Therapies · Art Therapy · Phoenixville · Philadelphia · Avondale
Art-making is part of the program week at our Phoenixville, Center City Philadelphia and Avondale offices — collage, clay, origami and drawing directives used alongside PHP and IOP clinical work.
You do not need to be able to draw. The point is not the picture; it is what surfaces while you make it, and what you and your therapist do with it afterward.
The American Art Therapy Association defines art therapy as a mental health profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.[1]
A registered art therapist holds a master's degree or higher in art therapy and credentials such as ATR or ATR-BC, and many also carry a counseling license. They are trained in how materials affect mood and expression, how to read psychological change across a client's artwork, and how mark-making, symbolism and color can point to trauma, abuse or an untreated disorder.
There is a second, broader practice called art as therapy: any clinician — or any client on their own — using art-making as a tool to aid discussion, practice a skill or settle down. It is not credentialed art therapy, and we say so plainly.[2]
Both belong in treatment. In art therapy, the work is interpreted with you to deepen insight and support trauma processing. In art as therapy, the goal is the skill, the mindfulness or the plain relief of doing something with your hands. In both, it can be fun, relaxing, difficult and empowering at once.
Clinically reviewed by Andrea Kiotis, MA, LPC, CAADC — Clinical Director.
Last updated:
These are the media our clinicians bring into groups. Everything is low-cost, low-skill and adaptable — and there is always an alternative if one medium feels wrong.
Gluing or tearing images together — photomontage, assemblage, decoupage. No drawing skill required, and it parallels the healing process itself: construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation.[3] Used for pros and cons of a decision, describing an emotion, or building coping-statement cards.
Air-dry clay, Model Magic, bent wire or plaster. It releases physical energy, soothes and regulates, and feels familiar to people used to working with their hands. Pinch pots with one gratitude per coil, grounding stones, coping-skill jars, or a ball of emotions in different colors.
Clean, needs only paper, and builds mindfulness, slowing down and frustration tolerance. Intentions folded into lucky stars, goals folded into butterflies, paper boats raced as a metaphor for resiliency.
The most accessible medium and the most likely to trigger 'I can't draw' or comparison between clients. We offer templates, tracing, a collage alternative, or journaling and poetry instead — nobody is graded.
Butterflies of change, joy menus (entrées, sides and desserts of things you enjoy), word art and acrostic poems, t-shirt designs, road drawings of the journey so far, and hybrid animals combining your emotional, physical and spiritual self.
Decorate the front with where you hope to be; write the back as a message from your future self to the person sitting in group today. It is the directive clients most often take home and keep.
Want to know if art therapy is right for you?
Call (610) 233-4342Free download · Clinical staff training
This is the training deck our own clinical team uses, offered free to therapists, counselors, teachers, group facilitators and families who want to bring more creativity into their work.
No form, no email required — the full PDF downloads straight to your device.
Educational material for clinicians and the public. It is not a substitute for supervision, credentialing or individual medical advice.
Choose the right schedule
Start with the support you need now, then step down as recovery becomes more stable.
About 6 hours a day · 5 days a week
Our most structured outpatient level of care, with a full clinical day at our Phoenixville, Philadelphia or Avondale office while you continue living at home.
Explore our PHP program →9–15 hours a week · Day or evening
A flexible in-person schedule for people who need substantial addiction treatment while balancing work, school, family or a step down from PHP.
Explore our IOP program →Secure online care · Statewide access
Clinically appropriate Pennsylvania residents can join structured groups and therapy from home without traveling to one of our three offices.
Explore our statewide virtual IOP →Art therapy is often the most valuable hour of the week for the clients who get least from talking in a circle.
Creative work builds a feeling of control: mastery over a material gives people confidence and lets them take part in a group without feeling exposed. It also bypasses the limits of verbal language, surfacing repressed or complicated feelings through symbolism rather than sentences.
Richard Carolan notes that engaging creativity is a means of developing the plasticity of the brain, and that the art therapy process lets a person explore different perspectives without activating their defense mechanisms.[4]
It also does something harder to name. Libby Schmanke and Lynn Johnson both describe creativity as an antidote to shame — and shame is the engine underneath most of the relapses we see.[5]
Art never replaces the clinical spine of the program: twice-weekly individual therapy, small process groups of five to seven people, CBT, DBT, EMDR where indicated, medication management and medical oversight. What surfaces in an art group gets brought into individual therapy the same week.
Want to know if art therapy is right for you?
Call (610) 233-4342We track every client from admission to discharge with the BARC-10 recovery capital scale and the PHQ-9 / GAD-7 mental health screens. These are our own program results.
53%
of clients complete our PHP and IOP programs — vs. a national average near 26% for similar outpatient programs.
+9
point average gain on the BARC-10 recovery capital scale from admission to discharge.
-5.95
point average drop in combined PHQ-9 / GAD-7 anxiety and depression scores during treatment.
2215 Kimberton Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460
Serving Phoenixville, Kimberton, Royersford, Collegeville, Spring City, Pottstown, King of Prussia, Norristown, Malvern, Exton, Downingtown and West Chester.
Learn about our Phoenixville office →1026 Winter Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Serving Center City, Chinatown, Washington Square West, Rittenhouse, South Philadelphia, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, University City and the Main Line.
Learn about our Philadelphia office →1284 Gap Newport Pike, Avondale, PA 19311
Serving Avondale, Kennett Square, West Grove, Oxford, Landenberg, Coatesville and the Route 41 corridor of southern Chester County.
Learn about our Avondale office →Available in person to clients in our Phoenixville, Center City Philadelphia and Avondale programs, with adapted creative directives in virtual IOP statewide.
art therapy is one part of a treatment plan built around you. These are the other approaches your therapist may combine with it.
The backbone of our groups and individual sessions — mapping triggers, thoughts and behavior.
Learn more about CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy →Distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal skills for high-intensity emotions.
Learn more about DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy →Trauma reprocessing for the memories driving cravings, panic and nightmares.
Learn more about EMDR Therapy →Present-focused group model for PTSD and substance use, treated at the same time.
Learn more about Seeking Safety →Brain-based training for focus, sleep and nervous-system regulation in early recovery.
Learn more about Neurofeedback →Two one-on-one sessions a week with your own therapist — not one a month.
Learn more about Individual Therapy →Insurance accepted
Don't see your plan? Call (610) 233-4342 — we'll check your benefits.
Need detox or inpatient first?
If you need medical detox or a residential stay before outpatient care, call us — we'll help coordinate placement with trusted partners and plan your step-down into our PHP or IOP when you're ready.
No. Nothing is graded, and most directives need no drawing at all — collage, clay and origami are the backbone. Where drawing is used we hand out templates and allow tracing, and you can always journal or write instead.
Some sessions are credentialed art therapy with a registered art therapist; others are art as therapy led by your clinician. We tell you which is which, because they are different things.
In art therapy your work is interpreted with you, never about you behind your back. What happens to the piece afterward is your call — most people take theirs home.
No. Two individual sessions a week, small process groups and medical care stay at the center of PHP and IOP. Creative work supports them and gives your therapist information talk therapy misses.
No. It is part of the program day covered by most major insurance plans. Call (610) 233-4342 and we will verify your benefits while you are on the phone.
Yes, with adaptations — collage from free image libraries, drawing with whatever is in the house, origami with printer paper. Clay and the messier group work happen on site.
Want to know if art therapy is right for you?
Call (610) 233-4342Citations link to the original government and research sources. This page is educational and is not medical advice.
Confidential assessment, insurance verified quickly, and a program week that makes room for the parts of you that do not have words yet. Our phones are answered 24/7.