Art Therapy at Harley Street

There are things that do not come easily into words — experiences that formed before language, feelings that resist articulation, patterns that operate below the level of conscious thought. Art therapy works with this material directly, using the act of making images as a way of accessing what verbal conversation cannot always reach.

What Art Therapy Is

Art therapy at Harley Street is not art class and it is not art criticism. The quality of the work produced is entirely irrelevant. What matters is the process — what emerges in the making, what the image holds, what it makes possible to say that could not be said otherwise. Dr Jacquet trained as an art psychotherapist, and the work draws on both the psychotherapeutic and the artistic dimensions of that training.

Who Benefits from Art Therapy

Art therapy is particularly useful for people who find direct verbal discussion difficult — those whose presentations involve trauma, body image, eating disorders, early developmental experiences, or a general sense that words have not been adequate to the problem. It is also valuable for people who are not typically ‘good at talking about feelings’ and find that working through image bypasses the defences that language can reinforce.

Art Therapy and Eating Disorders

The connection between art therapy and eating disorders is well established in the clinical literature, and it is a connection Philippe has worked with throughout his career. The body, self-perception, control and shame — these themes come into focus through image-making in ways that straightforward discussion often cannot access.

Practical Details

Art therapy sessions at Harley Street last 50 minutes. No artistic skill or experience is required. All materials are provided. Sessions can be arranged as part of an ongoing therapeutic programme or, in some cases, alongside individual psychotherapy work with another practitioner.