How Art Therapy supports children and young people who have experienced trauma

Art therapy is especially effective for non-verbal communication and trauma because it taps into

parts of the brain and emotional processing that words often can't reach.

Here's why it works well in these areas:

1. Bypasses Language Barriers

Non-verbal Expression: People who struggle to articulate emotions—such as children,

neurodivergent individuals, or trauma survivors—can express themselves visually.

Symbolic Communication: Art allows people to communicate complex feelings through symbols,

colors, and imagery instead of relying on verbal language.

2. Accesses the Subconscious

Trauma is stored non-verbally: Psychological trauma often resides in the brain's limbic system, which

governs emotion and memory in the language centres. Art-making activates sensory and emotional

memory.

Releases repressed emotions: Creating art can bring up feelings or memories that are difficult to

access with talk therapy alone.

3. Regulates the Nervous System

Promotes mindfulness: The process of creating art can calm the fight-or-flight response, which is

often triggered in trauma.

Safe emotional distance: Art gives a buffer—clients can express difficult emotions without reliving

them directly through speech.

4. Builds Self-awareness and Empowerment

Self-reflection: Clients can better understand their own internal experience by seeing it represented

visually.

Sense of control: Choosing materials, colors, and forms allows clients to reclaim agency and decision-

making, which trauma often strips away.

5. Supports Development in Non-Verbal Populations

Ideal for: Young children who are still developing language skills.

Art therapy helps people express what can't be said, process what’s too painful to talk about, and

begin to heal in a safe, creative, and often empowering way.

Tahlee Punnett - Art Psychotherapist at Kids Inspired