How Art Making Supports Trauma and Grief Recovery

Make art and soothe your soul 

We all experience loss and grief at some point in our lives, and navigating the emotional and mental anguish can feel too difficult to manage. Recovery and therapy can take many forms, and everyone can benefit from the therapeutic qualities of art making.

Trauma is an emotional response that lasts long after an event occurs that causes significant mental and physical stress. Just like a physical scar from a deep cut takes time to heal, recovery from trauma is possible with time and treatment. Art making engages the non-verbal parts of our brain and can help people express emotions that are too difficult to verbalize.*

*Cleveland Clinic

HOW IT IMPACTS US

There are varying degrees of trauma ranging from PTSD and chronic illness, to feeling overwhelmed and pressured by the destabilizing, chaotic world we live in. Further, we all experience loss and grief at some point in our lives, and navigating the emotional and mental anguish can feel too difficult to manage.

Take some time to create in nature, or a place that brings your comfort and a sense of safety. Allow the difficult thoughts and emotions to ebb and flow, expressing the range of feelings through colors, lines, shapes. 

When you are experiencing times of grief and trauma, exposure to certain colors can help promote joyfulness (shades of yellow), healing (shades of green) and a sense of tranquility and peace (shades of blues). 

• Facilitate healing from grief 
• Greater capacity for processing and expressing difficult thoughts and emotions  
• Enables a state of relaxation and safety

Recovery and therapy can take many forms, and everyone can benefit from the therapeutic qualities of art making.

About the Author

Berry Stein

Berry is the founder of Art Life Practice. She's an art educator and has spent the past 14+ years working to broaden access to arts education and daily creative practice.