Sally Cuthbert Art Therapy Sunshine Coast Psychotherapy

ABOUT

Hello, I'm Sally, passionate about living a creative life through my art and work as an art therapist.

Creativity brings with it so many benefits; expression, freedom, perspective, mental calm, joy and comfort and provides us with a fresh and empowered lens on life.

"Life is full of obstacles and beauty and people are more than their diagnosis and their difficulties. Everyone has their own story, identity and experiences in life and sometimes words alone are not enough. Art making, when utilised with the intention to express, bring insight and heal, can be like medicine." Sally Cuthbert

As a registered Art Therapist (AThR) I specialise in art psychotherapy and have additional training in play based therapies such as Theraplay®, Synergetic Play Therapy and Sandplay therapy. I have over 10 years experience designing and facilitating art therapy services for councils, schools, not for profits and community centres. Having returned to the coast in 2018, after being interstate and overseas for many years, I am excited to be in private practice working in the way that feels most authentic to me.

I am experienced in providing art therapy to:

Children and adolescents, experiencing a wide range of issues related to anxiety, depression, grief and loss, early onset psychosis, trauma, chronic illness, substance misuse, FAS, ASD, ADHD, school issues, mutism, bullying, intellectual disability, brain injury, out of home care (foster care, kinship care, residential homes)
Families, strengthening attachment bonds and processing trauma, related to miscarriage, infertility, separation, abuse, grief, loss, parenting.
Adults, managing symptoms related to mental illness, brain injury, dementia, chronic pain, with disabilities, complex needs and neurological conditions, poverty and disempowerment.

My therapeutic approach is gentle, collaborative and relationship focussed, and is informed by evidence from neuroscience, attachment and trauma research. I am a professional member of the Australian and New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA) and the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT), and having spent many years in Scotland, a former member of the UK's Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

I have a special interest working with families and am interested in how biology and culture shape our unique parenting style and the identity shift that occurs through the process of becoming a parent.

I am passionate about collaborating with other practitioners and artists and bringing the arts into the local community. I maintain my own art practice, currently using painting as a form of meditation, around caring for my two young boys. When I'm not working I am happiest at the beach, on top of a hill or surrounded by trees.

QUALIFICATIONS

MA Art Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne 2011

BA Visual Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, (Printmaking, Textiles, Anthropology) 2008

Cert. Fine Art, Queensland College of Art 2000

TRAINING

Trauma and Dissociation, Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors (now Carolyn Spring), Scotland

Mentalisation based art psychotherapy, NHS London

Synergetic Play Therapy, Synergetic Play Therapy Institute Colorado

Life Story work, Richard Rose, Aberdeen

Attachment and out of home care, Scottish Attachment in Action

Parent-child Dyadic art psychotherapy, Mary-Rose Brady, BAAT UK

Theraplay Level One, Compass Seminars