Kim Harrison
Art therapy psychotherapistAbout Me
Due to Covid19 I work online. Concessions for key workers/students/low income. Initial session is free. Group sessions are available for keyworker colleagues to process trauma, stress, grief.
Explore creative, nature-based mindfulness practices which you can 'take-away' as a personal resilience toolkit to aid wellbeing between sessions. There is no need to have access to outdoor space at the time of the sessions themselves.
Current drop-in groups offered:
Covid shielding/self-isolating/struggling/quarantining community support group
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/127472604993
Parent/guardian/grandparents community support group
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/127475078391
Nature connection for wellness, stress/anxiety relief
8th Nov: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/123522110959
15th Nov: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/118360245681
22nd Nov: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/123522923389
I am a heart-centred nature-based art therapist, drawing on a range of trainings and approaches. My sessions are usually a blend of art therapy, ecotherapy and mindfulness. I offer lighter-touch one-off sessions focusing on enhancing nature connection, as well as longer-term individual, family, and group nature-based art therapy. I am also offering various online Covid community support groups for parents/caregivers and those who are self-isolating/shielding/struggling with lockdown restrictions - see my website or contact me for details www.oneheARTnatureconnection.co.uk/events
How nature can resource us:
Online nature-based art therapy invites you to listen to your body and the rhythm of the natural cycles. Enhancing our connection to the natural world can help anchor us amongst challenging circumstances. Offering a feeling of being held in something greater than ourselves, and coming into balance with natural rhythms cycles, and a slower pace.
As Ecotherapy becomes more mainstream, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the multiple mental, emotional and physical benefits of spending time in nature that many of us experience first hand. For example, a recent report by the national mental health charity Mind, and Derby University has a research department dedicated to nature connection.
"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature."
(Joseph Campbell)
Focus in sessions:
The sessions are time for you, space to breathe, to connect to your body, your inner world, and make sense of the world we are now inhabiting.
It is rare to have a confidential space to explore ourselves and our concerns, and perhaps this is even more rare lately with lockdown and spending more time at home.
We can explore whatever you wish, reflect on the past, where you're at now, and hopes for the future. Integrating these insights and self-acceptance into a more resilient version of yourself.
Tapping into your innate creativity:
My aim is for you to feel supported in a non-judgemental way, and for you to explore your playful creativity if you wish. There is no pressure to make art, but it can be a useful tool where words fail and bring unconscious aspects of ourselves to the surface.
No prior artistic experience is necessary.
The way we use art in the sessions is as a form of creative emotional expression. It is not about creating 'good' art, it is not an art class and no artistic talent is necessary.
How do online sessions work?
Your creative participation is invited using whatever you have to hand. This may be pencil and paper, junk from your recycling, old magazines, or fallen leaves, sticks, mud, feathers collected from your daily walks. Whatever you feel drawn to use.
We can do little outdoor excursions online together if outside space is accessible to you. Or we can run through mindfulness exercises on Zoom that can be practiced outdoors at a later point in time. We can also reflect on experiences you have had outdoors outside of our sessions. Wonder at the artistry of natural creation, glimmers of light through foliage, tumbling upside down into reflected skies in puddles, feeling the texture of tree skin against your human skin.
Areas where I have the most experience include:
- Nature Deficit Disorder
- Anxiety and stress
- Burnout
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Managing change and major life transitions
- Feeling isolated/stuck
- Self-esteem/confidence
- Coping with long term chronic pain
- Coping with long term illness
Issues often worked with
Types of therapy
Therapy offered
Client groups
Fees
Group sessions:
£3-£5 per person on a self assessed sliding scale. (see Eventbrite links above for current groups)
Individual sessions:
I charge £50 per session. Your initial assessment session will be free.
I offer concessions for key workers, students and anyone with a low income. Please do not let financial difficulty impede your access to help, I maintain a proportion of my clients as concessionary rates, and offer some (limited) free sessions to key workers.
Group rates and family rates differ - please get in touch to discuss.
Training and qualifications
I am an accredited member of the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC) and British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). I have regular supervision and am committed to continuing personal development.
I completed my 3-year Masters level training in Art Psychotherapy at Roehampton University, achieving a Merit.
I have since completed trainings in Woodland Activity Leadership, Nature Connection facilitation, Shamanism for Therapeutic practice, and Nature-based Mindfulness.
Experience:Prior to my therapeutic training I worked with autistic children and young adults for 7 years, and have since worked with autistic clients. Artwork can be a useful tool where language development and understanding is limited, or simply where words fail - for example with intense trauma. The physicality of using art materials can also be cathartic in itself, but art therapy goes deeper, using it to explore your emotions and difficulties. It can also aid the development of fine motor skills.
Before Covid I facilitated groups for children and adults outdoors. Since lockdown I shifted my practice online and have been offering free taster sessions for keyworkers. These one-off self care/wellbeing sessions have provided people with inspiration to deepen their connection with nature (which offers many wellbeing benefits), relaxation and relief from anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness and burnout.
Verified professional membership
Kim Harrison