Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA, IACAET Guided Drawing is a bilateral approach to body mapping. The guidance refers to inner guidance, not to instructions from a therapist. Sensorimotor has emerged as a term to describe body focused psychotherapies that use a bottom-up approach. Sensorimotor Art Therapy encourages the awareness of implicit body sensations in the muscles, the viscera, the heart rate, and the breath. It also encourages to explore emotions as body sensations, rather than through the story attached to them. The drawing process is not neces ..read more

      Chris Storm AThR, SEP and Clare Jerdan AThR, MA Gestalt The Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy was recently invited to participate in the inaugural Art Therapy Conference for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), held in Abu Dhabi over October 17-18, 2023. Our highly experienced Institute faculty members Clare Jerdan and Chris Storm attended the conference, held workshops and presented to the delegates. The conference was sponsored by the Centre for Sheltering and Humanitarian Care of the Victims of Human Trafficking (EWAA).  EWAA is a local government organisat ..read more

The Trauma Therapist Project   For the last several years Guy Macpherson has dedicated himself to the study of trauma, post-traumatic growth, and most recently, the intersection of trauma and psychosis - specifically assessing and treating signs of early psychosis. He holds a Doctorate in clinical psychology and with The Trauma Therapist Project brings together resources for clinicians and therapist of all kinds who are starting out on their trauma-informed journey. In this interview Cornelia Elbrecht and Guy Macpherson discuss the hands-brain connection and how at the Clay Fie ..read more

      “The end of all exploring Will be to arrive where we have started And know the place for the first time” T.S.Elliot The philosopher Edmund Husserl (1931) formulated phenomenology as a theoretical construct. His interest was to learn what the direct experience of the person is and what meaning they attach to their experience. Husserl recognised that reality is always played out in the present tense, not the past and not the future. That if access is gained to sensory input of a person’s original experience in the here and now, then we would be able to view that person ..read more

      Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA, IACAET When the earthquake shook an area the size of Portugal in southeast Turkey and northern Syria, at least 56 thousand people died, 126 000 suffered non-fatal injuries and at least 2.6 million people were displaced. I was asked by the Psychology Department of Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul to speak about trauma-informed strategies to support large groups affected by a natural disaster. An event such as this earthquake is overwhelming for all involved, even the news were overwhelming to watch. And while the world by ..read more

      Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA, IACAET In a recent group discussion, the question arose about the difference between stabilization and pendulation. The term stabilization in the context of trauma therapy was coined by psychiatrist Pierre Janet (1859 – 1947), a pioneer, who profoundly influenced the work of Freud, Jung and Adler. His approach to treating traumatized clients was a three-stage model that is still relevant today. Stabilization: before it is safe to access any upsetting material, it is important that the client is sufficiently resourced, b ..read more

      Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA While I was still an Ugly Duckling, secretly reading novels by torchlight underneath my bedcovers, I discovered a world of likeminded Swans, where my spirit belonged. My wild emotions resonated with the music I listened to throughout my teens. I know I am preaching to the converted with this blog, however research always adds another level of credibility to something we seem to know but have no evidence for. Recently I stumbled on a collection of studies by Dr Jess Bone, a Research Fellow in Statistics/Epidemiology in the ..read more

      Haptic perception is the perception through touch. Our hands are superbly fine-tuned perceptual instruments. They play a far more important role for art therapy than has been acknowledged so far. Touch is the most fundamental of human experiences. Infants rely on touch to feel safe and loved; to be rocked, held and soothed calms them and regulates their nervous system. We comfort each other through a hug, friends are ‘in touch’ with each other, we relax with a massage, our body-rhythms synchronize through touch[1]. Love, sexuality as well as violence are primarily co ..read more

   The past weeks here in Australia have seen issues relating to gendered violence and sexual abuse being raised yet again.  Unfortunately this is something that women constantly have been conscious of and now evidenced as being recipients of yet again.  So many women I know are angry, sad, outraged, exhausted and triggered in their own histories of abuse. I have worked over 40 years supporting people to process these experiences, and there is one common thread that reveals itself time and time again – the long term impacts these acts of abuse and violence have on women and ..read more

      Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA Many times I read the mental health records of children and teens and shudder at the long list of ASD and ADHD related diagnoses, while I wonder how much these young clients’ learning and behavioural difficulties are in fact caused by developmental trauma. For young children, threat is not about what is actually dangerous, but about what their brain perceives as such. This can happen from real threats or perceived threats – the brain will respond the same way to both. Trauma affecting the Sensory Division of the Brain The ..read more