Zen Zebra Art Therapy

Exploring their artwork afterwards this client realised they’d been desperate to cover all the white spaces as they perceived them as “boring”.

On deeper reflection we wondered what life might look with a little more of the ‘white paper?’

Perhaps it might mean more space and time for… “opportunities, new beginnings, something different… for glitter!!”

Daily reminder… “Don’t forget to leave room for the sparkle ✨”

📝 ~ artworks always shared with permission ☺️

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Just a gentle reminder to my current families and a polite notice to any curious newcomers that I’m headed overseas and the studio will be closed until 6 Aug ✈️🌸.

Emails won’t be monitored daily but I will endeavour to respond to any marked urgent🚨.

To all my fellow helpers, healers, parents and carers, remember… isn’t selfish. You can’t pour from an empty cup!!

See you soon, recharged and refreshed, Emma xx 🌻🌷🪻.

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Wow this wet weather really gets me down 🥹. I have to work doubly hard to move and motivate myself in winter, especially when the days are repeatedly grey and wet 🌧️.

This is my puppy ‘Fox’ after her first visit to the beach☀️! She was gifted to me as a therapy dog. My therapy dog, to journey beside me down the pebbly path of maturation 😉.

And she has indeed been the perfect antidote to all my stresses. However having her is like having a toddler in the home again. It’s non stop carnage and cuddles. She’s definitely a stage 5 clinger. I’m not sure if this is an ‘oodle’ thing or just her. But if truth be known, I wouldn’t have it any other way 🐾🦊🧡.

🤗 🐶

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Experiences change the brain!! Which means… EVERYTHING matters 💯🙌🏼.

So let’s stop asking:
👎🏼“What’s wrong with you?”

and start asking…

👍🏼“What happened to you?” instead!!

This simple shift in perspective can open up a new and hopeful understanding for millions of people about why we do the things we do, and why we are the way we are ❤️‍🩹.

Personally, I’m incredibly excited about this shift of focus in the therapeutic space, but what if it didn’t stop there…?
What if every adult dealing with ‘wrong’ behaviours, stopped for a second to swap the question 🤔.





Make • Create • Play • Heal

When the teddy you bought is almost as tall as the man you married 🧸😂!?

This 5 foot fluffy guy is ready for ALL the cuddles!! Can’t wait to introduce you 🤗.

But he doesn’t have a name yet🥹. Any suggestions…? 💭

🐛🦋

Make • Create • Play • Heal

These are just a few of the ways us art therapists might inquire about your current mood, feeling or emotion at the beginning of a session 💭.

Add to the list… some retro buttons, mini figurines, ‘stones have feelings too’ cards, and a blob tree and you can tell from the get go that this wonderful and engaging therapy might be waaaaay more fun than the traditional methods 🤫🤭😅.

🎨🌳

Make • Create • Play • Heal

I had an instant knowing that this client and I were going to ‘click’. We were wearing the same pink glasses and she loves, Loves, LOVES rainbows… 🤓🌈🩷

Reflecting on her first image, she shared…

“I am the pink.
Not quite 100%.
Missing a few patches but I’m still part of the rainbow.
Still trying.
Still showing up.
I still want to be a bright colour.” 🫶🏼

📝- shared with permission.

Make • Create • Play • Heal

It’s hard to articulate just how ridiculously excited I am to finally add this logo to my business 🧸.

I had this niggly feeling that something was missing from my therapeutic toolkit 🧰.

I wasn’t exactly sure what, but I knew I needed something extra… a template, a guide, a resinating compass to help take my trauma and attachment-based work to the next level 📶.

I am thrilled to share that was the missing piece to my puzzle 🧩.

Interplay is a dyadic, non-directive, attachment-based play therapy model that turns the table on children and their ‘big behaviours’🗣️.

Interplay facilitators reframe all attention-seeking as ‘connection-seeking’ and place their focus on meeting needs rather than changing behaviour (the child’s behaviour will naturally change once their needs are met). YES it can be that simple 🦋.

I cannot wait to share more of Donna’s (Interplay’s founder) life-changing wisdom with you all… 💜.

