Sessions in Italian / Sessions in English
ART THERAPIST
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING PRACTITIONER
PSYCHOLOGIST
for a therapy that goes beyond words
Welcome to the website of the Somatic Art Therapy Studio in Bologna, Italy.
The somatic art therapy I offer is a combination of three techniques:
psychodynamic art therapy, sensorimotor art therapy and somatic experiencing.
I offer sessions in Italian and/or English, in person (in Bologna) or online.
I offer sessions for all ages: children , teenagers and adults .
My approach is " trauma-informed ."
I carried out my psychodynamic art therapy training at Art Therapy Italiana with Mimma Della Cagnoletta. It is an approach that combines aspects of the art world together with a deep exploration of the self. You will discover a way of using artistic materials that is totally different from 'making art' and leaves you free for authentic self-expression and an intimate discovery of your own internal world. It allows you to make sense of fragmented bits and give them order, meaning and wholeness.
I did my sensorimotor art therapy training at the Institute of Sensorimotor Art Therapy (Australia) with Cornelia Elbrecht. It is an approach that aims to reconsolidate implicit memories stored in the sensorimotor system. In simple terms: it aims to transform involuntary counter-productive behaviors and promote confidence, self-efficacy and satisfaction in one's actions. Suitable for difficult and/or aggressive behavior, trauma renegotiation, anxiety and depression.
I carried out my Somatic Experiencing training at Somatic Experiencing Italia with Doris Rothbauer and Pedro Padro. It aims to access implicit memories and transform learnt beliefs of helplessness and negative judgments about oneself. It was developed in the 1990s by Peter Levine specifically to provide an antidote to nervous system damage resulting from medical, physical (violence, accidents, falls) and psychological (deficiencies in primary relationships) trauma.
for adults
I offer individual therapy in English in Bologna and on-line, for those who want to process trauma,
grief, a difficult period of transition ... for those who want to do delve deep into themselves ... for those who suffer from anxiety and/or depression or have a diagnosis they would like to manage.
I offer therapy for couples in English in Bologna. It is aimed at those who want to overcome difficult periods in their relationship and find new ways of communicating with their partner as part of a plan to change unhealthy dynamics that can easily weigh a relationship down.
It can also simply be a great way to get to know your partner better through shared creativity.
for those who want a social experience, working together with others and exploring themes in common with others. Above all, a way to understand how we relate to others.
for children and teenagers
I offer therapy in English in Bologna for children of any age and I am specialised in working with Third Culture Kids (children who have lived in more than one country, normally due to their parents' jobs). Art therapy can promote healthy development and help children gain confidence in life.
Sensorimotor art therapy can help children with traumatic experiences and aggressive, difficult and oppositional behaviour. It offers support to the child who is processing bereavement, a transition, a divorce. It offers a useful resource together with psychodynamic art therapy for adopted and foster children to support them in their search for their own identity and encourage a secure attachment.
I also work with service users with diagnoses in the autistic spectrum, learning disabilities (DSA), eating disorders, behavioral difficulties and short attention spans (ADHD, CD).
Whether you just need some time for yourself and some private space, or you're dealing with a relationship crisis or school failure, or managing an eating disorder or other diagnosis, the art therapy studio can offer you a private space and time that is all yours.
If you find it difficult to seek help from adults and talk about it, art therapy offers a non-threatening way to express your inner feelings and opens up a space to manage high school stress. With sensorimotor art therapy you will be able to experience the effectiveness of your actions in the world and with psychodynamic art therapy you will be able to tell your story the way you want.
'"Art therapy can offer a support system to adolescents experiencing abuse, depression, lack of self-control, or sudden social or academic failures.' (S. Riley, 2001)
for trauma
"Trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you. It is the result of traumatic events that cause you to disconnect from your emotions and your body and have difficulty being in the present moment and develop a negative view of your world and a negative view of yourself and a defensive view of other people.
"And these perspectives shaped in the past continue to manifest in your life in the present and so the question is not what happened to you ten, twenty or thirty years ago, but to recognize their manifestations in the present moment and transcend them. And how do we do that?
