I'm Shannon Halligan, and I'm a creative art therapist, and I offer individual art therapy and group art therapy.

Our therapy is focused on the process of creativity.

So the part that's therapeutic is the experience that you're going through while you're making art.

By doing something creative, you are tapping into your strengths.

You're focused on what you're good at.

Art making and art therapy helps you build confidence so, you know, later on, oh, okay, I can handle this problem that I'm facing.

I can deal with my anxiety in the moment in a creative way.

I think what art does is it really gets to the subconscious things that are affecting us that we may not realize.

So a lot of times art therapists will recommend keeping a visual journal in the same way that a traditional therapist might recommend a writing journal.

I love it because it's such a nice way to communicate not only with your self but with others.

Once you're clear about how you're feeling, you can then communicate that to someone that's important in your life or a teacher or a peer.

Most people recognize that art therapy is great for kids, teens, people with disabilities, and I work with those populations, and there's beautiful benefits to that.

I also work with adults.

I'll have people come to me who will say, You know, I've tried talk therapy or psychotherapy, I just want something else.

I want something that I can learn to work on to help me through these challenges.

The great thing about it is it's a way for them to really know themselves really well.

The ways you can express yourself creatively in art therapy is widespread.

You can do painting, you can draw, you can work with clay or sculpture.

You can also do more crafty types of activities.

I have clients who love to sew, make jewelry, work with wood or metal.

Art therapy is a really great way to dive in and learn those skills, but then also learn about yourself a little bit more.

Art allows us to express parts of ourselves that maybe we're not even aware of, and art making over time shows themes in our artwork.

It might be themes about certain situations, it might be themes about important relationships in our lives, but it helps us just build the awareness of their own emotional quotient.

You know, they really can develop a deep knowing of themselves when they try something like art therapy.