Creative Counselling

Gestalt Experiments

One aspect of Gestalt counselling is the use of 'experiments' to facilitate clients' exploration of themselves. The experiments can take many forms, including two chair work, drawing, role play and the use of objects as talking points.

I recommend the book Developing Gestalt Counselling by Jennifer Mackewn as a useful source book of ideas for Gestalt experiments in counselling.

Using Art

Gestalt experiments can include the use of art materials in the counselling session. Many adult clients are very nervous about using art because they believe that they 'can't draw' and the counsellor's initial task may be to let clients know that art in counselling is not about being able to draw.

Art enables us to express feelings in ways other than in words. All that is needed is something to make marks, something to make marks on, and the willingness to 'play'. The more playful we are able to be when we are using art, the more we will get in touch with feelings that may not usually be allowed free expression.

As with all therapy, the process is at least as important as the finished product.

Feelings on paper

One simple way to start to use art materials in a counselling session is to offer the client a sheet of paper, and some crayons, pencils, or paints. Ask the client to become aware of how she or he is feeling, and make marks on the paper that show those feelings.

Then ask the client to look at the paper. You might like to ask questions like:

• How did you feel while you were doing that?
• Does it look like you expected it to?
• Do you like what you see?
• How do you feel now?
• Have your feelings changed at all?

The tree that is me

Another experiment you can offer a client is to draw a tree. You might like to start by asking the client to imagine a tree, then asking these questions:

• is it a summer, autumn, winter or spring tree?
• does it have leaves or fruit or flowers, or is it bare?
• are there any birds or animals in its branches?
• what are the roots like?
• where does it stand? are there other trees near it?

When the client has a clear idea about the tree, then you can invite him or her to draw it. When the clients has finished, the client can look at the tree and describe it: eg 'it is tall and strong, but it has shallow roots'. You can then invite the client to replace the word 'it' with the word 'I', eg 'I am tall and strong but with shallow roots'.

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Using stones

Many counsellors use a collection of small stones as part of their counselling repertoire. My collection contains crystals such as rose quartz but it also includes pebbles from the beach, and small glass nuggets used in flower arranging. The larger the variety of colours, sizes and textures, the better.

One exercise you might like to offer a client is to lay out the stones to represent how they see their life at the moment. First they can pick one stone to represent them. Then they can choose other stones to stand for the people in their life and lay them out as a pattern to represent their current situation.

It can be revealing for a client to see the pattern of stones. You might like to invite the client to rearrange the stones into a pattern that they would prefer.

Using images

It is possible to use a wide range of images to work with the client in exploring his or her world. These can be pictures cut from magazines, traditional tarot cards, oracle cards, art postcards or cards specially formulated to facilitate personal development. If you are interested in using tarot cards you can find help in choosing a deck to work with on my tarot page.

Ways you might use cards include:

• Fanning the cards face down, ask the client to pick one at random. Then encourage the client to tell the story that the card suggests to them.
• Give the client the deck face up and ask him or her to pick a card that they particularly like or dislike. Ask what it is that he/she sees in the card.
• Ask the client to pick a card that shows qualities that he or she particularly desires. Use this as the basis for a guided visualisation exercise. The client can be invited to step into the card and to talk to or to become the character on the card.

Working with stories

The Once Upon a Time story game set is a useful source of words as well as pictures. It contains a set of cards carrying fairytale story endings and this can be a useful tool in working with clients on telling their stories. A client can be invited to look through the cards and pick endings that appeal to them. You can then ask them what it is that appeals. They might also think about what they can do in their lives to move towards this kind of ending.