Creative Arts Therapy & Music Therapy

Creative arts therapy encompasses a group of therapeutic approaches that use creative processes, such as music, art, dance, movement, drama, and writing, to support emotional exploration, improve mental health, and enhance overall well-being. It is effective for people of all ages and can address a wide range of issues, including trauma, anxiety, and depression. By engaging in the creative process, clients can express feelings that might be difficult to articulate with words alone. By offering alternative methods to express emotions, creative modalities can be utilized to support a trauma-informed approach to psychotherapy. Creativity engages the mind/body connection which can often be disrupted by traumatic events. Creative processing allows the client to explore symbolically, which creates avenues for indirect expression. This approach can create enhanced safety and control by allowing the client to move at a pace that is comfortable to them. Creative arts therapy can foster emotional regulation, resilience, connection and agency while cultivating a path towards healing. 

Music therapy is a modality under the creative arts therapy umbrella. It is the "clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Music therapy interventions can address a variety of healthcare and educational goals: Promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, enhance memory, improve communication, and promote physical rehabilitation" (AMTA, 2005). It is not required that a client know how to play an instrument in order to engage in music therapy.