Dyad Art Therapy

Working with you and your child

Dyadic Art Therapy is a way of working with you and your child with the aim of helping to improve your relationship and communication with each other.

It is a child-centred approach that provides a space to come together, to be creative, and offers the opportunity to think about what may be going on for your child in their emotional world. Within these sessions our aim is to explore the impact of the child’s difficulties on family life and how as a parent/carer you may respond to these. As part of this approach the parent is offered the opportunity to meet with the therapist regularly to discuss and reflect on the Dyadic Art Therapy sessions.

How can it help?

This approach offers your child the space to explore their feelings through using art materials, with the additional benefit of yourself, the parent/carer being there. The therapist is there to help you think and reflect on what your child’s emotional issues are. Parents/carers being present can help give the child a sense of safety. During the sessions the joint work between you and your child can help with communication and understanding, which in turn can have a positive effect on behaviour and your relationship.

What will happen?

Initially the therapist will meet with the parent(s)/carer(s) to identify important issues and decide on the goals for therapy. This may take several sessions before the child actually starts attending. Because the parent/carer plays an active part in the sessions, it is important for us to explore how your own life experiences might have influenced your parenting of your child. During therapy there will be mixture of sessions, some joint sessions with you and your child and some with just yourself. The appointments with yourself and the therapist will give you the opportunity to discuss your thoughts on the joint sessions and any issues that you wish to discuss about your child’s progress.

Goals and Evaluations

It is important to make sure we are on track in achieving the goals that have been agreed at the beginning of therapy. The therapy will be evaluated and reviewed with you regularly.