Art Psychotherapy with Vanessa

06/05/2026

I’ve taken this from the bookshelf this morning for a young person I’m working with to look at. I think he will take something from it. We all need a bit of Charlie Mackesy in our lives sometimes. A beautiful grounding book. ✨

05/05/2026

Please use this link to book the session.

A restorative session combining sound bath and visual journaling to support nervous system regulation, reflection, and inner calm.

18/03/2026

Therapy dogs 🐶
Like many in the healing professions, I’ve had the privilege of being around some of the best in the business 😊

I’ve seen them get to work in a hospice, and education environment - worth their weight in gold. ☺️

🧬 Oxytocin increases
(the “bonding & safety” hormone linked to trust, connection, and emotional regulation) 
• ↓ Cortisol decreases
(the body’s main stress hormone) 
• ❤️ Heart rate and stress responses reduce
even in high-stress situations 
• 🤝 Co-regulation happens between human and dog
meaning nervous systems begin to synchronise and settle together.

I’m looking forward to working alongside Ada, Heidi, and Bessie today ✨

11/03/2026

For every act of harm or cruelty in life, there are countless acts of kindness.

People helping strangers.
Someone offering patience instead of anger.
A child realising empathy feels better than street credibility.
I’ve witnessed all of this and more today. This is down to capacity of course so no judgement for those who can’t give some days.

These moments rarely make headlines, but they are happening everywhere, every day.

It can be easy to believe the darker parts of humanity are winning. And sometimes that feeling is completely understandable. But when we pause and look, there are many people choosing compassion, care, and generosity.

I’m grateful for the people who I have seen choosing kindness.

10/03/2026

Today I’m feeling grateful for a slightly different kind of work day.

My daughter, who is currently studying psychology, has been spending some time with me while I worked from home today as work experience. It’s been really lovely having conversations about psychology, therapy, and the many different ways people come into this field.

Today has been more of an admin and planning day rather than a client-facing one, which made it a good opportunity to talk about the ideas behind the work. I also took her through some of the assessment methods and frameworks that help guide therapeutic practice and support understanding of people’s needs.

She hasn’t accessed anything confidential or client related. But it has been good to share some of the thinking and creativity that sits behind therapeutic practice.

There’s something special about sharing knowledge across generations and seeing that curiosity about understanding people and supporting wellbeing.

And of course… an extra pair of hands to keep the tea flowing always helps ☕️

09/03/2026

During therapy we sometimes use objects to discuss memories and identity. A piece of jewellery, a favourite scarf, a well-worn jumper — they can quietly hold moments from other places, people, and times.

These earrings came from a holiday - I immediately feel uplifted when I wear them, largely due to the memory attached. Today I noticed they match the stitching on my waistcoat. Small pleasures ✨

As well as being memory cues, clothes are a form of expression, and today I am looking forward to Spring being in full bloom, and anticipate the experiences to be had.

08/03/2026

As I prepare a Sunday roast on International Women’s day, I’m feeling deeply grateful for these three incredible humans I get to call my daughters.

They are funny, intelligent, strong, and endlessly entertaining, and moments like this remind me how lucky I am to watch them grow into themselves. The laughter, the curiosity, the way they support each other… it fills my heart.

Raising them is one of the greatest privileges of my life.

Grateful for their humour, their minds, their strength, and the joy they bring into the world (and into my life) every single day.

07/03/2026

This morning I was grateful for the serenity and birdsong outside my window. ✨

Research shows that regularly practising gratitude can influence activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in emotional regulation and empathy (Fox et al., 2015). The brain strengthens what we repeatedly bring our attention to.

Practising gratitude is not about dismissing difficulties or pretending problems do not exist. Rather, it is about creating space to acknowledge moments of meaning, connection, or appreciation alongside life’s challenges.

I was reminded of this recently when watching a person I’m working with visibly shift their emotional state by spreading paint across a canvas. She appeared grateful to have the time and space for the activity. A simple sensory experience is sometimes enough.

Over the days and weeks, I’ll be taking a few moments to notice and share something I feel grateful for and encourage everyone to do the same. 💛

18/02/2026

I didn’t realise, I’d saved two suitcases all together of my children’s drawings and paintings.

What looks like a lot of paper was a timeline of growing up — wobbly marks, bold colour, invented creatures, stick men, feelings in scribbles, stories in symbols.

Children’s artwork isn’t just something they make - it’s something they leave behind as evidence of development.
Each picture holds a moment of how they saw the world and how they felt in it.

They are memory bridges. When they look back at their drawings, they reconnect with earlier versions of themselves — what mattered, what they loved, what they were working through.

I’m storing them carefully. Not as clutter — but as an emotional archive, I hope they will enjoy revisiting for decades to come.

01/02/2026

When we work with image, colour, and form, we’re not aiming to produce something polished. We’re giving inner experience a place to land. Images emerge before explanations. Choices happen before analysis. And sometimes, meaning follows afterwards.

In the creative process, people may begin to notice:
• emotions that were difficult to name
• patterns in how they relate or protect themselves
• long-held tensions or long-forgotten strengths
• feelings that sit side-by-side, rather than neatly resolved

Insight in art therapy rarely arrives as a dramatic “aha.” More often, it’s a subtle moment of alignment — a sense of something inside has been accurately seen.

The artwork becomes a conversation partner: reflective, containing, and unexpectedly honest.

No artistic training is needed — only a willingness to stay present and curious with what appears.

01/02/2026

Posts like this often present relationship guidance as rules — but in therapy we understand these more as skills that develop over time, not switches we flip overnight.

They speak to core healing themes: attachment, boundaries, self-worth, trust, and nervous system safety. These capacities are built through awareness, experience, repair, and support — not pressure or self-criticism.

From a therapeutic perspective, these ideas connect to:

• Choosing reciprocal connection instead of chasing emotional availability
• Repairing self-worth so care doesn’t have to be over-earned
• Learning that consistency matters more than intensity
• Developing boundaries that reduce repeated emotional harm
• Protecting nervous system regulation — not through avoidance, but through wise relational choice
• Giving yourself permission to step back without guilt or self-betrayal

Growth here is rarely instant. It is patterned, embodied, and relational. Discomfort around these themes doesn’t mean failure — it often signals where healing is still in progress.

Art Therapy Reflection Activity: “My Relational Safety Map”

Take a page and divide it into three simple areas using colour or shape:
1. Relationships that feel regulating
Draw, colour, or symbolise qualities of people who feel safe and steady.
2. Relationships that feel dysregulating
Use abstract marks, colour, or texture — no need for names or detail.
3. What supports my boundaries and peace
Add images, words, or symbols to represent protection, steadiness, or self-advocacy.

No artistic skill needed — focus on expression, not appearance.

When finished, notice:
What patterns do you see?
What does your nervous system respond to in each area?