Blog notes from the Room: on art therapy and beyond.
We write about art therapy, EMDR, and what surfaces in the work — for people considering this kind of therapy, and people already inside it. Plain language, real evidence, no wellness theater.
EMDR Resourcing: The Grounding Tools You Build Before the Hard Part
Resourcing is the part of EMDR where you build steadiness before processing anything. It is the tools, images, and practiced skills that keep you grounded when the work gets heavy.
What Actually Happens in Your First EMDR Session
Booking a first EMDR session usually comes with a specific worry: that you will walk in, sit down, and be asked to relive the worst thing that ever happened to you, in detail, to a person you met four minutes ago.
Art Therapy for Eating Disorders: What It Can and Can't Do
An eating disorder doesn't stay in its lane. It moves into your thoughts, your plans, the way you see yourself in a shop window.
Types of Therapists: A Plain-English Guide to Who Does What
You finally decide to find a therapist, and the first thing the internet hands you is alphabet soup. LMHC, LCSW, PsyD, LCAT.
What Is Expressive Arts Therapy? An Umbrella Term, Explained
If you've been looking for therapy that involves more than talking, you've probably hit a tangle of terms: expressive arts therapy, creative arts therapy, art therapy…
Art Journaling: How to Start and Why It Helps
What art journaling is, how to start with just a pen, and prompts to try - plus when a journal is enough and when an art therapist makes it safer.
Art therapy for seniors: memory, meaning, and making something with your hands
Later life is still generative. Art therapy for seniors uses making art to support memory, life review, and a kinder relationship with the body.
How to Become an Art Therapist: The Real Path, Start to Finish
An art therapist is a trained mental-health clinician who uses art-making as a way into the work — not an art teacher, and not someone running a craft class for calm.
Art Therapy Research: What the Science Actually Says
Does art therapy actually work? The research says yes — less anxiety, steadier mood — but mostly with a trained therapist in the room.
How does art therapy work?
Making art at home helps. But helping isn't the same as therapy. The difference is the trained therapist in the room — noticing what you can't, and holding it with you.
Art Therapy vs EMDR
Both are recommended for trauma. Both sound nothing like talk therapy. Which is right for you depends on what you need — and they're often the right call together.
Art Therapy Techniques
Art therapy techniques fall into three approaches, and we move between them depending on what you brought in that day. Here's what each one looks like in the room.
What Is an Art Therapist?
An art therapist is a licensed psychotherapist who happens to work with materials. Same clinical training as any therapist — the art is one tool, not a substitute.