Over this past year, especially these past few weeks, I’ve been navigating a process that’s far from over. The grief I carry isn’t something I’ll ever “get over” I know it will live with me forever, in different ways, in ebbs and flows. Life also comes with challenges, and that’s part of the reason I felt compelled to write this.

Throughout this time, I’ve been leaning into creativity, and it has been unexpectedly powerful. Even in the hardest moments, a simple bag I had with me at the hospital of pens, paper, watercolours, and a set of cards & other random bits became my lifeline. It helped me express emotions I couldn’t put into words, offered distraction when I needed it, and allowed me to create space for my own healing.

Creativity as a Healing Force

Unused creativity doesn’t just sit quietly inside us. As Brené Brown says, “Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasises. It turns into grief, rage, judgment, sorrow, shame.” I know this to be true from my own experience, when I ignore the urge to create, I feel it in my body, my mind, my spirit.

In therapy, creativity can offer something words alone cannot. A simple act of making, with colour, texture, or story, can bypass defences, touch something deeper, and give shape to feelings that have been buried for too long.

Letting Go of Misconceptions

For a long time, I thought creativity in therapy meant art therapy, and I shied away from it. I didn’t feel qualified. I worried I’d ask someone to “make art” and they’d resist. If you’d asked me five years ago, I’d have said, “That’s not for me.”

However, discovering creative therapy changed everything. My therapist gave me a gift that I will be forever grateful for. It has truly been life changing. Creativity is so much broader, it can be found in storytelling, metaphor, movement, collage, even arranging words on a page. It’s not about producing something beautiful or worthy of display. It’s about creating meaning, and that is life-changing.

Growing as a Therapist

When I gave myself permission to play and create, I noticed something shift inside me. My confidence grew. I found new ways to connect, to listen, to hold space. I learned to trust the process, not worry about the product.

Exploring my own creativity has helped me show up with more presence and openness in the therapy room. It’s allowed me to invite clients into different ways of exploring their inner worlds, ways that don’t rely solely on words, which can sometimes feel heavy, limiting, or unreachable.

And I’ve seen it ripple outwards. In peers and colleagues, when they embrace creativity, there’s curiosity, lightness, and willingness to explore that wasn’t there before. It’s powerful to witness, and it reinforces for me why creativity matters so much.

My Own Process

During this particularly challenging time, creativity has been my anchor. Clutching that bag of pens, paper, watercolours, and cards felt like holding a lifeline. It allowed me to distract, express, and process without the need for words.

Whether through writing workshops, experimenting with materials, or simply giving myself permission to play, creativity has opened space for my own healing. It reminded me that creativity isn’t a luxury, for me it’s essential.

Why I Want to Share It

Seeing the change in myself, in my clients, and even in family, friends, peers and colleagues has strengthened my belief in the power of creativity. It helps us heal, grow, and find confidence where we might have felt doubt. And that’s why I want to share it with others, because I’ve witnessed the difference it can make. Creativity reconnects us to parts of ourselves that have been silenced or shut down, and that reconnection is where healing begins.

An Invitation to Reconsider

So perhaps creativity isn’t something to fear or something only for “artists.” Maybe it’s something to reclaim, not as art, not as performance, but as a birthright, a natural part of being human.

What might happen if you allowed yourself to explore your creativity, not as an artist, but as a person seeking healing, joy, and self-discovery?

It’s a question I continue to sit with, and one I’d love for you to consider too.

Sometimes words alone are not enough.

Stay safe, stay connected & take gentle care

Louise