Expressive Arts Therapy in Victoria, BC
Tap into your innate wisdom and creativity
Expressive Arts Therapy can unlock new insights, deepen your self-knowing, and soothe your nervous system
Expressive Arts Therapy is a powerful way to explore emotions, process experiences, and foster personal growth through creative expression. Using visual arts, music, movement, and other modalities, this approach allows you to access deeper emotions beyond words. Whether you are struggling with anxiety, trauma, grief, or simply seeking a new way to connect with yourself, Expressive Arts Therapy offers a safe and supportive space for healing.
Bodymind Counselling offers Expressive Arts Therapy to help clients reconnect with their innate creativity and resilience. No prior artistic experience is necessary—just a willingness to explore.
Curious about Expressive Arts Therapy? Book a free consultation to see how this approach can support your healing journey.
Why try expressive arts therapy?
Creative expression has been used for centuries as a means of processing emotions and experiences. Expressive Arts Therapy is based on this natural human impulse, integrating different approaches to facilitate self-discovery and healing. Unlike traditional talk therapy, this approach allows you to bypass overthinking and engage with emotions in a more embodied way.
Expressive Arts Therapy can be applied to many of the common issues that bring people to counselling, including anxiety, depression, trauma, stress, and life transitions. This approach is also effective for individuals who feel disconnected from themselves, struggle with self-expression, or simply want to access new perspectives on personal challenges.
Engaging in creative expression can regulate the nervous system, expand emotional awareness, and unlock insights that may not surface through words alone. Our therapist integrates Expressive Arts Therapy with other modalities such as somatic therapy, mindfulness, and emotion-focused work to provide holistic support.
Meet Your Expressive Arts Therapist
Özlem Mavis is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor and an expressive arts therapist. Her approach is gentle, experiential, creative, collaborative, and anti-oppressive. Oz has a particular interest in supporting people through their heartbreak and relational wounds, trauma, anxiety, life transitions, immigration or major moves, and quest for home and belonging. She is working towards her RCC under the supervision of Sarah Pullman.
Frequently Asked Questions about Expressive Arts Therapy
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No artistic background is needed! Expressive Arts Therapy is about self-expression, not artistic skill. The focus is on the process and what emerges, rather than the end result.
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While traditional talk therapy primarily involves verbal processing, Expressive Arts Therapy uses creative expression as a tool for exploration. This allows you to engage with emotions and experiences in a nonverbal, embodied way, which can be especially helpful for those who struggle to articulate their feelings.
Rather than thinking in terms of number of sessions, often people with complicated trauma histories and many ACEs are better served by seeking out a therapist that they feel comfortable and safe with, and then thinking about counselling as an ongoing investment in their wellbeing and recovery over time.
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The studio has a wide range of nature-based materials and art supplies for various kinds of creative exploration. Depending on your preferences and therapeutic goals, sessions may include drawing, painting, clay work, collage, movement, writing, music and more. Our therapist will guide you in using these modalities in ways that feel safe and supportive.
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Yes! Creative expression can help process trauma, reduce anxiety, and regulate emotions. Many people find that engaging with the arts allows them to release emotions and gain clarity in ways that talking alone may not provide.
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We offer in-person sessions in Victoria, BC at an expressive arts studio in Fernwood.
