Dr Carla van Laar Creative Arts Therapy

Dr Carla van Laar Creative Arts Therapy Creative Mental Health and Collective Care.

Thrive through creativity -
Creative Arts Therapy, Community Arts Projects, Creative Supervision, Professional Development and Training

10/11/2025

Supervision that
speaks your language
with Dr Carla

Supervision Studio – Creative, Bottom-Up, Made for Us

If you’ve been looking for supervision that genuinely honours how you work — not squeezing you into a top-down, talk-heavy model — I’d love you to join me in the Supervision Studio.

Supervision Studio is my bottom-up approach to supervision:
a space that truly centres creative process, nurtures connection with a community of creative therapists, and makes real time for you to get into your flow.

What it looks like:

Small groups in an online studio setting

2.5 hours | $150 | PACFA-accredited, low-cost group supervision

Art-based and experiential methods

Bring your real practice experiences to workshop

Story, image, movement, embodiment, mindfulness, drama, community

Facilitated by Dr Carla van Laar

Open to creative and experiential therapists, counsellors and helping professionals who want supervision that speaks your language

🗓 New dates now open:
Supervision Studio runs every second Sunday, 10:00am–12:30pm (AEDT) all the way through to end of 2026, so you can build a rhythm that sustains you.

Existing members – please book yourself in online.
New members – you are warmly welcome.

Register by clicking HERE and I’ll send you all the details.

1:1 Supervision & Academic Support

I’ve also opened up new early-bird 1:1 supervision sessions at 7am and 8am on weekdays — perfect if you’d like to ground yourself before the workday starts.

And for students of creative arts and experiential therapies, counselling and psychotherapy: I offer online academic support sessions to help you strengthen your assignments, essays, and research writing in a supportive, tailored way.

To enquire or join:
📧 carlavanlaar@gmail.com

And of course — come and get your Sunday fix of bottom-up, creative, connected supervision in the Supervision Studio. 🌙✨



✨ Creative Futures — Spring 2025 into 2026From professional advocacy to creative care, this season’s newsletter gathers ...
09/11/2025

✨ Creative Futures — Spring 2025 into 2026

From professional advocacy to creative care, this season’s newsletter gathers all the threads that make up my work right now — and maybe yours too:

🌿 Strengthening our professional identity through CCET and national reform

🎨 Building creative community in Supervision Studio (now open through 2026)

💫 Creative support for young people through FRMP

💛 Creative EAP programs bringing art and reflection into schools

🌀 And a creative detour into myth and imagination: The Chronicles of Helia Hart

If you’re part of this creative and experiential ecosystem — as practitioner, ally, educator, or friend — this is your invitation to stay connected, inspired, and in the flow.

📩 Read the full newsletter here: https://carlavanlaar.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=tnp&na=v&nk=9-86663b88f4&id=53

Two travellers from the year 2525 crash a Creative Mental Health Forum cocktail party on Boon Wurrung Country — carrying...
06/11/2025

Two travellers from the year 2525 crash a Creative Mental Health Forum cocktail party on Boon Wurrung Country — carrying a glowing eye-shaped artefact that amplifies empathy.

What follows blurs the line between art and life, theatre and therapy.

The Time Travellers’ Cocktail Party — Chapter 2 of The Chronicles of Helia Hart — weaves together story, community, and creative practice into a living act of collective care.

Through this mythopoetic lens, creativity becomes more than expression — it’s the heartbeat of connection itself.

Read the new chapter here 👇

https://carlavanlaar.com/chapter-2-the-time-travellers-cocktail-party/

Missed Chapter 1?

Find all the chronicles here as they unfold in real time:

https://carlavanlaar.com/chronicles-of-helia-hart/

Thanks to everyone who tuned in yesterday to my presentation at the Creative Arts Therapies Events Arts Therapies Busin...
01/11/2025

Thanks to everyone who tuned in yesterday to my presentation at the Creative Arts Therapies Events Arts Therapies Business Summit where we launched my new documentary film “Creative Mental Health Forum and Collective Care Retreat 2025” for a global audience.

