Drawing from the Heart: Art Therapy at Destiny Haven
You may have heard that diamonds participate in art therapy at Destiny and have probably seen some of their thoughtful and creative pieces. But what exactly is art therapy?
Facilitated on a weekly basis, art therapy is a component of the emotional and psychological wellbeing program for women at Destiny Haven. Art therapy is based on the concept that creative expression through drawing, painting and other mediums has the capacity to help release blocked energy painful emotions create in the body.
The staple of the Destiny art therapy program is a seven step module involving a series of guided exercises to be paced over a number of weeks. At the beginning of a new module, diamonds are encouraged to select a painful issue they wish to find some healing from, perhaps a childhood trauma such as the death of a parent, or a more current concern such as their addiction to a substance or a codependent relationship. The women are taught to listen to their hearts, as opposed to their minds, through body centring exercises in our art therapy space, filled with art supplies and calming music. With their hearts as a source of inner wisdom, progressively exploring more healing and positive ways to respond to the painful events and circumstances they have experienced.
The exercises are structured by prompts such as, “Draw an image of how your soul feels about the pain you wish to heal,” or, “Draw your emotional block to healing.” After completing their art piece, each exercise is followed by a series of processing questions that help the mind interpret the image drawn from the heart. At the end of an art therapy session, the facilitator invites the group to come together and share their creations and personal discoveries, and diamonds may often also choose to take their pieces to counselling for further exploration.
Women who have participated in the Destiny program will often cite art therapy as a key source of insight and healing from their time with us. After completing the module with one issue, diamonds will then select a new issue and repeat the process once again, offering a cyclical theme for ongoing healing and growth throughout their program and beyond should they wish to maintain the practice.
