With its roots in psychodynamic thinking, namely the acknowledgment of unconscious processes of mind and its influence on thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, the Vasarhelyi Method of Child Art Psychotherapy is founded on the principle that images and their creation have a distinct relationship with the unconscious. The CAP modality is an integrative approach to psychotherapy for children and adolescents, drawing from a number of traditions including Psychoanalytic / Object Relations, Humanistic & Integrative psychotherapy, and Jungian analytical psychology, amongst others. The creation of images in the presence of a trained Child Art Psychotherapist assists young people who may struggle to express their difficulties verbally to experience insight, develop understanding, create meaning, and promote positive change in their lives. The client’s feelings and experiences are explored through the simultaneous production of art work and verbal discussion with the Child Art Psychotherapist in a safe, contained therapeutic space. The images and art work created by young people in the psychotherapeutic context are seen as the primary mode of communication between the child and therapist. Working in this way has been shown to be very effective in providing a pathway for the child or adolescent to articulate their difficulty and distress.

 

Students of the programme develop an understanding of the fundamental theories and principles of psychotherapy, and are taught the Vasarhelyi Method of Child Art Psychotherapy. Individual and small group supervision are integral aspects of the course, as are personal psychotherapy, group process, and clinical placements. 

 

Art psychotherapy is internationally recognised as an effective support for children with mental health difficulties and is utilised across clinical, educational, and private settings. The Vasarhelyi Method of Child Art Psychotherapy [CAP] is a specific method of art psychotherapy for children and adolescents up to the age of 18, originally developed in the UK by Vera Vasarhelyi within the context of a multidisciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health team setting. CAP is a psychodynamic approach to art psychotherapy, where young people are supported in exploring and processing past experiences and current difficulties at both conscious and unconscious levels. This exploration is done through the medium of art materials  in a safe and contained therapeutic space. As described by Vera Vasarhelyi (1990), ‘The symbolic content of images can facilitate a unique insight into the dynamics of the unconscious, and allow the privilege of seeing hidden processes, which would otherwise remain largely inaccessible to exploration.’