Hi, I'm Jessie
I’m an artist and a professionally registered Creative Arts Therapist. I also teach at The MIECAT Institute, facilitating in the Masters program of arts therapy.
I work with a range of people to engage, explore and express their experience in creative ways, using a range of creative arts modalities.
I believe that there is an inherent connection between the creative arts, the process of making it and engaging with it and our sense of self, our wellbeing, and our ways of connecting with others. I feel that the arts can be deeply personal, but are universally relatable.
I believe that by engaging in the creative arts we connect with our preverbal and pre-reflective selves and detach ourselves from the limits of using verbal language and cognition to communicate or make sense of things.
I work in ways to support people to learn more about themselves and provide a space for exploration through the arts, where people can make sense of how they live and consider how they might prefer to live.
Education
BFA
Bachelor of Fine Arts
University of New South Wales
MTAP, AThR
Masters of Therapeutic Arts practice. (Community Arts)
MIECAT institute.
Professionally Registered
Practitioner
What is Creative Arts Therapy?
“Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.”
Creative Arts Therapy explores and observes feelings and experiences through the creative process of Arts making. This could be through, music, sound, movement, writing or art making.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Promotes self-exploration, esteem, understanding, and awareness.
Puts difficult thoughts, feelings and words into an art form, bringing them out of the body and creating a tangible object that can be explored. Big emotions can feel contained as they are held safely outside the body in the representation.
Gives people a way to communicate their story in their own language, giving them ownership of what feels relevant to them.
Arts making is meta-verbal, it sits beyond words and more often arrives before them. It engages a whole-body way of experiencing that often is sidelined by the rational, cognitive functions of our neocortex.
The use of the materials themselves can be therapeutic.
It can be liberating, as there are no rules. It’s a way to explore and play, without needing to start straight away with an answer.
There is no judgement of good or bad art, just expression. The representation is not thought of as a product, it’s a form of communication. It doesn’t have to be aesthetically pleasing, finished or valuable.
It orientates you into the present moment. Seeing what is there for you in your current space. In this way it can reduce moments of anxiety or sensations linked with trauma.
Services
I work in different settings with a range of people to engage, explore and express their experience in creative ways, using a broad spectrum of creative arts modalities.
Community Arts projects
Working in public and private spaces to build and reconnect communities through the Arts.
Individual sessions
Working with individuals to engage and explore meanings and experiences.
Reflective Practice Supervision
Supervision is considered an ethical requirement for all therapists. I offer one to one supervision sessions using multi-modal arts based methods of inquiry.
Testimonials
“The mix of activities was great. The facilitator did a great job of facilitating reflective discussions. ”
“Very good at checking in with people’s experiences. Please come again.”
“Created a safe, relaxed space, exuded genuine curiosity and passion. Overall the workshop was amazing! great feedback from staff and I saw it as facilitating some great bonds. ”
Contact
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![Working @MIECAT this week to welcome a new wave of students to the master’s program.
I had the joy of co-facilitating an experience that invited students to engage with their experience through their senses. We set out a table filled with culi]()
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![Working with others requires presence, attunement and the capacity to continually negotiate personal and contextual ethics. Here are some images (shared with permission) of an engagement I had recently.
Before we began any ‘work’ togethe]()
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![Progress shots. Making stencils from the natural environment.]()
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![Some final photos of the mural for @banyulecouncil made by the community at the #malahangfestival
We had around 200 members of the local community (including one delightful dog!) contribute to this artwork.
Before handing the artwork over to the co]()
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![Our busy paint station at the #malahangfestival yesterday.]()
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![What an amazing day! We had such an enthusiastic response to the project with around 200 members of the community coming together to paint. There was so much joy as people connected with each other. Families painting together, friends and neighbours]()