- Wish I knew then, what I know now 🫣

Make • Create • Play • Heal

We don’t put our excess paint back in the pot or down the sink. Heck no! Instead my clients are invited to add any leftover paint to this gorgeous creation🌈🦓 . This way we do our bit to protect our local lakes and waterways whilst inadvertently painting a communal masterpiece 🖼️🎨🖌️🐸🪷x



Make • Create • Play • Heal

“Consider the acorn. It is in the nature of an acorn, we might say, to become an oak tree - but only if the climate and soil are right… We, too, have needs the environment must satisfy if we are to flourish.” ~ Dr Gabor Maté 🌱🪴🌳

This man. These quotes.
So grateful for his work, words and wisdom that continue to inspire and inform my work. Every. Single. Day!

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Just me and my very clean table wishing all my families, clients and colleagues a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year🎄!!

Today I’m pressing pause until 9th Jan when I will be back in my Robina studio, refreshed and rejuvenated, with open doors, arms and heart to walk alongside you in 2024 ♥️.

Until then, much love and gratitude,

Emma xox

Make • Create • Play • Heal

One of today’s sessions was a wonderful reminder that Art therapy is a versatile and expressive form of psychotherapy that often extends well beyond the traditional mediums of paint and crayons 🎨🖍️.

And while these materials remain popular tools in my therapy space, Art therapy can embrace literally any creative outlet that a client enjoys and wishes to explore! This can include impromptu fashion design 🤩✂️.

By recognising that creativity knows no bounds, Art therapy encourages participants to find their unique and meaningful means of artistic expression, fostering personal growth and emotional healing through diverse artistic forms ❤️‍🩹🐛🦋.

So if I happen to have spent some meaningful moments with the next Vivienne Westwood or Vera Wang, then I’m one little happy camper ✨👗💖.

😉🪡

Make • Create • Play • Heal

I know, I know. This is so much easier said than done. But in times of worry it is a great first question to stop and ask yourself…

Can I control this problem/worry/outcome..?

If not let it go and work on your reaction to it instead, for that is totally in your hands ☺️🎈☁️ 🤲🏼




~ Ivan Nuru ✍🏼

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Did you know that my clients can choose to use sand in their art therapy sessions🤔…?

🙇🏼‍♀️Sand tray therapy is another expressive modality that provides a safe space for children and adults to create scenarios and stories that represent their thoughts, feelings and experiences.

🤲🏼This creative expression allows a person to manifest in sand and symbols (toys/figurines) the things they would otherwise not be able to vocalise or address in traditional therapy.

🌼This mini, safe, sandy world is essentially considered to be a microcosm of their ‘inner world’ and is determined solely by the client’s imagination and subconscious mind.

❤️‍🩹And… absolutely anyone interested in this unique and creative approach to healing, self-exploration and personal growth can find value in sand tray therapy!

👉🏼Strange fact: I don’t think I’ve witnessed one sandtray that hasn’t utilised the mini trees 🌴🌳🌲 ~ interesting when you look at all the weird and wonderful options available…😲 (pic 2)

I LOVE the expressive art therapies❤️🧡💛💚💙🩷💜!!



📝 - photo 1 shared with permission

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🌈✨Why wear one colour when you can wear them all right!?!?😆✨🌈

Seriously though, how gorgeous is this sparkly, multicoloured masterpiece!?!? She’s going to live happily next to the candy striped cardy I bought a few weeks ago!
My kids just love them 😳🥴🫣😂.

Coincidence or otherwise, I love that my obsession with these meteorological phenomenons isn't just about embarrassing my children; it's about spreading a message rooted in love, joy, unity, equity, kindness and acceptance! Which as an inclusive therapist, is just practically perfect in every way ☺️🫶🏼🙌🏼🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 🌈☀️🌈♥️

The real question is though… do I buy the matching skirt..? Answers on a postcard please xx 🤔🤣🤣

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🌼”Thoughts are NOT facts”

I don’t know where I read or saw this recently but it really resonated and I repeat it a lot now, especially with my anxious clients who ruminate a lot about the future.

I don’t know who needed to see this today but I felt compelled to share it xx🌷🌻🪻🌾

Make • Create • Play • Heal ❤️‍🩹

🎆 Artwork titled
“Frustration and Fireworks” - a gentle exploration of:

~ “frustration”
~ “bad thoughts”
~ “so many layers”
~ “overthinking and overwhelm”
~ “everything is just too much”

Firework
/ˈfʌɪəwəːk/
noun
~ a combustible device containing gunpowder and chemicals which cause spectacular effects when ignited 🧨.
~ an outburst of anger or a display of great skill or energy ⚡️.

Can we offer ourselves some compassion? Are the ‘outbursts’ better than the alternative? Can we express it differently? More healthily maybe? Or are we doing the best we can..?

