Healing through creativity

"The Art Therapy Program opened my eyes to parts of myself that I had never really acknowledged on a deeper level."
- Art group member

Sometimes, words aren't enough.

Kapiti Peer support worker Lesley Watkins believes in the healing power of art, because it was an integral part of her own recovery journey. She says when stories are too confronting to speak out loud, art can be a catalyst that helps survivors come to a place of peace with their story.

As facilitator of The Road Forward's inaugural art therapy group, We Draw, Lesley created a safe space for a group of peers to release and process difficult emotions.

Like Lesley, each attendee had been affected by trauma or sexual harm. At the end of the ten-week course, the group presented an exhibition of deeply personal canvas artworks, expressing more than they could ever say with mere words.

Lesley says the group was a huge success, and she was really proud of the art they created. But even more important was the personal growth she saw in each one of them.

One of them told her that despite many years of counselling, nothing else had ever given her such personal awareness before. Another enjoyed it so much that she had taken up painting in her spare time.

Although this was Lesley's first time running an art therapy class, she has many years of both artistic and lived experience behind her, which were pulled together by a recent Interactive Drawing Therapy course. She said she was looking forward to continuing the art group as a regular part of her support services.