Already I’ve been receiving communications from incredible creative colleagues from around the world who are keen to connect and collaborate, and I am so excited about the possibilities and all of the potential of the arts for health and healing in our wonderful yet troubled times.

So wonderful to see that the mysterious ‘artefact’ I introduced before the film captured your interest… there is quite a story attached to it - the “Heart Sonic Artlifier” created by little known surrealist artist Helia Hart around a century ago…

How on earth did this artefact created a hundred years ago in Paris make its way into my hands and into this film all the way over in Australia in 2025 - you might well ask.

I’ve been documenting the intriguing “Chronicles of Helia Heart” if you would like to follow along…

You will find an introduction on this page, and Chapter 1 “Discovering Helia Hart” is there for you to read, with the following chapters coming soon!

https://carlavanlaar.com/chronicles-of-helia-hart/

Join Us Tomorrow! Creativity, Care, and CommunityThe Creative Mental Health Forum official documentary is all about cele...
30/10/2025

Join Us Tomorrow!
Creativity, Care, and Community

The Creative Mental Health Forum official documentary is all about celebrating the abundance that unfolds when creativity, care, and community come together.

I’m honoured to be presenting at the World Arts Therapies Business Summit — and I invite you to join me for my session “Creative Care, Anywhere: The 2025 Creative Mental Health Forum — Building Sustainable Ecosystems of Practice.”

This is more than a presentation — it’s an invitation to reimagine how we sustain ourselves and our communities as creative and experiential therapists. Through the film, discussion, and reflection, we’ll explore how our core values can guide us toward ethical, flourishing practice and collective wellbeing.

Come and be part of the conversation.

Register at the link below to attend for FREE tomorrow- or sign up for on demand access if you want to watch flexibly in your own time-

I've been offered a 10% discount that I can pass on to my friends and colleagues - it is valid for this summit or any other course available through Creative Arts Therapies Events - just click on this link and the discount should be automatically applied to whatever you purchase. 🙂

https://tinyurl.com/CarlasDiscount

Documentary Premiere — A Story from BoonWurrung CountryThis week at the Creative Therapies Events Summit, I’ll be sharin...
29/10/2025

Documentary Premiere — A Story from BoonWurrung Country

This week at the Creative Therapies Events Summit, I’ll be sharing something very close to my heart — the international launch of “The 2025 Creative Mental Health Forum documentary.”

Filmed on beautiful BoonWurrung Country, this film tells the story of how a community of creative and experiential therapists, artists, and educators came together to explore what creative mental health looks like in action. It’s a story of connection — between people, place, and purpose — and how creativity can sustain us even through uncertainty.

In the session, we’ll view the full film and engage in a reflective discussion about how creativity and care can shape ethical, thriving practice today. I can’t wait to share it with you.

Register here: https://www.artstherapies.org/link/RyQNXj?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artstherapies.org%2Fcourse%3Fcourseid%3Darts-therapies-business-summit

Creative Support for Young People at Inverloch Creative Therapies - brokerage funding now available!Young people 16-25 e...
29/10/2025

Creative Support for Young People at Inverloch Creative Therapies - brokerage funding now available!

Young people 16-25 experiencing family conflict or disconnection can now access creative therapeutic support with Dr Carla van Laar at Inverloch Creative Therapies, through Melbourne City Mission’s Family Reconciliation and Mediation Program (FRMP) brokerage funding.

Carla is an experienced creative and experiential therapist who offers a safe, welcoming studio space in Inverloch where young people can explore experiences, feelings, identity and relationships through art-making and conversation. Creative therapy can help reduce stress, facilitate self-expression, strengthen inner resources and support healthy relationships.

Sessions are flexible, confidential, and tailored to each person’s needs — no art experience required. FRMP brokerage funding can cover the cost of sessions for eligible young people referred through MCM services.