- shared with permission 📝

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🎆✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈

It’s taken me a lifetime to realise that happiness is momentary and often fleeting - that a life well lived is an intricate tapestry of meaningful micro moments - full of breathtaking high notes, heartbreakingly low ones and everything in between🎢.

‘Happiness is not the ultimate destination that we are often sold’

Light needs its shade, happy needs its sad, and the moon needs its sun 🌙🌌

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Learning to accept, acknowledge or even welcome our uncomfortable feelings and emotions can be an alternative way to experience them, especially if our old way was to deny and suppress them…

“I’m going to let my anxious thoughts float through me like a jellyfish.”

- shared with permission 📝

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🫧✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈

I’ll let that settle for a second… ✨ 🌱
- thank you Sophia Bush 🙏🏼

🐛🦋

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🙌🏼✨🎨🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈

How cute is this picture of the fam helping me test out my new online platform so that I can not only help others face to face but over the tinternet too 🤩💻 ♥️

Make • Create • Play • Heal

🖥️🐶🙌🏼✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈

Wishing all my beautiful families and followers a Happy Long Weekend ☀️🌷.

May this special time be spent doing what we love, with those that we love, eating what we love 🍫🤭.



Make • Create • Play • Heal

🐣🐰 🙌🏼✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈

Art therapy is often misunderstood and misconceived as something it is not 💭.

Here are some common myth busters to debunk the misinformation about this wonderfully gentle intervention ❤️‍🩹.

Thank you to for the inspiration 💫

Make • Create • Play • Heal

📝🌱⚖️👥 🙌🏼✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈🌏🖼

Look at these magnificent “Me & 2023” collages. Aren’t they spectacular?

I’m often reminding clients that the focus of Art Therapy is on the experience of making the art, not the resulting art piece, which occasionally means artworks are thrown in the nearest bin… for It’s the heart-work, not the art work that truly matters ☺️♥️.

However, something tells me that these meaningful masterpieces will be hanging around and inspiring their creators a little longer than some…✨

📄📚🖍️🎨🐛🦋🍄🌎🪷🐶🌊🌱☀️❤️‍🩹🌈

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Just a little reminder for you 💫🌷✨

Thank you 🙏🏼 .positive



🐼🎋🎁🙏🏼✏️🎨🐛🦋🍄🧩🧸☀️❤️‍🩹🌈☀️
If you know you know ☺️☺️

Make • Create • Play • Heal

Starting the New Year with some fabby retro additions to the therapy space!

But hey don’t be fooled by this classically simple toy! This guy is sooooooo much more than just a Potato ☺️🥔👃🏼👀👂🏻👄👒



Make • Create • Play • Heal

🙏🏼✏️🎨🐛🦋🍄🧩🧸☀️❤️‍🩹🌈☀️🌿

Wishing all of my clients, families, colleagues and cheerleaders a happy, safe and playful holiday season🎄♥️. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for a tremendous 2022!

I’m pressing pause until 17 January ‘23 when I’ll be back in the studio refreshed, recharged and ready to go. Until then take care of yourselves and have a wonderful Christmas time!✨🎅🏼.

Love and gratitude, Emma xx




Make • Create • Play • Heal

🙏🏼✏️🎨🐛🦋🍄🧩🧸☀️❤️‍🩹🌈☀️🌿

Nearly all my sessions begin with a quick little ‘check-in’ - a simple activity that offers clients the opportunity to stop, take a breath and tune into their present mood. Often these are just a mark, a word, a colour or a shape on the page 🖍️.

This little client of mine however takes things waaaay more seriously than that🤩.

He loves to express it all…. the tiredness in his legs, the love in his heart, the calmness in his tummy, the happiness in his smile, the ache in his brain… 🧠. He loves to lean into all the feels and the results are the cutest little check-ins ever ☺️🫶🏼♥️.

*shared with permission

Make • Create • Play • Heal

✏️✨💟⭕️✳️🔆🎨🐛🦋🍄☀️❤️‍🩹🌈🌸🌿

Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life!

Celebrating all the little wins in my therapy room, today and everyday 💪🏼♥️




Make • Create • Play • Heal

✨🎨🐛🦋🍄☀️❤️‍🩹🌈🌸🌿🐾

Thank you for this beautiful and simple explanation of what we do 🫶🏼 ☺️

Make • Create • Play • Heal

📝🌱⚖️👥 🙌🏼✨🎨🐢🐛🦋🍄☀️♥️🧸🧩🎭🌈🌏❤️‍🩹🖼