ABSTRACT
This chapter takes us on a journey through the 25-year history of an inner London NHS Arts Psychotherapies department. Starting with the department’s psychoanalytic orientation and focus on a single modality, this chapter tells the story of how certain key events, such as the emergence of new integrative therapeutic models like MBT and Mindfulness, the growth of IATE, developments in neuroscience, combined with the pressure for the department to reach wider communities and work with people in crisis, led to the application of integrative approaches. Drawing extensively on case studies, the benefits of this multi-modal approach will be explored. The chapter will also make the case for an integrative theoretical framework to explain these benefits. Central to this is the idea of the client’s motif taking a transformative journey as it moves across different art forms. Equally important is the proximity of the motif to reality and the client’s body. This can change in helpful ways as we move between art forms, giving clients either space to think or reconnect with themselves. Furthermore, the richness and variety of this experience support the full range of relationships in Clarkson’s model.
