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Monday 1pm - 7pm Tuesday 1pm - 7pm Wednesday 1pm - 7pm Thursday 1pm - 7pm Friday 1pm - 7pm

Heart Smart Arts

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Heart Smart Arts

You are loved, unique and brilliant (you may just not believe it yet) ✨
Therapy, client and family advocacy, support
Small team: Exceptional service

04/03/2026

***LIGHTER EVENINGS & LONGER DAYS ***

These lighter evenings (when there’s less rain!) have me feeling all the joy. Sometimes it’s the small things at the end of the day which help you reset. Even when the day has been long and you are weary.

As the light creeps back in, so does a sense of possibility, even as the world seems very heavy right now. Nature prevails and so will we…. Some way, some how.

Keep looking for the light, the helpers, the good things.

I (Harriet), inspired by some reading from Marion Milner, have started writing two short lists every day:

What do I want?
What made me happy?

I’d really recommend it. Even if you only write the list in your head. It doesn’t need to take longer than five mins and it is keeping me focused and hopeful.

And we all need more Hope.

02/03/2026

***CAN YOU HELP US?***

We are fundraising to be able to run free therapeutic art workshops in our rural communities around Ashford and Tenterden and online. This is in collaboration with in Tenterden.

We know times are tricky financially, we are all feeling the pinch, but any amount you feel you could share would be so welcome and might make all the difference to someone who could do with some support with their mental health and wellbeing.

Our vision is to create more quality connections in communities so creative collaborations can continue on after we deliver our work. Feeling isolated and alone can be so damaging for our mental health and just having a sense of a creative community around us and a welcoming space gives local people more opportunities to find a sense of belonging.

You can donate directly here: https://www.spacehive.com/creative-connections-in-ashford

Thanks so much for all your support ✨

The HSA Team X

24/02/2026

***TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT ***

Another service we offer is training and development. This is some feedback from training which Harriet delivered yesterday on the importance of play for children in care (and all children and adults actually!).

Get in touch if you’d like to book or find out more about bespoke training for your team, school or business.

18/02/2026

***THIS IS A GREAT QUESTION!***

And the answer is absolutely not! Therapy is for adults too and quite a few of the team work with adults as well as children and young people. There is no need to be envious of the kids! ;)

There are times in our lives when we all need some extra support. As therapists, we ourselves will have had and also might currently have our own therapy too. We often need it in order to support others in the way that we do. Most therapy qualifications require you to have your own therapy all the way through training. The majority of therapists have had years of their own therapy in order to keep them well whilst doing this work.

Therapy can be such a supportive and transformational tool. Some people come for a short time and leave when they’re feeling better and others benefit so much from the support so much that they stay for years. Ultimately, you are the expert on your mental health and how well you feel and we love to hold space for you to be as well as possible.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss your options with us. We love that therapy is more and more being seen as the essential self care tool that it is.

16/02/2026

***TINY GLIMMERS ☀️***

I hope you managed to catch some of the glorious sunshine over the weekend.

By this point in the winter our bodies are crying out for some sunshine, more fresh air and let’s be honest, less rain! And spring is just so close now…

These are the times when little glimmers of hope, little cracks in the gloom really start to uplift us. Keep looking for those glimmers, you’ll be surprised how much positivity you can find. Even if there’s storms today! ⛈️

What did you get up to in the sunshine this weekend? We’d love to know!

11/02/2026

***DATA, MEASURING AND WHY IT MATTERS…***

Most people when they come to us interested in Art or Creative therapies with us don’t ask about measurable results. This is completely understandable as for the most part they just want themselves or their children to feel better! And how can you measure the feels??

Well, actually you can and we do! And it’s critical to our process.

Another interesting misconception I (Harriet) come across a lot is “Art therapy - that’s a bit woo woo isn’t it?” ✨

And whilst yes we are positive, nurturing and open minded there is absolute science and measurement going on behind the scenes.

We will actively measure alongside your child how they are feeling when they begin therapy and then at regular intervals throughout the therapy. We will also ask you for your input and if there’s a teacher involved we’ll ask for their input too. This way we can measure changes over time so that you know:

💷 You are getting value for ££
😊 Your child knows it’s worth them bothering AND the positive impact on their self esteem watching the changes is 📈👍🏻
✅ And we have something tangible we can share with you at reviews whilst keeping your child’s privacy about therapy safe.

All of this adds up to the unique service we offer at Heart Smart Arts. Get in touch to find out more!

09/02/2026

***WE'VE MADE IT!***

It feels as if it's been the wettest, gloomiest winter. But this is your reminder that we've made it through the darkest weeks of the year. The sun will not set before 5pm again now until October.

Hello more sunny days! Hello spring. Those of you who are affected by the winter blues or SAD can begin to breathe a sigh of relief. Take care of yourself and your body over the coming weeks. We live within systems which don't allow us enough rest over the winter. By now our energy can be very depleted.

But it is coming back, a little each day and with the daylight and nature's rhythms.

It's OK if everyone in your family is tired. It's OK if you're needing a bit of extra time, more nourishment. This makes complete sense at the end of a long winter season.

