Opportunity: Creative Arts Therapies

Applications for the Creative Arts Therapies pilot programme, which involves 12 free weekly sessions with a Creative Arts Therapist, are open now.

Minding Creative Minds offer a growing list of services developed from consistent interactions with the creative sector; questions and requests received from peers via monthly meet and greet sessions, social media, email communications, and in-person gatherings. The addition of Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) to their well-being service was a natural step to continue to support those working in the Irish creative sector in all is forms.

Any member of the Irish Creative Sector can apply for 12 free weekly sessions with a Creative Arts Therapist at mindingcreativeminds.ie.

Creative Arts Therapies are evidence-based health care professions. It is an umbrella term incorporating 4 professions; Art Therapy, Dance-Movement Therapy, Drama therapy, and Music Therapy.

Creative Arts Therapies is the planned and prescribed use of creative processes with a qualified therapist working to support and enhance the psychological and social well-being of individuals. CAT is used to help people interpret, express, and resolve their emotions and thoughts through the creative process of the arts. Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are based on the idea that creative expression can foster mental health and support wellbeing.

All Creative Art Therapists are master’s level qualified in their specific medium and are registered with the Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists (IACAT) and they can integrate knowledge of the arts with principles of psychotherapy and related fields.

CAT is not about a teaching or CPD but about using the arts for self-discovery and self-expression within the safety of a therapeutic framework. Artists can use their own medium or another creative medium to address any issues or stresses that arise through work, any anxieties, and the demands of everyday life, and in supporting mental health.

To apply for sessions or to learn more, visit mindingcreativeminds.ie.

Image: Nicola Kealy (Creative Therapist), Rebecca O’Connor (Creative Arts Therapies Supervisor), Eithne Swaine (Creative Therapist), Shane Cassidy (Creative Therapist). Picture Credit: Ray Keogh