Nili used to coordinate the monthly clinical meetings for the London Art Therapy Centre and wrote the blog about these meetings for several years.
Nili Sigal,
Art Therapy & EMDR
Nili Sigal is an experienced art psychotherapist, supervisor and accredited EMDR therapist based in Devon. She specialises in working with PTSD and complex trauma and has a keen interest in the relationship between body and mind and the healing power of creativity.
Please note: I am not currently available for private therapy, but I might occasionally have space for supervision, lectures or workshops.
About
About Nili, her professional practice and experience
I have always used art to express and understand my thoughts and feelings. After completing my BA in fine art, a longstanding interest in working with people led me to undertake a graduate diploma in psychology, followed by an MA in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths University.
I consider art therapy a powerful form of psychotherapy, which helps clients to connect with emotions and embodied processes and to heal through the use of imagination, creativity and play.
I am passionate about creative self-expression across all age groups and have worked with a range of clients in a variety of settings. These include grassroots and voluntary organisations, marginalised communities, acute and forensic inpatient wards, community NHS services, the education sector and in private practice.
My training in EMDR further built upon an interest in the embodied nature of trauma and working with trauma-related ‘body memories’, both through reprocessing and art making.
I ran the clinical meetings for the London Art Therapy Centre for several years and wrote their monthly blog. I also set up and coordinated the Special Interest Group on complex trauma, PTSD and dissociation for the British Association of Art Therapists, a position I held until 2020. I have spoken at conferences, co-produced videos and papers with service users and published several book chapters and articles.
I currently specialise in working with adults who have complex childhood trauma in a community setting for the NHS. I am passionate about integrating mind and body in trauma-focused art therapy, a subject that I have written and lectured about.
I am occasionally available for private supervision and talks, conferences or workshops, but do not currently have availability to offer private psychotherapy.
Art Therapy
What is art therapy?
Art therapy is a unique creative process, where art-making and psychotherapy combine to aid individual growth, awareness and healing. No prior skills in art are required to access this intervention; the art materials are used as a tool to work with emotional difficulties. Art therapy can help to ease distress, increase awareness, resolve internal conflicts, access creativity and cope with trauma.
Art therapy is useful for clients seeking psychotherapy or counselling, who want to explore their difficulties through this approach. Engaging in a non-verbal, creative process can help clients to connect with their bodies and their feelings.
This way of working can be helpful for people who struggle to utilise talking therapies due to feeling disconnected from their emotions (for example, very verbal people who tend to over-intellectualise their experiences), or for those who are too overwhelmed by emotions to talk safely about their experiences. Some come to art therapy because they struggle to use language to describe mental states and experiences.
Art therapists are trained at an MA level and are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). It is a protected title, which means that only those who are appropriately trained and registered can legally practice as an art therapist. The content of art therapy sessions and the artwork are kept safe and confidential. If you are thinking about having art therapy, it is important to know that the creative process is a central part of the work.
Debunking some myths about art therapy
- Art therapy is not an ‘alternative’ therapy, but a creative and powerful form of psychotherapy, based on psychological and psychotherapeutic principles.
- No specific interest in art, experience or skill in art-making are necessary to benefit from art therapy.
- Clients don’t have to talk about their work in the session if they prefer not to.
- Art therapists don’t ‘analyse’ the work; we look at it collaboratively with our clients. We believe that clients know the meaning behind their work better than we do.
- While sessions can be enjoyable and fulfilling, art therapy is not a diversional or recreational activity and the experience can be painful or challenging. Expressing difficult feelings – instead of bottling up or avoiding them – is one of the ways art therapy can help people to get better.
More information:
EMDR
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) was developed especially for the treatment of trauma.
Clients are asked to hold their traumatic memory in mind while experiencing bilateral stimulation (either through eye movement, tapping or by holding tactile buzzers) in order to process and integrate the traumatic memory and make it less overwhelming. It is one of two approaches, alongside trauma-focused CBT, which are recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence for treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Training in EMDR is only open to qualified psychologists, therapists and other healthcare professionals with relevant training and qualifications. It can be introduced as a standalone treatment or added as a targeted piece of work within a longer-term therapeutic intervention, which is the way I typically use it in my clinical practice. EMDR has a strong evidence base for the treatment of PTSD and related conditions.
When I integrate EMDR into my art therapy practice, I use it to address specific memories which are particularly distressing– especially ones that might be re-experienced in nightmares or flashbacks – and which are potentially holding the client back from making meaningful progress in their lives. Working through these memories in EMDR, then returning to art therapy for the rest of the therapeutic journey, can help to integrate insight and challenge assumptions which have formed the client’s negative perception of themselves and the world.
You can find an article I wrote about combining art therapy and EMDR here.
