Hope you all are at home, safe and  keeping well physically and mentally during these times when a pandemic is hovering over us. Talking of pandemic, How are you guys keeping yourself occupied in these times? Can you imagine being in this situation without Art and Creativity? If your answer is a resounding ‘No’,  you just realised the power and healing potential of art, And that right there is Creative Art Therapy for you in a nutshell.

Now, let’s understand it with a little more depth. Creative Art therapy is the umbrella under which the modality specific therapies fall. It is the area of mental health that uses art based interventions, other creative processes and modalities to explore emotions, reduce anxiety and stress, increase self-esteem, encourage self discovery and resolve other psychological conflicts. Through experiential methods,these Creative Therapy Sessions engage the mind, body, and spirit in ways that are distinct from verbal articulation alone. 

Now,  there can be two approaches to conduct/facilitate these sessions, Therapy and Therapeutic. While everything that happens in an Art Therapy Session is therapeutic in nature, the same can’t be said in a situation the other way around. The key difference here is, in a Creative Art Therapy Session, Your art therapist is highly trained in various art forms (visual art, music, creative movement, drama and poetry etc) as well as psychology, and he or she will have a more psychology oriented approach to guide you in the process of creating art (or expression) using specific types of materials (and methods), whereas in a therapeutic activity, the modalities can be more varied and experimental and can be directed towards individuals as well as a group setting. The good news is, we at Taal Inc. have in-house experts for both who have worked with a wide range of populations such as special needs children, geriatric populations, at risk groups, hearing or visually imapaired adults/ children and individuals seeking counseling and therapy using Creative Art Therapy through  modalities such as Drumming, Music Making, Theatre and Creative writing on individual and group level with the focus on the process and not the end result.

Once this storm passes, the need for such processes will be even more essential as individuals and communities, to connect deeply with oneself and others around us and the process of art and creation has magical abilities to help us leave this behind with positivity and a big smile on our faces. Do give us a shoutout whenever you’re in need of experiencing this magical and healing process with your loved ones or colleagues and we’ll be more than happy to be of help. Until then, Stay Home! Stay Safe! 

Come. Drum. Be One. 

Aman Joshi

Taal Inc. Drum Circle Facilitator