Art Psychotherapist

This piece is a demonstration of an art therapy process called a bilateral drawing.  Carole is an Art Psychotherapist and Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and often uses the bilateral drawing process as a way to ground clients in the here and now.  Researchers indicate that “In the process of reparation from psychological trauma, various forms of bilateral stimulation or movement seem to be effective in engaging cross-hemisphere activity in the brain (Shapiro, 2001) and in art therapy possibly because it reconnects “thinking” and “feeling” (Malchiodi, 2003/2011) via the sensory-based processes involved in art-making.” Malchiodi (2015), also explains that bilateral stimulation may help regulate body and mind, allowing trauma survivors' explicit memory to be reconnected with their implicit memory.

In this image, Carole began with exploration of breath and movement, painting with both hands simultaneously throughout the process.  As often is the case with art therapy invitations, the art morphs into expression of the unconscious, speaking what needs to be spoken.  She comments “Breath turned to anger, turned to grief for our burning, flooded and massacred world, is it too late or will Mother Earth reclaim her future?”