This is an opportunity for young people to reconnect with their sense of agency, creativity, and hope while building supportive pathways with family and community.

Brokerage funding can be applied for by schools or community based organisations who support young people. Find out how to apply for funding here:

https://www.mcm.org.au/services/homelessness/support-services/family-reconciliation-mediation-program/frmp-brokerage

To make a referral or find out more, contact Inverloch Creative Therapies via email carla@carlavanlaar.com

* Image that includes young people is shared with permission and was taken during a community arts project featured in the South Gippsland Art Cubes during September 2025 in Leongatha.




Building Sustainable Ecosystems of PracticeWhat does it mean to build a livelihood that honours creativity, ethics, and ...
28/10/2025

Building Sustainable Ecosystems of Practice

What does it mean to build a livelihood that honours creativity, ethics, and care?

In my presentation for the upcoming Creative Therapies Events Summit, I’ll explore how values-based and community-centred approaches can create sustainable ecosystems of practice — where creativity and wellbeing can coexist with professional integrity and financial stability.

Through the lens of the “2025 Creative Mental Health Forum”, we’ll look at how collective care, place-based practice, and cultural context can help us reimagine what it means to work, lead, and live creatively in a complex world.

If you’ve ever felt that “business” and “therapy” don’t belong in the same sentence, this session is for you. There’s another way — one that’s relational, creative, and alive.

✨ I've just been offered a 10% discount for the Arts Therapies Business Summit that I can pass on to my friends and colleagues - it is valid for this summit or any other course available through Creative Arts Therapies Events - just click on this link and the discount should be automatically applied to whatever you purchase. 🙂 https://tinyurl.com/CarlasDiscount

From Peer Gathering to International Movement:When I first gathered a small group of peers to talk about creativity, car...
27/10/2025

From Peer Gathering to International Movement:

When I first gathered a small group of peers to talk about creativity, care, and community, I couldn’t have imagined it would grow into what it is today — an international movement for Creative Mental Health.

The Creative Mental Health Forum began as a grassroots gathering of therapists, artists, educators, and community members — people with a shared belief that creativity is not just for the few, but a vital part of how we heal and connect.

Now, through the Creative Therapies Events Summit, I have the privilege of sharing this journey with colleagues from around the world. I’ll be presenting our story and screening the “2025 Creative Mental Health Forum documentary”, a living record of how art, place, and community can transform systems of care.

Register here: https://www.artstherapies.org/link/RyQNXj?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artstherapies.org%2Fcourse%3Fcourseid%3Darts-therapies-business-summit

The Big Picture — Creative Care, AnywhereWe’ve entered a new era for Creative and Experiential Therapists — one that cel...
27/10/2025

The Big Picture — Creative Care, Anywhere

We’ve entered a new era for Creative and Experiential Therapists — one that celebrates abundance, collaboration, and courage. I’m thrilled to be part of the upcoming Creative Therapies Events Summit, where I’ll be presenting "Creative Care, Anywhere: The 2025 Creative Mental Health Forum — Building Sustainable Ecosystems of Practice."

For years, many of us Creative Therapists have been taught to think small — that there aren’t enough clients, opportunities, or space for us all to thrive, and that we need to fiercely guard our professional territory. In contrast, I've experienced the opposite to be true. When we share generously, when we centre our values and creativity, communities thrive. The new paradigm of abundance is alive and real.

This Saturday 1st November, I’ll be sharing the international launch of my new documentary, "The 2025 Creative Mental Health Forum", filmed on BoonWurrung Country, Australia — a story of what happens when creative health and collective care meet.

Stay tuned this week as I share more about this event and what it represents for our evolving field.

Register here:
https://www.artstherapies.org/link/RyQNXj...

We’ve entered a new era of recognition for counsellors, psychotherapists, and creative and experiential therapists. Prou...
26/10/2025

We’ve entered a new era of recognition for counsellors, psychotherapists, and creative and experiential therapists. Proud to see PACFA’s leadership and to reflect on CCET’s five-year journey that helped bring us here:

A New Era for Counsellors, Psychotherapists — and Creative and Experiential Therapists

It’s wonderful to see the National Standards for Counselling and Psychotherapy now formally published — a milestone that marks a new era for our profession.

