Candid Cherry Tree Chats
Interview with Rebecca Harper, Art Therapist
Meet Our Art Therapist Rebecca Harper!
We are excited to introduce Rebecca to the Cherry Tree Counselling team!
Rebecca is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and Associate Therapist who provides in-person and virtual counselling. Rebecca works with youth (6 years and older) as well as adults and specializes in Art Therapy, mindfulness, historical trauma, grief and loss, and mood disorders, supporting individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), ADHD and Autism. As an Art Therapist, Rebecca creates a safe, non-judgmental space where clients can express themselves freely through art, exploring their emotions, thoughts, and experiences at their own pace.
If you are interested in working with Rebecca or would like more information about Art Therapy, please contact us via email at admin@cherrytreecounselling.ca.
The Interview
REBECCA: Hi Cree, how are you?
CREE: I am excellent. How are you? I hear you’re just back from a conference on Art Therapy.
REBECCA: Yes, I am. I was lucky to be able to be with a hundred therapists this weekend in Northern Ontario.
CREE: That must have been a cool vibe.
REBECCA: Oh my goodness, yes. It was very, very amazing, creative, and insightful. So, yeah, we had a wonderful time. Thank you.
CREE: Amazing. Well, it’s perfect timing. Because that’s why we’re here today to talk a little bit more and pick your brain about Art Therapy. So now you’re all fresh.
REBECCA: Yeah, I’m very inspired.
CREE: Well, I want to welcome you to the Cherry Tree team. It’s so exciting to have your services and skills and I think it’s a wonderful complement to what we’ve built here in our community. I’m sure lots of folks are going to be asking these questions.
Q: So what is an Art Therapist? What does an Art Therapist do?
REBECCA: So contrary to popular belief, we’re not art teachers, although most of us do have an art background. But we do have a Master’s level of training. We undergo specialized training and focus really with attachment theory, development, and that kind of understanding even down to the art materials. So we really look in-depth at how they can either impact or benefit somebody on even what art materials that we’re using with that person.
CREE: Wonderful! I have so many questions. That’s so, so amazing.
Q: More specifically, how can Art Therapy support people’s mental health and emotional well-being?
REBECCA: So yes, I mean once again, being with so many art therapists and so many different settings that they all work in across Canada and America and across the world actually, it can be used in a more traditional psychodynamic manner. So really inviting the person to tap into their internal resources, looking for self-reflection, which I know is really that part of the psychotherapy.
That is why Art Therapy is now recognized as a form of psychotherapy. But it also can be used to promote relaxation and even sort of help people with thoughts and benefit well-being from that point of view.
CREE: So, Art Therapy can help with mood and rumination…
REBECCA: Yes, anxiety, depression.
CREE: Helps regulate us emotionally, perhaps has the potential to do that?
REBECCA: Absolutely, yes.
“[Art Therapy] is tapping into how people experience the world, or have experienced the world, and how that can relate to that experience within the art process.”
Q: What if one does not identify with having artistic ability or skill?
What if somebody is curious or intrigued by art therapy, but doesn’t necessarily envision themselves as an artist?
REBECCA: So definitely, no prior art-making skills are necessary. We really look at it as a process as opposed to a finished product.
I always try to begin when I meet somebody. You know, the first couple of meetings obviously building that rapport, but also exploring their interests. And also coming from a person-centred approach, I like to be able to inquire whether somebody has maybe written music before, or maybe they enjoy something like card-making that could be used for collages.
So there are many different ways that people might express their creativity, but don’t really realize that they do that with gardening. It might be just other ways that they kind of tap into that. Sewing, you know, kind of traditional crafts. And so, I kind of start there with exploring that with them and then just sort of inviting them gently into the space.
CREE: I love that answer, about the inclusivity of it, and how art comes in all different forms…art can also be in your garden, or music, or poetry, and all these different ways that we use to express ourselves.
REBECCA: And I think, as well, it’s that beautiful connection with people’s communities that they have in their life. I’ve worked with people before that have maybe a religious background, and therefore, take bringing in those parts from the Bible that speak to them and those words and things that they can incorporate into their artwork, or like a different way of knowing for them. So again, tapping into how people experience the world or have experienced the world and how that can relate to that experience within the art process.
