City Art Therapy is a collaboration between experienced art psychotherapists Anna Magnowska and Bisan Wehbi.
Anna and Bisan trained at Goldsmiths University and work in the public and private sector as art psychotherapists. They have now joined forces to create City Art Therapy, which brings their combined knowledge and expertise from education and health to the wider world.
Art therapy is an established and professionally regulated practice that integrates psychotherapy alongside creative expression and art making as a means of communication. Everyone possesses creativity, and art therapy can be a way to tap into unspoken, complex feelings which can then be processed through the therapeutic relationship. You do not need any experience making art.
Art therapy is appropriate for all ages and stages of life, and can be particularly suited to people who struggle with verbal communication. As well as private practice, art therapists work in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, mental health facilities, community organisations and charities. Art therapy is a socially conscious practice, and art therapists pay attention to the intertwining of a person’s internal and external worlds with an understanding that we are all shaped by our social, cultural, political and economic circumstances.
Art making and creativity can be healing, and can offer insight into our unconscious selves; shining a light on behavioural patterns, early attachment styles, and ways of relating. With greater clarity we can make links between past and present, leading to a reshaping of what your future may look like.
City Art Therapy offer customised workshops and sessions, curated to meet your values and visions.
As art psychotherapists we understand the transformative potential of creativity through the work we carry out one to one and in groups. Our workshops are designed to tap into the potential of each individual member of a group as well as the group as a whole through art making and creative exploration. This approach helps to create and re-enforce relationships and engenders a sense of value in each participant whilst also opening up a space for creative thinking, group cohesion, team building and a deeper sense of self regard. Art therapy workshops offer a multitude of benefits for any group or organisation and can enable participants to work through themes such as:
Coping with stress and uncertainty
Significant life events
Transitions
Identity
Team building
Organisational dynamics
Enhancing resilience
Emotional intelligence
Insight and innovation
Conflict resolution
Diversity, inclusion and belonging
City Art Therapy combine their extensive experience as practitioners alongside evidence based techniques with the needs of your group or organisation in order to create one off workshops or a series of sessions. Workshops can be carried out virtually as well as in person, and can be designed to fit into your schedule as well as half or full day sessions. Contact us to discuss your specifications and for a free quote.
Anna has over ten years’ experience working in the NHS, and currently works as an art psychotherapist in cancer care, providing therapy for both inpatients and outpatients. Anna also facilitates art therapy groups for clinical staff working in acute hospital settings.
Prior to training as an art psychotherapist Anna worked as a nurse, holding roles in oncology, accident and emergency, sexual health and as a clinical nurse specialist in palliative care. Anna’s extensive experience in cancer and end of life care informs her practice, and she is particularly attuned to exploring how trauma and illness can affect a person’s sense of self, relationship with their body and impact upon existential ideas about mortality. Through creative thinking and artistic exploration within the therapeutic relationship Anna enables her clients to begin processing these feelings and experiences.
Anna’s other area of specialism is sexual health, with a focus on the psychosocial aspects of sexual identity, sexuality, HIV diagnosis, gender and relationships. Anna works closely with survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse within her role as Health Adviser at a leading sexual health clinic in Central London.
In Anna’s private art therapy practice she works with both adults and children.
As a freelance illustrator Anna has also worked for magazines, publishing houses, advertising agencies and record labels and has held exhibitions in London, Australia and the USA.
Bisan is an art psychotherapist focused on working with communities. Her experience includes working in the education sector, with children and young people and with groups of women and single parents.
Her background is firmly based in education and the charity sector, including work in refugee camps and 1:1 work with children with Special Educational Needs.
Bisan holds a bachelor's degree in graphic art and a master's degree in art psychotherapy.
Working with a range of clients enabled Bisan to recognise the importance of access to mental health support for everyone. Understanding diversity and taking a broad view on the connected issues of cultural and social differences are at the heart of Bisan’s work.
Bisan uses a psychodynamic approach in sessions where she creates a space to work through difficult experiences and seeks to find the roots of unexplained behaviours and patterns, which can often affect day-to-day life. Bisan’s sessions focus on unconscious processes and building trusting relationships with the client.
Bisan has a private practice in East London working with adults and children.
Contact us.
Get in touch to begin creating your bespoke City Art Therapy workshop and for pricing details. Fill in the form below or email contact@cityarttherapy.com