Art Therapy for Mental Health Services
Mental health has been under the spotlight in Singapore recently. With the Covid-19 pandemic and increased isolation, statistics from a Singapore mental health study have shown that 21.5% of respondents in the 18-29 age group struggle with concentration and feel low self-worth.
Globally, the World Health Organisation has even designated 22 October as World Mental Health Day. This day reminds everyone that we must strive to normalise talking about such issues to support mental well-being.
Persistent feelings of helplessness and frustration have no easy fixes. While certain good habits such as physical activity and taking breaks can help alleviate some tension, coping with poor mental health requires professional help. In the long term, seeking professional aid improves mental wellness so that you can lead a better quality of life overall. Discover what psychotherapists at Solace can do for you.
Why Your Mental Health is Important
When we fall sick, we visit a doctor. Physical symptoms of ill-health are usually visible and others can tell whether we are physically able to keep up. However, mental health issues are invisible. But that does not mean mental health is any less important.
A person may struggle with intense negative feelings but still perform normally at work or school. Since mental illness is not apparent, we might not know when a person is suffering and requires help. On our own, we might not even think we need mental health professionals' help.
But poor mental health can lead to many adverse outcomes. It can affect sleep and appetite. With prolonged suffering, the sufferer may feel less motivated to work or lose interest in living their lives. As a result, they may start to neglect their responsibilities and feel helpless or purposeless.
These overwhelming feelings can result in depression, self-harm, suicidal attempts, substance/alcohol abuse and even eating disorders as unhealthy coping mechanisms for some people.
Some other signs may include sleeping longer but still feeling tired all the time. Some people might even have physical symptoms such as headaches or nausea. For others, it can aggressively vent their frustrations on their family. In the long term, this might lead to strained relationships. Seeking professional help with a trauma trained professional at Solace can help you tackle these issues and improve your quality of life.
What happens when we don't get help for mental health conditions?
The ongoing pandemic has resulted in a high degree of mental health conditions surfacing. In addition, the increased isolation and abrupt changes caused by the epidemic have led to huge uncertainty for many.
For some, lifestyle changes such as working from home or spending more time at home result in more tension. Perhaps it is a blurring of work-life boundaries as one struggles to manage professional and domestic life. Or maybe it's a loss of jobs as the economy slows down.
Either way, these stressors at home can build up. When people cannot cope, they might resort to extreme reactions such as lashing out at their loved ones. These acts of aggression are mental health-related issues. Indeed, the news has reported a higher incidence of domestic violence with the Covid-19 pandemic.
We might not even know that our mental well-being is suffering until our loved ones point it out to us. So, it's essential to check in with ourselves.
According to HealthHub, signs that you need help include negative thoughts and mood swings. Unfortunately, a negative stigma surrounds getting help for mental health conditions.
However, seeking professional help from the right therapist should not be seen as a sign of weakness. Instead, it is about building a resilient mindset to cope with feelings of negativity. It's just like going to see a doctor when you are ill.
You can live a more fulfilling life and support your loved ones with better mental health by embarking on your mental wellness journey at Solace today.
How Art Therapy Can Help
The difference between normal counselling sessions and art therapy is the creative process of artmaking that facilitates non-verbal communication. For some people, seeking help from a mental therapist one-on-one can feel intimidating. Verbalising emotions takes an emotional toll as you might not have the mental resources to explain your thoughts.
Art therapy is a form of non-verbal, expressive therapy that benefits emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health through the creative process of artmaking in a safe space.
You do not need artistic skills to get started. Each session in Solace involves sensorial and kinesthetic experiences that let people open up, providing new insights to understanding their lives better.
Art therapy sessions allow trained professionals to assess and identify underlying root causes of known and unknown difficulties that people might face. These might be past trauma experiences that sufferers are unaware of and are affecting them.
Engaging in visual expression through a multi-sensory experience offers a form of self-expression that can be cathartic, revealing, and meaningful.
Solace Art Psychotherapy provides a gentle way of surfacing emotions or experiences that may be difficult to verbalise. Visual expression allows the emergence and re-framing of difficult experiences and feelings, guiding the client to a clearer understanding and path to resolution and healing.
With art therapy, you can start expressing your challenges with the art psychotherapist in a safe space at Solace.
Art Therapy for Mental Health
You do not need artistic skills to have art therapy sessions. At Solace, art therapy does not just help you understand the stress triggers in your life. You might also experience these sessions for personal development and growth. Youths and adults alike are welcome to try these sessions.
In an art therapy session, clients will make art in any form, whether they consider themselves artists or not. Artmaking is part of a process of self-discovery in a safe space. The creative process also lets them feel more in control over their lives. This process is pleasant on its own, but this is not the only activity in an art therapy session.
In an art therapy session, an individual may engage in any of the following art making processes:
- painting
- drawing
- stitching
- sculpting
- doodling and scribbling
Although our trauma-informed, registered art psychotherapists at Solace guide these processes, what may emerge is the client's unfiltered visual response to an existing struggle that they may be experiencing.
The client and their art therapist will discuss the artwork to unpack this visual reference. For example, they may explore what objects, people, and images that do and do not appear in the artwork. Understanding the final artwork can externalise difficulties that the person is facing. Seeking treatment for mental health issues is the first step.
The sessions also equip clients with grounding techniques using art that can help a person cope with anxiety or overwhelming emotions. Ultimately, these techniques will improve mental wellness as a person develops healthy coping mechanisms.
Session Rates
Single Session ($210)
We encourage new clients to experience one or two single sessions with our art psychotherapists before taking up a package to ensure the best client-therapist fit.
Package of 10 Sessions ($1800)
We highly recommend clients consider taking up the one package as it allows our art psychotherapists to have sufficient sessions to embark on a healing journey with our clients.
Package of 5 Sessions ($950)
From the second package onwards, if required.
Each session is up to 90 minutes long. Absolutely no artistic skills or prerequisites are needed for our psychotherapy sessions.
We also highly recommend clients take a package of 10 sessions ($1800) so our professional art psychotherapists can embark on a healing journey with our clients. Afterwards, they can sign up for 5 sessions ($950) from the second package onwards. Reach out to us via WhatsApp or our Contact Form to start your healing journey with our experienced art psychotherapists today.