Sunnier days ahead ☀☀☀

06/02/2026

Developing creativity in Ashford, we'll offer courses and workshops to improve mental health and combat isolation. Working together we'll create inspiring art, connection, and community resilience.

30/01/2026

We need your help.....🎨

We are delighted to be working alongside on launching their fundraising campaign to provide people in rural areas with mental health support in the form of free art therapy workshops, activities and online courses (especially during Winter which is tough for many).💦🌩️🌨️❄️ Heart Smart Arts will be creating and delivering workshops both online and offline if we are able to reach our funding goal. We really hope to help people who couldn't normally access or not easily access our services to do just that with this project.!

People in our local villages and rural locations often don't have equal access to activities and services. We want to change this!! 🎸🎨🩰🪇🥁♟️🎮🎭

You can support us by making a pledge/donation (min £2.00) and by sharing this post and link far and wide!!
https://www.spacehive.com/creative-connections-in-ashford

We have 76 days left to raise funds for this project. Thank you😊

28/01/2026

***DRAWING & TALKING IS ART THERAPY, ISN’T IT?***

Well actually, No. This is something that has come up a few times lately so we thought it would be good to make a clear distinction between the two.

Firstly it’s important to say we value and appreciate ALL qualified practitioners working in mental health and the arts. We believe the world needs more wonderful practitioners doing this important work.

Drawing & Talking and Art Therapy are both using Art to support mental health and wellbeing. They are underpinned by similar principles and ideologies. It would be so easy to think they are the same. If your child has accessed Drawing and Talking at school, this is not actually Art Therapy. Having said that, it’s a great first step into this kind of support. Art Therapists may have even begun this type of work with a Drawing and Talking qualification!

Drawing and talking is designed to be lower level wellbeing support. To be a Drawing and Talking practitioner, someone must complete a short course often taken by those working in related fields such as pastoral care or social work and serves a useful purpose in providing care to those who wouldn’t necessarily be able to access or need longer term therapy.

Art Therapy, on the other hand is a protected title. Art Therapists have to complete 2 to 3+ years of training (an MA in most cases after a first degree in a related field) and have extensive therapy of their own in order to do this work. All of this helps them to understand how to meet clients at the level they can engage and to have significantly processed their own trauma in order to work safely in deep psychological work. Art Therapists are Psychotherapists who have to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (who also register professional like an Occupational Therapist or a Paramedic). Art Therapy, and the right experience from the therapist, will often be used with significant or severe trauma to support a client.

The support your child would receive from these two services might have some similarities but will be very different levels of trauma work.

26/01/2026

***WAIT...WHAT? WHY WOULD I BE BENEFITTING WHEN THERAPY IS FOR MY CHILD?***

Yes, so you might be under the impression that your child's therapy is just for them. In one sense it is, it's their space. But in actuality it will impact you as a whole family.

When a child is in therapy, parents and families are often surprised on the impact it can have on everyone else. Big changes and shifts can happen as your child's behaviour might adjust. Children in therapy can impact their siblings and their parents through what they are learning. You might find that language or behaviour changes in them positively rippling through the whole family.

So even though the time and money investment can seem significant. It is just that - an investment - both in their wellbeing and, significantly, in your own because you aren't managing this on your own anymore. You have a support team cheering you on. And that changes everything. This is an investment in the future of your family's mental health. What a place to invest!

A new way to look at the cost, perhaps?

21/01/2026

*** “THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT MY LIFE.”***

No, perhaps not now because you haven’t met them yet. How can they?

This statement shocked me because I was amazed that someone thought this about therapy.

Therapists care deeply about their clients wellbeing and their experience. Yes, it is our jobs and we have probably all experienced a young person at one time or another suggest that we are only here because we get paid for it.

But actually, we love what we do. We’ve gone through years of training, input and *hard work* to be able to do it. We deeply care about supporting people with their mental health. And if we were here just for the money, quite frankly, we chose the wrong job!😝

I know every member of our team thinks about clients a long time after they’ve finished therapy. We see something or think of something which reminds us of that client. And we wonder how they are doing and hope things are working out for them.

Just like teachers remember special students and tell their stories years later, therapists recall and think about their clients and wish them well (privately). Not all the time but it might surprise you how often.

With our current clients we think about them often, we spend a lot of time researching what might be supportive, we reflect on how we can be an even more effective therapist for them in supervision… The list goes on.

So this really isn’t true. Therapists care deeply about our clients lives, about their mental health, their special relationships and crucially about their longer term success. This is what sets us apart from schools, for example. We are thinking about their success in adult relationships, their long term wellbeing and opportunities to thrive. Not just getting them to school or through this next exam or to be able to sit on the carpet for the whole teaching session…

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes. The client only sees 50 mins a week of that work. Their parents (if they’re children) even less. But trust me, it’s all happening behind the scenes in order to help you thrive 🌱🌱

Address

Rye

Opening Hours

Monday	1pm - 7pm
Tuesday	1pm - 7pm
Wednesday	1pm - 7pm
Thursday	1pm - 7pm
Friday	1pm - 7pm

Telephone

+447709065200

Website

http://www.heartsmartarts.com/

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