Art Therapy can be used with almost any population and age group. There are two main camps in Art Therapy. The first camp uses Art Therapy more indirectly to help with recreation, building self esteem, relaxation and self soothing. This also  helps with stress management.

The other camp creates art experiences that are related to the individuals therapeutic needs and addresses their specific treatment goals. My preference is to create art experiences that support all the indirect benefits, but also more importantly to teach coping skills that are appropriate for their treatment goals and insights into their issues.

 

The main difference with Art Therapy compared to other forms of talk therapy, is we not only talk about the issues, but we also create art work about them. This deepens the therapeutic process by giving the individual more ways to experience their feelings and numerous metaphors from how they created the art work as well as the content of the art work.