CBPT Tools: USE OF EXPRESSIVE ARTS

Expressive arts offer the child the confidence and freedom they need to express themselves. Children feel at ease when they play, draw and create. By incorporating play techniques into the therapeutic process, the therapist is able to establish the relationship more easily.

In Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy, CBT techniques are integrated with the expressive arts in order to facilitate contact with emotional-sensorial states, their tolerance and modulation through the strengthening of the sense of self and self-efficacy. The expressive arts are a valuable tool for connecting with one’s emotional experience, encouraging self-expression, developing coping and control skills, promoting self-esteem and self-awareness, facilitating self-control, reducing suffering and empowering self-efficacy.

The expressive arts training proposes the use of various artistic tools and materials (for example, drawing, collage, painting, sculpture, writing, clay and plasticine modeling, book making) to facilitate the development and change of the child. The goal is to deal with the child’s problems in a non-threatening way, giving him the opportunity to devise a creative way to move the child’s defenses and create a safe environment in which to recognize, expose and process his emotions.