Trans Art Therapy Groups

Spectra Art Therapy Group

We use creative prompts to explore issues relevant to you, reflect on the things that are impacting you, and maybe find new perspectives. There’s no need for any artistic skills, just a desire to use creativity to improve your mental health and wellbeing. Trans Art Therapy Groups are designed and run by a qualified trans Art Psychotherapist.

Group therapy can help you to feel less isolated as you will receive support and acknowledgement from the rest of the group as well as from the therapist. An Art Therapy Group in particular is a way of exploring and getting support with difficult emotional experiences – it can help when feelings are difficult to put into words. You don’t have to be any good at art; it’s all about exploring your creativity, finding new ways to express yourself and learning skills to help you manage when things are difficult.

The Trans Art Therapy group runs for eight weeks, every week on Tuesdays from 4pm to 6pm. The next group will start on June 18th 2024, and will take place over Zoom. The dates of the group will be:

• 18th June      Week One       Introduction to Online Art Therapy and Therapeutic Journaling
• 25th June      Week Two       Support, Safety, and Self-Care
• 2nd July     Week Three     Embodied Emotions and Emotional Regulation
• 9th July     Week Four      Identity and Self Esteem
• 16th July     Week Five       Body Image, Self Image
• 23rd July       Week Six         Self and others, being in relationship
• 30th July         Week Seven    Community and Belonging
• 6th August       Week Eight     Ending and Going Forward

Please fill in the form below if you are interested in a place.

Once you have filled out an application form, you will be invited to an initial conversation to discuss the group further and explore what support it can provide for you.  There will be space for up to ten people in the group, and the application form will close when the group is full. Please note that this wervice is for adult (18+) only.

If you’re 18 or under you can access young person counselling within our UNI-T Project and you refer via the following pathway: Referral Form.

Art Therapy Groups Application Form
If you have registered as our counselling client in the past 3 years, please do NOT use this form but contact counselling@spectra-london.org.uk directly.

More about Art Therapy and therapeutic art journaling

For the eight weeks of the Art Therapy Group, during the week, you will be encouraged to take some time to reflect and make images. These could be anything from pencil drawings to pictures you have found on the internet. Then in each session, we will take some time for talking, and some time for sharing the images we have made or chosen. You will have the chance to express yourself and to be seen and heard in a non-judgemental space.

We will have the opportunity to focus on issues which we might feel safest exploring in an explicitly trans-friendly space, but these themes are suggestions are starting points – we can together or individually choose whether we want to engage with them. There will also be opportunities for the group to explore any other issues that feel relevant to us as we are working together.

The final session will include a recap of everything we have worked on, and we will look at how to keep up self-care and emotional regulation techniques when the group has finished.

You might find the online Art Therapy Group and therapeutic art journaling particularly helpful if:

• You find it hard to express yourself
• You feel lonely or isolated, or find it difficult to connect with others
• You experience low mood, anxiety or overwhelming emotions
• You have low self esteem
• You want to learn new skills and tools to support your mental health and well-being
• You want to look at problems in a new way
• You are finding it hard to make time and reflect

Unfortunately, Spectra isn’t able to offer immediate or crisis support. If you fear you may be at risk of seriously harming yourself or another person, please contact your GP or go to the Accident and Emergency department at your nearest hospital which is accessible 24 hours per day.

Spectra will process and be in control of the data provided on this form.The information which you provide in this form and any other information obtained or provided during further communication will be used for the purpose of assessing your suitability for the service, in emergency situations e.g. to protect life or in a medical situation, and in relation to legitimate interests of our business. If you choose not to accept any offer of our service, the information will be retained for a further 6 months in the event of a more suitable service opportunity arising, after which time it will be destroyed. You have the right to data portability, request access to, rectification or erasure of your data collected as part of this process. If your application is successful, the information will form part of your client file and we will be entitled to process it for all purposes in connection with your case. So that we may use the information for the above purposes and on the above terms, we are required to obtain your explicit consent. Accordingly, please sign the consent section at the end of this form. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner. For more information, please refer to our private policy.