About Káren...

Káren studied at the University of Hertfordshire where she gained her Masters degree in Art therapy in 2012. As part of her clinical experience, Káren worked with adolescents in a CAMHS service within an NHS hospital; with adults coping with life limiting illnesses in a Marie Curie hospice and with women with chronic anorexia in a rehabilitation unit. Prior to her Art Therapy training, Káren worked for a number of years in education.

Since qualifying as an Art therapist, Káren has delivered Art Therapy to pupils in primary and secondary schools and a primary Pupil Referral Unit, to patients and their families in a large multi-faith hospice in London, to Young Carers and to adults in her private practice. More recently Káren has worked with children, young people and adults as a Bereavement Support practitioner for a national bereavement charity.

Káren has also volunteered in a number of settings including residential and day centres for adults with learning disabilities, a charity working with the homeless and with refugees through the Red Cross.

For those unfamiliar with Art therapy, Káren explains that it is a form of psychotherapy that helps people to tell and make sense of their stories through the making of images using art materials. It can be a means of containing powerful feelings, improving self-esteem, allowing for risk taking and making mistakes, learning new skills, tolerating anxiety and the ‘not knowing’. The images produced can be explored with Káren within a safe, containing and confidential environment.  

Art therapy assists people who have difficulty putting their feelings into words. It can help children and adults to make sense of their deepest feelings, help those who are feeling highly anxious and/or depressed and help those who may be experiencing feelings of helplessness or hopelessness, providing a means of empowerment. The process of making images and the images themselves can help people to get in touch with emotions enabling them to move towards a state of wellbeing.

Specialisms:

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· Anxiety and depression

· Autism and learning disabilities

· Attachment and trauma

· Bereavement, grief and loss

· Eating disorders

· ‘Looked After’ and adopted children

· Visualisation and Mindfulness

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Certification and Qualifications:

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· Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered

· British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) registered as a Private Practitioner

· Masters degree in Art Therapy

· Dyadic Art Psychotherapy