Catherine Spence AThR
Registered Arts Therapist, ANZATA
MNZAC, BA (Visual), PGDip ATh, MAAT
I completed my Art Therapy training in the UK and went on to work in both adult mental health where I ran an OT department for an adult in-patient facility, and child mental health where I worked in a Child and Family Unit. This work gave me an excellent experiential grounding in psychiatric conditions, both acute and chronic and in child development and the emotional/behavioural problems that occur when this is interrupted for a variety of reasons, mostly to do with mother-infant attachment issues and child protection issues.
On coming to New Zealand fifteen years ago I initially worked in a child, adolescent and family mental health unit for the Counties Manukau DHB, then at AUT on the Child Psychotherapy Programme. I had a break to attend to family and then went on to work with the refugee population at Refugees As Survivors and private practice at Auckland Family Psychotherapy and Counselling Service. I currently work in Hospice care and here at the Arts Therapy (NZ) Trust in private practice.
For me Art Therapy is an open, non-judgemental, safe way of accessing what is going on in one’s world. The underlying principles of the work are no different to those of our colleagues in psychotherapy and psychology, for me it is particularly how Art Therapy involves incorporating the spirit through the power of one’s own creative energy poured into a third entity within the therapeutic relationship – that’s what makes Art Therapy unique.
The essential difference between an Art Therapist and someone that uses art materials in their psychotherapeutic or psychology practice is that an Art Therapist is an artist before they became a therapist. This difference underpins the practice and informs the process. The materials and the art making become part of the whole process, rather than only a tool to further verbal exploration.
I feel fortunate to be involved in the Arts Therapy (NZ) Trust and to be invited and included in the exciting opportunities that are here in providing Art Therapy to the community.
Contact: catspencearttherapy@gmail.com
