
Working with Dreams in Creative Therapy
Dreams contain helpful information from the unconscious and I encourage clients to write down their dreams. It can also be healing to draw or paint images from them. It can be helpful to explore a dream or an image from a dream in therapy. I am not an analyst and do not analyse dreams for clients but can work creatively with dream material. In group work it can be useful to enact a dream, allowing the dreamer to direct the enactment and to observe the dream again consciously.

Image making in Creative Therapy
One way of working imaginatively with emotions and difficulties is to create images. This can be done by drawing, painting, making a collage or modelling in clay/plasticine. The image may represent a feeling state or be an imaginative representation of a problem or life situation. Images may also be taken from dreams. You do not need to be 'good' at art or to create 'perfect' pieces. Finding an image for an emotion or difficult situation can help to create some distance from

Using Stories in Therapy
I use traditional stories, myths and fairytales and sometimes children's stories with groups and individuals. Children understand and enjoy the language of story and stories can help them to safely explore difficult themes. Teenagers and adults may be able to recognise aspects of themselves and their lives in traditional stories and use them to creatively explore problems. C.G.Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, proposed that traditional stories are an expression of the collective

Puppets in Therapy
I have been using puppets in therapy for many years. I use glove puppets, rod puppets and finger puppets with children and adults. Puppets allow clients to quickly take on a character and can facilitate the expression of powerful feelings - while also keeping some distance from what is enacted. Traditional characters like the Wolf, King, Witch or Fairy are recognised by all ages and are easy for clients to connect with. Children can use puppets to act out stories or to play w