Therapeutic Arts Ipswich

Therapeutic Arts Ipswich Art speaks to our soul & offers a quiet space. We can hide in the safe sanctuary of art.
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Therapeutic arts are just like ordinary arts but instead of feeling pressured to create a beautiful artwork, we are allowed to play, experiment & enjoy the process. Therapeutic arts offer a creative alternative to counselling, working with the subconscious mind and wounds living in the body that our conscious mind cannot touch. Whilst talking is still a warm and important part of the sessions/ workshops, it's the art which does the main healing work. Art takes us to the core of our problem, it brings it to the surface in a form of artwork and has the capacity to resolve the challenge with a long term, lasting effect.

Book now for our forthcoming Weave Your Dreams Therapeutic arts workshop with dreamcatchers on Saturday 20 September fro...
31/08/2025

Book now for our forthcoming Weave Your Dreams Therapeutic arts workshop with dreamcatchers on Saturday 20 September from 2-4pm, facilitated by Kirsty from Beam and co-led by me, Marie Grueberova!
Making dreamcatchers:
⭐is a therapeutic activity for the mind and soul
⭐helps you to relax and create space for new thoughts
⭐allows you to create with your hands, use colourful materials with lovely textures
⭐brings the sense of excitement and joy into your life
⭐by weaving the circular pattern, come closer to the centre of your strength.

At the end of the session, you leave with a beautifully crafted piece and recharged mind.

Kirsty from the Beam charity in Ipswich began making dreamcatchers as a way of maintaining her mental health during challenging times. She transformed ‘dreamcatcher’ craft into an activity, where we can actively weave our new dreams into our lives. She has a vivid imagination and her rich, ever-growing collection of dreamcatchers and techniques continues to inspire.

Book now at www.foxyardstudio.co.uk/whatson/therapeuticartsworkshop-sept20

Expert framing in progress! Thanks to my experienced art pit crew (my talented cousin  and a power-tool equipped hubby),...
29/08/2025

Expert framing in progress! Thanks to my experienced art pit crew (my talented cousin and a power-tool equipped hubby), these delicate silk paintings got their well-deserved casing.
I get completely lost when I paint on silk. I love the process, creating the design on paper (based on my nature drawings), tracing it on silk, outlining with metallic gutta and finally painting with the vibrant inks. For me it contains a magical quality.
You are all warmly invited to the NaviStitch Autumnal Exhibition, 28 High Street, Manningtree. Preview Evening is on Friday 5 September, 5pm-8pm.
A big thank you to Sam at for inviting me to the exhibition. I dropped off my artwork today and was already dazzled by the amazing artworks waiting to be hung up. Find out more at www.navistitch.com/exhibition

A second workshop from our co-creative series with the residents of Bramacare (a specialist care provider for adults wit...
24/08/2025

A second workshop from our co-creative series with the residents of Bramacare (a specialist care provider for adults with eating disorders who are leaving hospital and need high quality support as a transition to living independently).
Enjoying the warm sunshine after the heavy rain in the morning, we made most of our beautiful settings in the Hidden Garden on St Peter's Street, Ipswich. Working with white clay is relaxing and tactile. Using our own hands and baking cutter shapes, we played with various forms and textures. Some of us also enjoyed peaceful colouring, using vibrant colours, bringing the images alive.
And what did the residents say about the art session? 'Therapeutic, non-judgmental, no expectations, go with the flow, different.'
I'm very much looking forward to our next session on felting.
To find out more about the specialist help for eating disorder, please visit https://bramacare.co.uk/

Last Saturday we had a special gathering in the Christchurch Park.We met up for a creative honouring of our loved ones. ...
22/08/2025

Last Saturday we had a special gathering in the Christchurch Park.
We met up for a creative honouring of our loved ones. This event was inspired by one of our participants who planted an oak tree in the park for his late wife. Sadly, the tree did not live through this summer's heat, however we found another special way to remember his wife and to honour other people who we have lost.
Surrounded by beautiful trees, listening to their soundtrack of swishing and rustling, we worked with charcoal drawing and crayon rubbing. Connecting to nature around us and to each other, we experienced a sense of calmness and peace. We talked about our loved ones with mixed feelings of sadness and joy. We dedicated our session and our artworks to them.

When I was travelling along the Rhine (whilst my husband was walking to the Czech Republic), I had a freedom to roam abo...
17/08/2025

When I was travelling along the Rhine (whilst my husband was walking to the Czech Republic), I had a freedom to roam about and discover beautiful spaces in nature.
High in the green hills above the Rhine and the picturesque town of Vallendar, there is a unique place of pilgrimage with an atmosphere of serenity and piety.
That’s where I sat in the nature’s silence and drew and painted this image, inspired by the spirit of this sacred place. This is what came up from me:
‘Getting to know one’s inner snake
can release its grip on the tree of life.
The life energy can flow once more
And the snake can become a healer.’

When we start creating art, we open up the most important conversation of all, the one with ourselves. When we create, p...
15/08/2025

When we start creating art, we open up the most important conversation of all, the one with ourselves.
When we create, paint, draw, sculpt etc, the chaotic chatter of our mind slows down and we can begin to hear those quieter voices in us, usually the voices which we banished to the dark corners of our mind and soul.
Sometimes, the voices are loud to start with – in my example, it might be the voice of anger which I have mastered repressing over the years. The voice of sadness is also hard to hear sometimes. That’s why I find journaling so helpful, as those voices take on life, they feel heard and can become helpful contributors to my life, rather than feared enemies. The critical voices of ‘I should’, ‘I must’ give way to a softer, gentler voices of wise guidance and kind friendship.
Strangely, it is my experience if I don’t give them space, they may find a different way of making themselves known. Sometimes through the body as aches and pains, sometimes as challenging situations in life.
Either way, a part of me asks for attention and if I ignore it, it may persist.
Painting/ creating etc feels like re-establishing an equilibrium in my inner orchestra of voices and also getting some pretty helpful advice.
Try it with your own art. If you need help getting started with this process, come to a workshop or book a one-to-one. Creating a meaningful conversation with yourself through art is the most valuable tool I can pass on.