CREE: I love that, that’s beautiful. So it seems like it’s very adaptable and flexible and inclusive and welcoming as a modality.
REBECCA: Absolutely, yes.
Q: So in terms of integrating it, if somebody is interested in exploring Art Therapy, does it have to be all or nothing? Or could they come for a few sessions to kind of get comfortable?
REBECCA: Absolutely, so again, because everybody is very unique and need different things at different times as well. The wonderful things about Art Therapy is that if they need to come in and use traditional talk therapy, they can. Maybe they’re doing something for that relaxation process where they’re just colouring. It sounds like a small thing, but maybe that relaxes them enough to be able to then talk about some of the deeper issues that are really concerning them.
So just thinking about the overlap when someone comes with stress or anxiety, you know the anxiety could come from many different ways and across different ages and where people are in their lives. We might start with something as simple as a scribble drawing.
CREE: Oh, I could even do that!
REBECCA: Yeah, you could do it.
[LAUGHTER]
REBECCA: We as a collective, you know, really bring in mindfulness into many of our modalities. So something like tracing the outline of your hand, bringing in that kind of breathing aspect, but also again offering a template for people to be able to fill it in with something they enjoy again. It’s that first meeting and we’re really getting to know each other, or it might be later on down the line where they want to look at, you know, pinpoint something like where anxiety is in the body or build onto that part.
CREE: Amazing! You just make it sound so welcoming. You know, tracing the hand, or a scribbled drawing, or doing some colouring. I mean, there are things that anyone can do. The gentle, invitational nature of it is really special.
“There are many different ways that people might express their creativity...I kind of start there with exploring that with them and then just sort of inviting them gently into the space.”
Q: Do clients need to bring their own art supplies or do you provide that?
REBECCA: They don’t need to. Because I will be offering in-person and virtual appointments and even over the phone as well, it can be done in-person - there will be art materials in the space for them to be able to use. And then even virtually, it’ll be an invitation asking do you have a piece of printer paper, or a pencil, or a marker? It doesn’t have to be anything. People have used coffee before - coffee and water can also make marks on the paper.
CREE: It doesn’t have to be fancy equipment or anything required. Okay, that’s awesome.
REBECCA: And also just speaking to that inclusivity. One of the beautiful therapists this weekend really worked with people that maybe had limited mobility and things like that. So they found ways of brining art-making into their space. So they use their cricut machine, for example. And so they were cut-out templates for people, and people could then have the choice. So that’s what it’s really about, the choice. And that’s something that sometimes people don’t really have when they feel they may not have when they come and see other services. So just giving them that choice of what do you like to do? How would you like to do it? I think is really important.
CREE: Unique, customized approach that honours that choice and personal agency, beautiful.
Q: And what ages do you work with and what populations?
REBECCA: So I work with elementary age children, youth, and adults and have worked with seniors as well in many different settings, such as hospitals and in the community. But my specialization is children, neurodivergent children and children with maybe intellectual disabilities or cognitive delays. But again, maybe somebody is experiencing anxiety and stress within their life and that overwhelmed feeling and need to connect in a different way than maybe they’ve tried before and it hasn’t worked for them.
CREE: Okay, very good. And you said elementary school youth, adults, seniors, so pretty much across the board. You serve all the populations. How young of a child would you work with?
REBECCA: I’d say, probably from 6 years old and up.
CREE: Okay, that’s great.
Q: And when are you available? How can people reach out if they’re interested?
REBECCA: So we have a wonderful clinic coordinator at Cherry Tree. If you access my profile on the Cherry Tree website, you’ll be able to press the ‘Book Now’ button and they can organize either a consultation to see if I’m the right fit for you or book a first session directly. I’m available from Tuesdays until 5pm, Wednesdays until 8pm and Thursday mornings.
CREE: Okay, so lots of flexibility in your schedule. Well, thank you so much Rebecca. This is a really exciting complement to have you on the team and we’re just thrilled to have you on board and be able to offer these new specialized services to our community. So thanks so much for joining me, and best of luck with everything.
REBECCA: Thank you so much.
Are you looking to try Art Therapy with Rebecca?
Connect with us and let’s talk about how we can help you.
