Lisa Kay incorporates her passion and her work into the unique job of an art therapist.

Kay is a board certified art therapist and an adjunct counselor at the Family Service Agency of DeKalb County, 14 Health Services Drive.

In her office, Kay has art materials she uses during sessions. She lets people choose between clay, magazines and other graphic elements. Kay also uses music, poetry and other non-graphic art forms in her therapy.

The purpose of art therapy is to help people heal and express themselves through art. The process is more important than the final product a client creates, Kay said. The process is supposed to help a patient connect with inner feelings and issues, she said.

Chris Gough, director of the Center for Counseling at the Family Service Agency, teaches an art therapy class in Milwaukee, Wis. He said he draws at a third-grade level, but artistic talent is not important in art therapy. Only after people get past the intimidation they feel from art will they express themselves, Gough said.

After Sept. 11, 2001, art therapy was used to help many kids get through the tragedy, but art therapy is for adults as well, Kay said.

“It’s a little more natural for children,” Kay said. “I think sometimes adults are a little intimidated by the materials or the process, but I do give them types of exercises or interventions to help people see that everyone can be an artist.”

Kay treats patients with a variety of needs. Sometimes, she is the main therapist, but she also works in conjunction with other therapists.

She said she sees NIU students as well. Gough said he thinks the number of student clients Kay treats will increase as she establishes herself because students are more open to art as a form of expression.

The Family Service Agency accepts NIU insurance. Sessions are normally $90, with a $100 evaluation fee – the same price as traditional therapy – with group sessions running about $45 per session. Insurance may require only a $15 to $20 co-payment. Those who do not have insurance may be eligible for financial assistance. The cost for art therapy includes materials used during sessions.

Kay is a practicing artist who utilizes three-dimensional objects. In her living room, there is a piece she created when she was younger. It is a mirror adorned with sea shells. She also creates art using beads. She has two necklaces she made on display in her home.

Kay said she also does what she calls “transformative art.” Transformative art involves changing the parts of other artwork and changing the feelings of the person commissioning the piece. She made a necklace for one woman that contained some beads from another necklace belonging to the woman’s dead mother. Kay said the new necklace changed the way the woman felt about her mother’s death.

Kay also incorporates this type of art into therapy. She said sometimes, she will have clients bring pictures from their childhood and arrange them in a collage to help the clients look at happier times.

Kay’s artwork can be seen beginning Friday at the Art Space Gallery, 7801 E. State Street, Rockford, or beginning May 1 at the DeKalb Gallery, 161 E. Lincoln Highway. The Rockford show will include art from art therapists and patients.