Share review of Community Services - Bradford District Care Trust

Community Services - Bradford District Care Trust 2018-09-09 Person 5 5 0

Art Psychotherapy There is so much to say that it's difficult to begin, but I don't think I could have had better care than in the art sessions with the art psychotherapist and feel very grateful and lucky to have been given one and a half years of 1:1 therapy. I think I will always sail close to the wind and have quite a self damning internal world, but I have an awareness of it now - know the processes so am better equipped to take this harshness with a pinch of salt. I enjoyed the conversations particularly, the therapist's keen mind invigorated my own and woke up a part in me that had laid dormant. Her absolute conviction in the importance of creativity and its preciousness taught me to respect and value what I'd done and be less flippant about these gifts. I enjoy grey areas and enquiry and the therapist was generous enough to indulge me and make me think in new ways about old certainties. We also unearthed a few sore points in my past and attitude to myself which as a result of revisiting and gnawing over gave me fresh insights. Her natural respect for others shone through so that I always felt safe and cared for in the sessions, never patronised. A sign of my comfort was how the shyness I initially worked with the art materials left until I approached each session with an energy and concentration, almost keen to perform. There was usually anxiety before I'd set off from home despite my enthusiasm, knowing that the process might turn me inside out, or sometimes reveal what I didn't have the stamina for. On a few occasions I left flat, but generally as my wife observed the sessions used to buoy me up. It's no coincidence that I have given up alcohol (sheer liquid pleasure), and have just given a printing demonstration at the opening of a group exhibition where I'm showing 20 pieces, or that I draw in public at the Cliffe Castle Museum every week. I'm quite a shy man but my belief in what I can do, and enthusiasm for my future as an artist, friend and as a good person has been thanks to the therapist's encouragement and the constant belief and support of my wife that these sessions were of great value. I've gone on a bit, but Thank you!