Boo Xu Ning
Registered Art Psychotherapist, Registered MOE Instructor
MA Art Therapy, B. A Psychology (Hons)
Specialisation: Children, Teenagers, and Adults with Complex Trauma
Xu Ning is a trauma-informed art psychotherapist with a keen interest in working with children, teenagers, and adults who have experienced complex trauma. During her training as an art psychotherapist, she worked with individuals who struggled with addiction, as well as children, teens, and adults who experienced adverse childhood experiences.
During her free time, Xu Ning enjoys working on different types of crafts, from weaving to clay work and embroidery. She is intrigued by materials that evoke sensorial touch and incorporates them into her art-making.
As a child, she often gets distracted from completing her homework and be caught piecing together objects found around her home to create toys or jewelry. Little did she know that her curiosity and interest in using found objects as materials can one day be what she does professionally.
For her Master’s in Art Therapy thesis, she researched and wrote about the topic of Psychic Skin, which she later presented at the 2019 Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association Conference. The thesis topic was inspired by her work with young children at a child protection agency during her art therapy training.
Through her work and research, she noticed the importance of sensorial work, bodily/nervous system regulation, and the formation of a sense of safety through one’s own skin and body.
Xu Ning is currently a practicing art psychotherapist at Solace Art Psychotherapy. At Solace, she works with children, youths, and working adults who experienced complex trauma. Her knowledge and openness to different art materials have allowed clients who are not familiar or comfortable with art-making to slowly ease into expressing themselves through art.
Xu Ning is also a trauma-informed art therapist who strongly believes that the trauma does not define the individual and that beneath all the trauma, there is a healthy individual waiting to surface.
She believes that her work as an art psychotherapist not only comprises journeying with her clients to work through their traumas and challenges but also improving their overall well-being and state of life.
Xu Ning was also privileged to be directly trained via workshops and webinars by experts in the field of art psychotherapy and trauma:
- NICABM’s Treating Trauma Master Series featuring Dr Bessel van der Kolk, Dr Daniel Siegel, Dr Pat Ogden, Dr Peter Levine, Dr Allan Schore and etc
May 2021 - Social Thinking’s Helping Students Gain Perspective on Their Emotions
Dec 2020 - Trauma Skills Summit
Aug 2020 - ANZACATA Conference (Presented on Fluid media as substitute psychic skin in art therapy with young children within protective services)
Sep 2019 - Cornelia Elbrecht’s Introduction to Clay Field
Aug 2019 - Jordan Potash & Lisa Raye Garlock’s Jungian Concepts of Creativity: Heuristic Inquiry into Compensation and Integration
Jun 2019 - Neil Springham’s Mentalizing in Art Therapy
Jun 2019 - Pamela Whitaker’s Art Therapy Out of Bound
Feb 2019 - David Trevelyan’s Cyber Intuitive Balancing Act
Sep 2018 - Gráinne T. Young Embodied Listening through Sensory Perception and Heart Intelligence
Aug 2018 - Caroline Essame’s Developmental Art Therapy, Mark Making, Attachment and Autism
Mar 2018 - Dr. Lisa Hinz’s Artistic and Traditions & Neuroscience Transitions: The Expressive Therapies Continuum Articulates the Art & Science of Art Therapy
Feb 2018 - Dr. Lisa Hinz’s Expanding the Lens of Art Therapy: The Expressive Therapies Continuum as a Path to Life Enrichment and Optimal Health
Feb 2018 - Dr. Abbe Miller’s El Duende Process Painting: A Path to Transformation
Jan 2018