Art Therapy is a form of counseling that encourages the use of one’s creativity to bring light to emotions.

“We all have our own emotional wounds,” said Lisa Kay, a licensed clinical professional counselor and board certified art therapist at the Center for Counseling in DeKalb. “We may have put a Band-Aid on them, but we need to heal deeper. That is when the art process comes in.”

Kay, who is also a workshop presenter and art therapy educator, will facilitate a workshop on campus. The workshop, tentatively titled “Getting to the Heart of the Matter: The Art of Frieda Khalo,” will give participants the opportunity to engage in the art therapy process.

“I want to give them a chance to be creative and to get a taste of art therapy,” Kay said.

The workshop, which is free for students, will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 24 at the University Resources for Latinos.

Kay’s work includes individual and group therapy. One group that she works with, Healing Hearts, is a program created which allows women to “explore personal issues creatively in a safe environment.”

“Healing Hearts is self-directed and self-guided,” Kay said. “Sometimes you don’t even know [what the issue] is until it comes out in an image.”

Healing Hearts is structured to include meditation time, as well as time to create art. It closes with an opportunity for groups to share their work and thoughts with each other.

“We can witness each other’s creativity and creative energy,” Kay said. “It is a process of building trust and sharing. It helps with feeling less isolated.”

In any of her therapy sessions, Kay focuses on the process of creating, not on the finished product. Art experience nor artistic ability is neither required for participation.

“We come at it from the back door,” she said. “Through the process of making art, their feelings come out and makes it easier to talk about.”

“A picture is worth a thousand words. That seems pretty trite, but it is true,” Kay said. “When a person’s life is in turmoil, they often don’t have words to express their emotions. It is just a very different experience when you work with materials and imagery. It is a very personal imagery that you give meaning to.”

Art therapy can benefit people of all ages from all walks of life. It can help with issues such as relationship problems, sexual trauma, eating disorders and depression, Kay said. It especially can help children and adolescents with issues including behavioral disorders, self-esteem and identity disorders.

“Children don’t have words to explain their thoughts, and art gives kids another language to articulate when they don’t have words to communicate with,” Kay said.

A 17-year-old client of Kay’s was selected to show her artwork in the “Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovering & Hope” exhibition, which opened in November 1999 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

“The purpose of the show is to highlight the mental health needs of children,” Kay said. “They help people understand mental disorders and the connection to the kids’ artwork.”

For more information on “Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovering & Hope,” visit its Web site at www.aboutourkids.org.

For more information about the workshop, call Sylvia Fuentes at 753-1986 or Kay at 758-8636.