Art Heals: Trauma-Informed Arts Therapy
- Nikki White
- Feb 1, 2017
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 9, 2024
Art Heals: Trauma-Informed Arts Therapy
I've been painting since high school. But like most people life happened and I had to put down the brush. After I relapsed in my binge eating disorder in the Fall of 2013, I picked back up my art brushes as a way to cope with emotional pain and emotional distress as I was learning how to identify and process unresolved painful emotional wounds from my past.
Art as a Therapy Tool
I had a lot to unravel such as a miscarriage my senior year of high school that never got dealt with. Unresolved issues of abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma from my childhood. Mom shaming, inability to cope as a new trucker wife, and escaping with food due to a binge eating disorder. The nonverbal therapy helped me work through my trauma and build resilience. Along with journal writing. During my own journey, I learned that art provides a way to communicate experiences when individuals lack verbal skills or when words are insufficient. I am an intuitive visual artist I write, paint, and capture photos in nature. When painting my medium is mixed art. I paint abstracts, quotes, landscapes, and whatever comes to me initiatively.
Adults typically have complex, ambivalent feelings about art and art making; common responses range from dismissal and derision to awe and sometimes shame about their own lack of artistic skills. But I don't allow the rules of art or writing to discourage me from healing what needs to be healed. I just grab my brush or pen and just do the work needed to express and process my pain. Period. I don't need anyone's permission to write or paint. I take self-care seriously and do what works best for me. Unapologetically!
Self-care is a personal choice. You don't need any rules telling you what's right or wrong. I know from my own experience that art heals. Healing with art is how I process my pain and there is no shame in my method. Healing through art can be your self-care ritual too if you choose for it to be. The healing power of art can support your mental and emotional health if you allow it to do so. The reality of the journey of using creative pursuits to heal emotional wounds is sometimes meant with imposter syndrome. That freedom and joy are often lost as we grow and begin to self-consciously evaluate the quality of our art. Too often, we become viewers of others’ art rather than being active creators, and we lose the many benefits of creative self-expression. Healing with art is not meant to be judged it is meant to be used as a tool for self-care. As a child, I used drawing and expressive writing to cope with boredom as an only child. I took an art class and high school and won first place out of the entire school for my work. As an adult struggling with mental and emotional health issues my interest in the connection between artistic practices and human well-being deepened and haven't looked back.
As a trauma-informed nutritionist, I have added art therapy to my wellness plan. Art therapy is founded on the assumption that everyone is creative and capable of self-expression. My job is to create a safe environment that allows clients to express themselves and communicate without worrying about whether they have great visual arts skills or whether their artwork is technically brilliant. None of that matters. All that matters is that your suppressed emotions are processed and healed so you can overcome your unhealthy habit of escaping with food.
Earlier this year, I shared a view of pieces that were manifested out of pain but got the attention of a few galleries here where I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I'll share them below so you can get an idea of what I mean when I say I paint from intuition.
Trying to process the loss of a miscarriage I felt as if I was lost in foggy woods all alone and drowning in pain.
Trying to make sense of escaping with food after being mom-shamed and called fat during the holidays by inconsiderate elders not know any better. I. didn't feel blue. I felt disgusted.
Sitting outside on my front porch reading my bible and talking to God, Angels, Ancestors, and my Divine Team and this is what the sky looked like so I grabbed my camera to capture the beauty of God's Creation.
The bottom line is art heals. Let it help you recover. To see more of my work or purchase prints visit here.
Help Developing A Plan For Self-Care
Do you want help developing a self-care plan that works for your own busy schedule? Do you want accountability in implementing a self-care plan? If you or someone you love is struggling to maintain optimal mental and emotional health, consider reaching out to Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. We are a Metro Atlanta, Conyers Georgia area. We are a coaching and counseling practice with empathetic, skilled counselors and recovery coaches who can help you set goals, develop a self-care routine, and move forward to build a more fulfilling life. Our team would be happy to work with you either just for a couple of sessions to develop and implement a Self-care plan or longer term to work toward overall better mental health within our membership site or other programs.
About The Author:
Dr. Nikki LeToya White MSEd-TL, Ph.D. RHN is the founder, director, and full-time board-certified trauma-informed nutritionist, folk herbalist, and wellness consultant at Spiced Life Conversation Art Wellness Studio and Botanica. She created Spiced Life Conversation, LLC
Art Wellness Studio and Botanica provide the Metro Atlanta area with counseling and coaching services where clients are carefully matched with the right program for healing abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma that cause codependency, emotional eating, financial stress, and imposter syndrome as it relates to fear of success and being abandon. We help you begin your emotional healing journey with ease. Recently, we have expanded to include an online membership site so we now provide support to people living all over the world. All of our recovery coaches provide at least one evidence-based treatment to assist in your recovery. Dr. White is a big proponent of self-care and helping people live a fulfilling life! She has been in full remission with both codependency and emotional binge eating disorder since 2016. In living a life in recovery from sugar addiction. Loving her low-sugar balance lifestyle.
All The Best,
Dr. Nikki LeToya White
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