I am excited to announce the new programme for our therapeutic arts workshops at Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket. Apart from...
10/08/2025

I am excited to announce the new programme for our therapeutic arts workshops at Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket. Apart from our therapeutic arts workshop with Marie, we will have two guest artists from Beam, delivering a couple of fantastic workshops. Here are the dates for your diary!
⭐Sat 20 Sep 2025, 2-4pm - Dreamcatchers with Kirsty from Beam
⭐Sat 18 Oct 2025, 2-4pm - Autumnal lino prints with Marie
⭐Sat 15 Nov 2025, 2-4pm - Light up the dark with Marie, a Therapeutic Arts workshop with lantern decoration and storytelling
⭐Sat 13 Dec 2025, 2-4pm - Stained glass decoration with tissue paper by Nat from Beam.
Booking starting soon.

Asking for help does not come easily‘I have to manage on my own. I’ve got to be self-sufficient.I don’t want to bother a...
08/08/2025

Asking for help does not come easily

‘I have to manage on my own.
I’ve got to be self-sufficient.
I don’t want to bother anyone.
I don’t want to be a burden.’

Those values although admirable, have been also a source of isolation and a prolonged pain in my life. A recent injury and a tooth infection have yet again stripped me of my pride and the illusion that I could manage on my own. Humbly reminding me that asking for help is the only way to healing sometimes.
Whilst I can take positive healing steps at home and I do (such as taking natural anti-inflammatories and massaging the injured area), there are other steps needed.
Like finding a courage to ring the dentist to have a painful tooth checked (since I can’t perform a specialist scan at home). Asking my husband to drive me when my knee hurts (as it makes me feel safer on the road). Booking a session with a holistic specialist (as it creates a therapeutic space for me and works deeper with the actual causes of the pain).

I have admired strong heroes all my life. I’m learning there’s a different type of strength. A strength of recognising my limits, learning to rely on others, letting them be a part of my life and allowing them to do things for me that I can’t do for myself. Together we heal me.

Admitting it may feel like a failure but in fact it takes guts to seek help.
Why? Because we could be rejected and that would hurt more.

It’s hard to say no to your friends, to your family, to your employer, to your cat and sometimes even to yourself…Where ...
30/07/2025

It’s hard to say no to your friends, to your family, to your employer, to your cat and sometimes even to yourself…
Where do we end and others begin? What is still acceptable and what is just too much?
Invisible boundaries between YES and NO, between OK and TOO FAR.
Where do we draw the line?
When do we comply? And when do we stand up for ourselves?
What is our learnt behaviour? How do we face our fear?
How do we find strength to say ENOUGH?
Sometimes images speak louder than words.
They give us power.
They give us permission.
They give us voice.

Grief or love? Transform grief from an unwanted enemy to a wise, creative companion. Fearing grief, rejecting grief, hat...
25/07/2025

Grief or love? Transform grief from an unwanted enemy to a wise, creative companion. Fearing grief, rejecting grief, hating grief…
I’ve experience that. Yet isn’t grief just love that has nowhere to go? The love we feel for the person we have be separated from or we are about to be.
Grief can have real manifestations in the body. I have personally suffered an attack of fibromyalgia (like symptoms) when my mum-in-law had died where I couldn’t move from a sofa. Severe toothache and root canal infection following a death and anticipation of another. Physical pain. As if my body is trying to process the unbearable emotional pain.
The only medicine I have discovered for grief is art. I find it difficult to ‘cry’ sometimes, it gets stuck, perhaps I learned to keep things in. I can cry in my art by painting a sad artwork, or when I write a sad poem or a story, sing a sad song. That’s the way I allow myself to cry.
And whilst I create, something in me gets recreated, it opens up this ‘clogged up’ dam and the love can flow again.
I work with grief both in 1:1 sessions and in my workshops. To talk about how counselling with art can help with your grief, get in touch on 07513 360935 or email marie@therapeuticarts.co.uk

We recently held our first co-creative workshop with the residents of Bramacare, a specialist eating disorder service, p...
23/07/2025

We recently held our first co-creative workshop with the residents of Bramacare, a specialist eating disorder service, providing residential and nursing care for adults.
Set in a beautiful venue of the Hidden Garden on St Peter's Street, Ipswich, we have all enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of the garden, whilst listening to the birds and working with therapeutic arts on a collage from paper and textiles.
This was the first session of the programme. It was so helpful to have input from the residents in selection of the techniques and media. More creative sessions are coming up: clay, felting, dreamcatchers, lino printing and silk painting, followed by an exhibition in the residents' home in White House, Ipswich.
A big thank you to everyone involved.
To find out more about the specialist help for eating disorder, please visit https://bramacare.co.uk/

Address

The Therapy Room, 135 Foxhall Road
Ipswich
IP38LA

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6am
Tuesday 10am - 6am
Wednesday 10am - 6am
Thursday 10am - 6am
Friday 10am - 6am

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