"By reconnecting with yourself, by restoring the connection first and foremost with your body and then with your emotions that you had lost. And once you do that, once you find these things again, then you have what we call "recovery." What does it mean to recover something? It means to find it again. So, what do people find when they recover? They find themselves again." (Gabor Maté)
Somatic Art Therapy offers tools to transform the helplessness and anger implicit in the traumatic experience. It works in line with the techniques developed by Peter Levine, Stephen P orges , Bruce Perry. It promotes the concept that each of us is always doing our best with the tools we have available. It transforms judgment into curiosity and fear into trust.
Depression can seriously affect an individual's entire life-situation, as it drains the body of energy and leads to a reduced level of activity in everyday life. Anxiety disorders can cause serious obstacles in social functioning due to a level of fear that becomes unmanageable and intolerable. It may cause phobias that limit an individual's social life.
Depression can inhibit thinking capacity, capacity for self-expression and reduces the ability to communicate. Somatic art therapy provides tools for self-exploration with increasing self-awareness, awareness of what affects the individual and of response patterns occurring in everyday life. It promotes both self-expression and communication in both verbal and non-verbal forms.
(taken from 'A realist review of art therapy for clients with depression', The Arts in Psychotherapy 40, (2013) 322-330
The journal 'European Psychiatry' has published articles that promote the use of art therapy as an integrative treatment both for recurrent depressive disorder and for anxiety disorders. (S852, March 2015 and EVS25, March 2016).
Identifying as LGBTQI is not a problem, but living in a society that expects you to be something other than who you are can make life really difficult.
When a person grows up feeling judged and unaccepted, they may adopt various defense strategies to compensate, from hiding aspects of themselves from others to being a rebel.
We have internalized so many social, cultural and religious judgments that it becomes difficult to find our authentic selves among them. When I react to this challenge, I am not being myself just as I am not myself when I act to conform. Somatic Art Therapy can help you accept who you are, decide if, when, how and to whom to come out and, if you want to transition, can offer support in this process using practices such as Body Tracing.
I identify as LGBTQIA+ and can offer a LGBTQIA+ friendly space, whatever the issue you wish to bring.
Metamorphic Technique is a practice developed from reflexology. It uses reflex points on the spine along the feet, hands, and skull to release energy blocks created between the time of conception and our birth.
It is thanks to this technique that I have accomplished my metamorphosis from artist to art therapist and for this I am infinitely grateful.
There are two books currently published in Italy on the metamorphic technique:
Gaston St. Pierre and Debbie Boater: The Transforming Massage – Principles and Practice of the “Metamorphic Technique” – Mediterranean Editions
Gaston St. Pierre: The Universal Principles and the Metamorphic Technique - Mediterranean Editions
eating disorders
link to the adults page
For teens: click here
Eating disorders can be divided into two groups: those that seek to control the body through the control of food consumption such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa and those that challenge this control through compulsive eating such as Binge-Eating Disorder.
A study published in the Journal of Art Therapy of the University of Madrid (vol. 9, 2014) suggests the reasons for the effectiveness they found in using art therapy as an integrative method to treat eating disorders. They found that the emotional relationship between the person and the artwork created during therapy mirrored the emotions they harbored toward themselves, including hatred, judgment, and insecurity. When the individual began to cultivate a more positive attitude toward their creations, a similar change began to be seen in their attitude toward their own body.
The term 'learning difficulty' or disability covers a wide range of diagnoses of varying gravity. Art therapy can help with the emotional issues and social stigmas that can accompany learning difficulties.
In 2017, the International Journal of Art Therapy published an article (22.2.84-94) citing the results of a survey of 60 art therapists working with people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour in the UK; 65% of respondents worked within the National Health Service (NHS). The therapists reported that art therapy offered a wide range of benefits to people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. The therapists’ perceptions of their effectiveness included providing safety and containment, empowerment, a thinking space to reflect and process, and an opportunity to develop a meaningful and trusting relationship.