Art Therapy

Art therapy helped me along the way to recovery from anorexia, and I am certain that it can help others too - not only those suffering from eating disorders, but from any form of stress or depression.

Shortly after beginning my cognitive behavior therapy sessions, I discovered a new hobby.

It started with my playing around with craft knives and bolsa wood, but quickly became a full-blown passion for working with wood, and bigger and better tools.

I began by making abstract sculptures by feeling my way through and around the wood, and allowing my emotions to guide me. It was incredibly exciting to see the results of pure passion in those creations which I, alone, had achieved.

Along with the excitement of this creativity itself, I began to experience a real sense of peace and calm, and a new self-awareness began to poke through. Click here for more information about art therapy and some of the people who are helped by art therapists. I continued to learn for a few years, exploring the wood, and the things I could do with it. It was a tremendous de-stresser, allowing me to cope with a job which I didn't enjoy, being a single, working mother, and the stresses and strains of everyday life.

After a while, I started to sell a few of my sculptures, and my work was really starting to improve.

I began to realize that this was more than art therapy for me. It was what I really wanted to do. I wasn't enjoying teaching anymore, and the yearning to do something creative, and earn from it was becoming overwhelming.

The stress of doing something day in, day out, that I didn't enjoy, was affecting my health and happiness, and most importantly, my relationship with my son.

I decided to go to my local college and see what my options were. I found a course on interior design, and after much thought, decided to give up teaching and go for this instead.

Then I met the man who is now my husband, and my life turned around completely.

He also worked with wood, mainly as a carpenter, but he knew wood - and taught me how to really work with the grain, and improve my sanding and polishing techniques to really bring out the best in my sculpture.

We worked together, pooling our distinct creative abilities and began to create real works of art. What had begun for me as art therapy turned into so much more!

We now have a thriving business making sculptures and lamps from wood.

We also spend a lot of time on photography - another great hobby!

To read more about photography as therapy for an eating disorder, please click here

So, in the end, I didn't need the interior design course - but if I hadn't decided to change direction, and embarked on it, I probably wouldn't have met my husband - or be where I am now!

I think it is safe to say that we all have a creative genius within us, and that to nurture this is to cure ourselves of all that ails us.

Whether this is takes the form of an eating disorder, depression, boredom, or just general discontent with our lives, art can perform miracles for us all.