Here is a Youtube video showing an example of the EMDR process.
See the EMDR Association UK website for further information.
Writing
Published Work
Nourishing the soul: Art therapy with EMDR for the treatment of PTSD and bulimia in an adult mental health service
A case study for the Royal Society of Public Health’s Allied Health Professions Hub, 2022. See details here.
Dual Perspectives on Art Therapy and EMDR for the Treatment of Complex Childhood Trauma.
An article in the International Journal of Art Therapy, co-written with a previous service user, 2021. See details here.
The Story of the Body: Holistic Art Therapy and Neuroscience, Working with Complex Trauma using Introspective Imagery and Embodied Approaches.
A book chapter in Using Image and Narrative in Therapy for Trauma, Addiction and Recovery, by James West (editor), 2021. See details here.
Integrating Body and Mind in Trauma-Focused Art Therapy Practice
A book chapter in International Advances in Art Therapy Research and Practice: The Emerging Picture, by Val Huet and Lynn Kapitan (eds), 2021. See details here.
Art Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Trauma Processing.
An article for the British Association of Art Therapists Newsbriefing, 2017. See details here.
‘My Parents Say that Every Minute Here Costs Money!’: Working with Children and Adolescents in Private Practice.
A book chapter in Art Therapy in Private Practice: Theory, Practice and Research in Changing Contexts, by James West (editor), 2017. See details here.
Blog
Nili Sigal’s blog
Videos
Videos made with previous clients about their experience of art therapy
Individual art therapy
A client’s account of her experience having individual art therapy for depression and childhood trauma.
Individual art therapy and EMDR
A client describing his experience of having individual art therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) for childhood sexual abuse. Please note that some might find the content of this video upsetting.
Art therapy group
The same client from the first video describes her experience of group therapy.
A client’s journey through the mental health system
A client’s account of her experience of art psychotherapy and EMDR and her journey through the mental health system. Includes images and poetry by the client.
Supervision
Supervision
I occasionally have capacity to offer art therapy supervision, combined art therapy and EMDR supervision for practitioners combining the two approaches, or standalone EMDR supervision. I am an experienced supervisor and have worked with qualified art therapists, psychologists, therapists, trainees and clinicians from a range of different modalities and in a variety of settings. I offer supervision in person or online via Zoom. Please note that as I am not yet an EMDR consultant, supervision hours cannot be used towards accreditation as an EMDR therapist.
Services: Events
Events
I have given talks, lectures, participated in conferences and ran workshops in various settings. Here are examples of past events:
2021: The British Association of Art Therapists – Art Therapy Supervision Training Diploma course
Talk title: Trauma-Focused Art Therapy, Utilising Physical Sensations and Interoceptive Imagery in Supervision
2020: The British Association of Art Therapists – Attachment and the Arts Conference
Talk title: Inside Out and Bottom-Up: Using Embodied Approaches, Physical Sensations and Interoceptive Imagery in Trauma-Focused Art Therapy – More details
2019: Complex Trauma Therapists Network Conference – Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Complex Trauma and its Treatment in collaboration with the University of York
Talk title: Creativity and Embodiment: Integrating Body and Mind in Trauma Focused Therapy – More details
2019: Extreme Imagination Conference on aphantasia and hyperphantasia at the University of Exeter
Talk title: Therapy Workshop – More details
2018: Facilitated an art therapy workshop to lecturers at the University of Exeter
2018: Gave a lecture about art therapy at Bath Spa University
The healing power of
creativity
Links
Self help, free resources and other organisations
Relevant information:
- The British Association of Art Therapists
- Health and Care Professions Council
- London Art Therapy Centre
- EMDR Association UK
Self-help and interesting reads:
- Free worksheets and CBT resources
- What is the purpose of therapy?
- Carolyne Spring – trauma recovery resources and information
- Individual bill of rights
- Managing flashbacks
- An overview of the Drama Triangle – about dysfunctional family dynamics from a Transactional Analysis perspectives
- The Body Keeps the Score by van der Kolk – a book about PTSD and recovery from trauma
- The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment, by Babette Rothschild – a similar focus to The Body Keeps the Score, but with a more theoretical and clinical orientation
- Why Does he do That? By Lundy Bancroft – an informative read for survivors of abusive relationships and domestic violence
Videos for embodied soothing:
- Progressive muscle relaxation video
- Self-massage videos – for self-soothing and anxiety management
- Qi Gong video for anxiety, trauma release and recovery
- Yoga with Adriene – for a wide range of yoga videos
Professional Affiliations
Affiliations
Health & Care Professions Council
EMDR UK
The British Association of Art Therapists
National Health Service
Contact
Get in touch
Please note that I will not be able to respond to NHS related messages via this link. If your query is related to my NHS work, please contact Devon Partnership Trust.