The TATE art gallery has designed a section on their website to incorporate mental health and wellness through art. Art and creativity has the power to help people process their difficulties; learn about themselves as well as aiding relaxation and providing rejuvenation. Engaging in creativity reduces stress, it provides a space for something else out of the ordinary of every-day life, it is a place to create what is needed in the hear-and-now, the very act of being artful itself can heal, so to, can enjoying art created by others. The TATE encourages mindfulness through art, taking time to really study a painting. The average person takes around 10 seconds to view a piece of art and the TATE challenges us to spend a little longer, to look a little deeper, to enjoy the moment a little longer.
The website also offers a questionnaire designed by the TATE together with psychotherapist Elspeth Cockerell to help us better understand how we are feeling.
Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield With a Reaper,
I am a child psychotherapist (UKCP Registered); a counsellor; arts and play therapist, covering Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. You can contact me here.