuous activities pose a threat. They’re watching or hearing about police violence targeting Black people. “We’re getting ready for what we think will be a wave of need on the heels of this,” Goodyear-Brown of Nurture House said. “We’re going to have to support families in relearning how to manage anxieties outside the home.”Dani McClain reports on race, parenting and reproductive health and is the author of “We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood.”

[H1] Art Therapy
Art therapy has evolved out of a merging of creative processes with models of counselling, psychotherapy and human development.It is a successful approach/intervention with young people (clients) experiencing emotional/behavioural disturbances, including symptoms of temporary distress, to difficulties which are more deep seated and long term.Art Therapy is a successful medium both for clients who experience difficulty experiencing their feelings verbally and is also a less threatening approach for those who need the safety of the medium before being able to express themselves fully and directly.It follows the lead of the client, allowing the client to make personal interpretations and discoveries. The therapy involves a triangular relationship between the therapist, client, and the art work. Art therapy offers the client a safe environment to explore issues which may be affecting them.
[H1] The Main Principals of the Art Therapy Process
Creating and maintaining a safe, containing, and non-judgmental space which facilitates the client to explore through the artwork; those parts of self which require recognition and integration.The clients use of their own visual imagery provides an alternative to verbal communication, as a picture often speaks louder than words.As the use of creativity, symbols, metaphors and play are a familiar and natural form of communication for young people, the artwork offers a language through which unconscious feelings, wishes, fears, and fantasies can be expressed and explored, thereby a space is created for the acknowledgement and awareness of both inner and outer experiences, this can be a powerfully integrative process.Art Therapy is not art teaching. No artistic skill is needed in order to benefit from the process, however the development of artistic ability can, in itself, be therapeutic.

[H1] Dance Movement Therapy
Dance Movement Therapy is a means of expression within a psycho-therapeutic relationship. It is founded on the principle that movement reflects an individual’s pattern of thinking and feeling. The person is enabled creatively in a process of personal integration and growth. Through supporting the movements of clients, therapy encourages development of new, adaptive movement patterns.Through the movement and dance, each person’s emotional world becomes more tangible. Individuals share some of their personal symbolism and relationships are made visible. Dance Movement Therapy creates a holding environment in which feelings can be expressed, acknowledged and communicated safely. Dance Therapy is practiced as both an individual and group therapy.While the origins of dance as a healing art lie in ancient history, the contemporary profession relies also upon practices developed primarily in Europe and the U.S.A. The profession is informed by continuing professional research.