ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways in which bringing a selection of natural materials into the art therapy room and incorporating ecopsychological concepts of self and child development adds something important to art therapy. In the author’s experience nature often excites, enlivens and engages children, appealing to their archetypal and evolutionary ‘hard wiring’. It seems to increase sensory and emotional awareness and self-regulation, which is necessary for a child’s mentalisation. It also provides greater opportunity for positive attachment, enhances creative imagination and allows the child necessary space away from the increasingly all-consuming social technological world. This allows them to develop a sense of themselves that reaches beyond cultural human experiences, potentially helpful in finding their own deeper meaning and morality. Three vignettes are included as observations within the art therapy laid the ground for the concepts explored here. A relationship with nature invites new (old) ways of relating to self, others and the world around, one that is grounded in sensory, emotional and imaginative shared experiences and, when offered within art therapy, is a relationship that might well last a lifetime.
