Children
Welcome, my name is Karen and I work in primary and secondary schools as a visiting or in-house Somatic Art therapist. I work with children located in North and North West London.
I am passionate about helping children feel heard, seen and understood. My aim is to create a warm, playful, calm and safe environment for the children to express themselves and gain understanding into their difficulties. I have a specialist interest in working with children who find it difficult to verbalise their emotions, and I am skilled in attuning to non-verbal communication and building trust and rapport.
I support children with a wide range of difficulties and diagnoses such as: ADHD; anxiety and depression; autism; bereavement; bullying; disordered attachment; emotional regulation; family dynamics; health issues; neglect and trauma.
I am experienced, and enjoy working with parents, carers, teachers, social workers and other professionals to help facilitate the best outcome for the child. As much of my work is with children in foster care, I can assist in the important thinking needed to formulate a treatment plan with the team around the child, and support on-going reflection using a trauma-informed lens.
To refer a child for art therapy in school please contact me to discuss further.
If you are a social worker and would like to discuss art therapy for a child in foster care please contact me for further information.
If you are a parent seeking art therapy for your child please click here for further information.
Somatic Art Therapy benefits
While Somatic Art Therapy has many benefits for people of all ages, it has particular advantages for working with children:
Art provides a wonderful interest and helps the child feel more relaxed as we focus on the art being made.
As trust is established during on-going weekly sessions the child begins to use the materials in more expressive ways.
Many children might not have access to the words, or even the conscious memory, to describe their past experiences and they can use metaphor to communicate their inner feelings. For example, an angry feeling may be shown in a scribbled, messy picture or expressed more physically with banging fists while using clay within the reassuring, supporting presence of the therapist.
The art materials can ‘contain’ the child’s feelings and then be used to deepen understanding through reflection. The main focus being on the art and what it represents rather then requiring the child to hold eye-contact or rely solely on verbal communication.
Overtime this may build their language for emotions, increase confidence in communication and the opportunity to begin to make links with behaviour past, present and future.
The process of making art can help children develop patience, tolerate mistakes and experience success and joy.
The principles of Somatic Experiencing® work gently and effectively to help children process their stress, overwhelm and trauma by observing their Nervous System responses. I can guide them to use the art materials which may help them to process and renegotiate their past experiences. You can find further information on Somatic Experiencing here.