For those of us PACFA registered therapists who work through creative, experiential, and relational ways of knowing and healing, this moment is especially significant. It affirms Creative and Experiential Therapists (CETs) as part of Australia’s nationally recognised counselling and psychotherapy workforce — something that many of us have been steadily working toward for the past five years.

Through PACFA’s College of Creative and Experiential Therapies (CCET), we have been laying the groundwork for this moment since 2020.

• ✨ Our journey so far:

• 2020: A group of 40 PACFA-registered Creative and Experiential Therapists came together, with PACFA’s support, to propose forming a new college that could represent our ways of working.

• 2021: PACFA’s Board unanimously accepted the proposal and established the College of Creative and Experiential Therapies (CCET). I was honoured to be elected as the inaugural Convenor.

• 2022: Our Leadership Group developed CCET’s values, purpose, membership criteria, and education standards — including a transparent, ethical assessment pathway aligned with national benchmarks.

• 2023: We prepared for opening for membership and contributed policy submissions to national reform campaigns.

• 2024: We opened for membership, launched our online community, developed standards linked to digital badges, and began our monthly CPD webinar series.

• 2025: We tripled our membership, contributed to the consultation process for these new National Standards, published a peer-reviewed response to the NDIS changes, and launched our community networking series, CCET Exchange.

As PACFA celebrates this new era, I also want to acknowledge the dedication, vision, and collaboration that have brought Creative and Experiential Therapies to this point of national recognition.

To my colleagues across the field — now is the time to make sure your voice is part of this future. If you’re a PACFA-registered Creative or Experiential Therapist, I warmly encourage you to apply to join CCET. Together, we’re shaping the evolving landscape of psychotherapy and counselling in Australia.



Find out more about CCET and how to join here:

https://pacfa.org.au/portal/Portal/About/Colleges/creative_and_experiential_therapies.aspx

✨ What happens when you let Dr Carla loose in your school?Last week I had the joy of facilitating a Creative EAP program...
26/10/2025

✨ What happens when you let Dr Carla loose in your school?
Last week I had the joy of facilitating a Creative EAP program for staff at Mazenod College — a pilot that reminded me just how transformative it can be when school teams are given permission to slow down, play, and reconnect as humans.

Creative EAP (Employee Assistance Program) draws on Art Therapy First Aid principles — a form of psychological first aid that uses creative processes to help people re-establish safety, calm, connection, efficacy, and hope.
These are the conditions that allow us to access our own inner resources for recovery and thriving, even in the face of ongoing stressors, disasters, or traumatic events.

Schools are vibrant, caring, and often high-pressure environments. Staff are our front-line workers, showing up every day to support young people’s wellbeing — and they deserve support, too.

Creative EAP offers a preventative approach to staff wellbeing — a regular creative space where teams can exhale, reflect, and refill their cups through experiential learning, mindfulness, and creative flow states.

At Mazenod, the pilot program was so well received that the school has already invited me back twice a term next year to continue building a culture of reflection, connection, and sustainable care — for self and for others.

If you’d like to explore bringing Creative EAP to your school, imagine the impact of two after-school sessions each term — a safe, creative space for staff to pause, make meaning, and strengthen relationships that support long-term wellbeing and prevent burnout.

📩 To learn more or organise a program for your school, contact:
Dr Carla van Laar
🎨 Creative and Experiential Therapist | Art Therapy First Aid Trainer
📧 carlavanlaar@gmail.com
🌐 carlavanlaar.com

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10 Townsend Bluff Road
Inverloch, VIC
3996

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Look after yourself and learn :)

We LOVE creating opportunities for therapists to have beautiful, nurturing and energising experiences together with others who care - AND offer transformative professional development learning all at the same time!