A Practical Guide To Doing Art Therapy at Home
Creative expression can be a meaningful way to slow down, notice emotions, and reflect on your inner experience. It offers a pathway to explore feelings that might be difficult to name out loud.
It’s important to understand that professional art therapy is typically facilitated by a trained art therapist within a therapeutic relationship. At home, you can use art-based reflective exercises inspired by art therapy principles for self-exploration and emotional awareness, but this does differ from formal therapy.
Do I need Any Artistic Skill Or Experience To Try Art Therapy At Home?
Absolutely not. Artistic skill is not the point. The value lies in the process, not in making something perfect or gallery-ready.
Research from Drexel University found that just 45 minutes of art-making can significantly lower cortisol levels – the hormone linked to stress.
And you don’t need to be “good” at art to experience those benefits. Simple marks, colours, shapes, and collage can be enough to generate an emotional unlock.
Who Can Benefit From Art Therapy Sessions?
This guide is for people who are experiencing stress, feeling emotionally flat, overwhelmed, disconnected, or, for those that are simply curious.
All you need is a calm space and some basic materials. Stop if the exercise feels too activating or distressing. Seek support from a qualified mental health professional if strong emotions arise or if you’re managing trauma, severe anxiety, depression, or another mental health condition.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to be going through anything significant to benefit from the practice – plenty of people use art therapy simply as a way to slow down and check in with themselves
The three exercises below are designed to release tension, build an ongoing reflective practice, and create comfort and emotional safety. If you become interested in the deeper therapeutic use of art, formal study in transpersonal art therapy is available online and in person through the College of Complementary Medicine.
Guiding Principle: Let the Process Speak Before You Try to Explain It
Art can help you notice feelings that are hard to put into words. There is no correct interpretation that must be forced from an image. Encourage curiosity over judgement. Ask yourself “What am I noticing?” rather than “What does this prove about me?”
Home practice is best approached as reflection, grounding, and creative self-inquiry. Move at your own pace and be kind to yourself throughout the process.
Art Therapy Exercises To Try At Home
Gather any simple materials you already have. Set aside 15 to 30 minutes. Put your phone aside. Consider beginning with a few slow breaths or a brief body check-in. You can pause, return later, or adapt to any exercise.
Closed-Eye Scribble And Image Finding
This is a low-pressure first exercise for people who feel self-conscious or “not creative”.
Use plain paper, pencils, crayons, markers, oil pastels, or pens. Begin by noticing your current state in one or two words: tired, wired, flat, hopeful, tense. Close your eyes and let your hand move across the page for 20 to 30 seconds without trying to control the outcome.
Open your eyes and turn the page in different directions. Look for shapes, symbols, movement, faces, landscapes, or patterns that seem to emerge. Add lines, colour, or detail to bring forward what you notice.
Reflect on these prompts: What feeling does this image carry? Does any part of the page feel louder, heavier, softer, or more protected? If this image had a title, what would it be?
If the image brings up distress, pause and ground yourself by noticing the room, your breath, or your feet on the floor.
This exercise helps bypass perfectionism, supports intuitive expression, and can reveal emotional tone without demanding words straight away.
Start A Spontaneous Images Journal
Use a notebook, sketchbook, or loose pages kept together. Create one quick visual response each day or a few times a week. Draw, paint, collage, use colour blocks, symbols, or abstract shapes.
After each image, add the date, a title, and one to three lines about what was happening internally or externally that day.
Over time, look for repeated colours, recurring symbols, emotional patterns, and shifts in energy, stress, or self-perception.
Ask yourself: What showed up today that surprised me? What am I avoiding, softening, or reaching towards? Do I notice a pattern in what I create when I feel calm versus overwhelmed?
This exercise builds self-awareness, supports emotional tracking, and helps develop a gentler relationship with inner experience.
Create a Self-Soothing Image Book
Use paper or card, old magazines, printed images, glue, scissors, pens, and scraps of coloured paper or fabric if available. Think in sensory terms: what helps you feel safe, settled, comforted, steady, or restored? This might include places, colours, textures, words, objects, people, rituals, weather, or memories.
Collect or create images that represent comfort and regulation. Assemble them into a small booklet or a few pages you can revisit during stressful moments.
Try creating pages for places that calm you, colours that soften your nervous system, reminders of support, words you need to hear, and small everyday moments that help you feel more like yourself.
Reflect on these prompts: Which images make my body feel even slightly more settled? Which page feels most supportive today? What does comfort look like for me when I’m not trying to perform or cope perfectly?
This is not about avoiding difficult feelings entirely. It’s about building a personal resource for grounding and emotional regulation.
More Self-Exploration Through Gentle Reflection
After any activity, take time to reflect on the artwork rather than rush to interpret it. Focus on observed qualities first: colour, pressure, movement, space, repetition, contrast. Then move into emotional and personal meaning only if it feels helpful.
What part of this image draws my attention first? Where do I see tension, softness, movement, emptiness, or protection? If one part of the image could speak, what might it say? What am I expressing here that I have not said out loud?
Not every image needs deep analysis. It’s okay to keep the exercise simple and grounding. If art-making consistently brings up intense memories, panic, dissociation, or emotional overwhelm, that is a sign to seek support from a qualified therapist or art therapist rather than pushing through alone.
FAQ’s
You only need simple, accessible supplies: paper or a sketchbook, pencils, pens, markers, crayons, or paints, scissors and glue for collage, and old magazines, photos, coloured paper, or fabric scraps if available. Expensive materials are not necessary. Use what you already have at home to reduce pressure and increase the likelihood of starting.
Making art for fun can support relaxation, enjoyment, and creativity. Art therapy, in the formal sense, involves therapeutic intent and is usually guided by a trained art therapist within a therapeutic relationship. At home, you can use art-based exercises for self-reflection and emotional awareness, but this is not the same as receiving professional therapy. The difference often lies in the purpose, reflective process, and level of therapeutic support.
Start with 15 to 30 minutes once or twice a week. Some people prefer short, regular check-ins; others benefit from a longer weekly session. Consistency matters more than duration. Stop earlier if you feel emotionally flooded or mentally fatigued. A brief reflection at the end can help close the session, such as naming one feeling, writing a title, or noting one thing you noticed. If sessions repeatedly stir up distress that feels difficult to manage alone, professional support is advisable.
