Art therapy clinicians focus on the process of making rather than the artistic product, which allows our clients to gain insights about their situations and develop inner emotional resilience. She feels that: ‘For everyone, in one way or another, making art not only afforded relief, but also a boost in self-confidence – and hope’. Lemarquis explains that, in a process helped by mirror neurons, activated when observing art, we can get the feeling that we are participating in art’s creation, or putting ourselves in the artist’s shoes. Too often, we become viewers of others’ art rather than being active creators, and we lose the many benefits of creative self-expression.

When she’s not recording under the name Sarah Jickling and Her Good Bad Luck, Sarah can be found spreading mental health awareness at local high schools with Reach Out Psychosis, a touring presentation developed by the BC Schizophrenia Society.At Hagar, we have seen even the most closed off individuals begin to open up via guided art therapy”. For me, in the beginnings of trauma recovery, art helped me to communicate what I couldn’t find words for and allowed me to be with the painful reality of trauma in a way that didn’t consume me.

At the beginning of this book, we come across a few interesting areas; for example on page 12 onwards we look at ‘Art History’. A deep sense of grief and loss underlies trauma, and art therapy provides a metaphorical way to address the complex inner struggles of service members.

Chapter three is surprising, with a lot of text set out as exercises for us to follow – even questions for us to answer.