- About
- Our Services
Individual Therapy
Body Based Therapy
Group Based Therapy
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- Contact
- About
- Our Services
Individual Therapy
Body Based Therapy
Group Based Therapy
- Clinician Support
- Education
- Contact
A safe and transformative way for individuals to explore and heal from emotional challenges using art
Explore a new path to healing with Art Therapy at Birchtree. Engage in the creative process within a supportive group setting, allowing you to express feelings that words alone cannot capture.
Anxiety and depression often manifest in ways difficult to articulate. By exploring yourself through creativity, you can connect with your feelings, understand your relationships, and gain valuable insights.
You don’t need any artistic skills to benefit from our Art Therapy, just a curiosity about the healing power of creativity. Our sessions provide time for individual art-making and group processing and exploration of the created images.
We ensure a safe, gentle, yet powerful exploration process within the group. We address the themes that arise to encourage insight and support you in working through both conscious and unconscious material.
Our next term starts from Friday, 2nd February 2024 and will run for 10 weeks.
There are two groups that run on Fridays for 1.5hrs, starting 2nd February 2024 (for 10 weeks).
10:30am – 12:00pm
1:30pm – 3:00pm
Top floor, Group room, Birchtree Centre, 58 Parramatta Road, Forest Lodge.
Nicola Slack AThR and Jennifer Dustmann AThR
$97 per session
Art Therapy is perfect for you if you:
Through art, people can release pent-up emotions, reduce stress, and gain insights into their inner struggles. Their artworks often act as mirrors, reflecting their emotions and aiding in self-discovery.
Art therapy is a safe and transformative way for individuals to explore and heal from emotional challenges, fostering self-awareness, resilience, and personal growth.
With over five years of experience, art therapist Nikki has worked with adults and children in services and private practice, including facilitating art therapy for people who have been affected by developmental trauma, PTSD, complex PTSD, addiction, anxiety, depression and self-harm.
Nikki currently works with people individually and in groups. She trained at Macquarie Hospital as part of her Western Sydney University Master of Art Therapy and uses a psychodynamic and trauma-informed approach. Nikki enjoys advocating for art therapy and has hosted workshops for organisations and was a guest on Ablequest 2RPH, talking about art therapy within the National Disability Insurance Scheme. She has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Psychology at Monash University.
Nikki enjoys how individual and unique each person’s art process is and encourages people to follow their sense of curiosity in selecting art materials and focus on this process when starting art therapy. Nikki wants to underline that you don’t need to be “good at art “or a practising artist, to benefit from the shared creativity and other relational aspects of art therapy, which are as important as the art made in sessions.
Art Therapist, Jennifer Dustmann, has worked with children and adults in the areas of trauma, grief and loss, self-esteem, menopause, women’s’ health and well-being; and with individuals on the autism spectrum. She employs a neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed approach in her practice, working with groups and individuals.
She completed her Master of Art Therapy at Western Sydney University and is currently undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Autism at the University of Wollongong. As a visual artist she brings her understanding of art-making and knowledge of materials to her sessions to encourage others to explore their own unique creativity and self-expression. Jennifer enjoys making stop-motion videos using toys, to encourage children (and other people) to find resilience through creativity by letting go of being perfect.
With over 15 years of experience, art therapist Liz has worked with adults and children in services and private practice, including facilitating art therapy for people who have been affected by developmental trauma, PTSD, complex PTSD, addiction, eating disorders, anxiety and self-harm. Liz currently works with people individually and in groups. She is trained in a psychodynamic, trauma informed approach and is a clinical supervisor and visiting lecturer on the Western Sydney University Master of Art Therapy course. Liz has also completed a Certificate of Traumatic Stress Studies with the JRI in Boston. Liz enjoys advocating for art therapy in the wider community, including teaching the Sydney University CCE course “An Introduction to Art Therapy”, and was the inaugural group leader of the ANZACATA Sydney regional group. Liz understands that you don’t need to be “good at art “or a practicing artist, to benefit from the shared creativity and other relational aspects of art therapy, which are as important as the art made in sessions.
We’re here to support you on your healing journey.
To find out more information about our Art Therapy sessions, simply register your interest using the button below.
