“Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses visual and tactile media as a means of self expression and communication. Art therapists aim to support people of all ages and abilities and at all stages of life, to discover an outlet for often complex and confusing feelings, and foster self awareness and growth”  www.baat.org

During art therapy sessions, you'll be guided to use art as a way to express, explore and process feelings and experiences.

No artistic confidence or prior experience is needed. While talking is also part of the process, art making remains the central form of expression.

Making art is a way of expressing yourself both consciously and unconsciously and can work as a vehicle to help communicate difficult thoughts and feelings when it is hard to do so with words.

Art therapy is a developmentally appropriate form of therapy for children and young people, with strong evidence from high-quality studies worldwide supporting its effectiveness.

Art making sooths the nervous system, helps build self-esteem, helps to develop insight, and feel more regulated and grounded in your emotions. Within the safe therapeutic relationship healing and making sense of things can develop. 

Art therapists do not interpret art. We support the clients own creative expression and develop new meanings and understanding of what they are sharing in their work. 

Art therapy is an established form of therapy which requires MA level higher educational training, and an art therapist is a title protected by law. 

Art therapists are governed and regulated by HCPC (Health Care Professions Council) which therapists are required to be registered with. You can find my registration details HERE

The British Association of art therapist (BAAT) is the regulating body and I practice within BAAT guidelines of professional conduct and am an Associate Member you can find my profile HERE.

I work in a specially designed art therapy space which is safe and private with an array of art materials to explore. 

I work with humility and compassion

My clinical areas of experience include;

Anxiety, Low Mood, Depression, Low Self Esteem, Phobias, School Avoidance, Autism Spectrum Condition, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Identity, Trauma, Developmental Trauma, Selective Mutism, Attachment Problems, Divorce, Self Harm, Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Tic’s, Tourettes.

Sessions are 50-minute’s. The first session will be a chance for me to learn more about you and the reason for therapy , after which we will decide if we’d like to work together and make a plan moving forward. 

There is a small waiting room for 1 person or many lovely cafes on the Kings Road.

Please see further details on the art therapy contract.

Art therapy sessions are between £50- £70 per session.

Dyadic art therapy involves the child and parent/care giver. I can help to facilitate and understand attunement in the relationship. Help to repair ruptures through enhancing joint attention and shared joyful activities and enable reflective discussions. 
We can work on enhancing the child's emotion recognition skills , parent's caregiving skills and emotion regulation skills.

I’m Nelly Curtis, the Founder of the Creative Therapy Space here in Saint Leonards-on-sea, East Sussex. 

As an Art Psychotherapist, I work with children, young people (up to the age of 21), and their families in dyadic art therapy and in 1-1 art therapy.

I also provide consultations for parents, carers, schools, social workers and other professionals working with young people and their mental health. 

At the heart of my practice is the belief that we all need to feel loved and safe to thrive. As such, a lot of my work is about making sense of what might be preventing this and how love and safety can be nurtured, rebuilt and repaired. 

With nearly 10 years of experience I offer safe, reliable, evidence based therapeutic support to help navigate the tough times that can be a part of childhood, and life, for so many. 

I work with individuals and families with the fully embodied notion that everyone of us is born a real person, with very real, complex, and unique needs which constantly change from birth.

Every child needs to be treated with respect, love, nurturing, protection and understanding.

With support ruptures can be repaired and resilience can be developed to help children grow into healthy and happy adults.

I started my career at Central Saint Martin’s where I trained as a painter while running youth projects in my local area of Kentish Town in London and went on to work in creative community event spaces curating artists work and working within the community. 

I decided to become an art therapist due to my passion for working within my local community, my love for art making and through my own personal experiences. As a child and young person, I struggled to express myself using words due to my dyslexia. I found that art was a way I could communicate myself and make sense of difficult and complex feelings. It allowed me to feel seen and heard and make sense of the world and my feelings about it. I wanted to provide the same outlet and safe space for other young people who face their own struggles. 

During my MA Art Psychotherapy at Roehampton University, I undertook my clinical placements with Kids Company – (providing a children’s therapy service in schools), Stephen’s Place Childrens Centre - a domestic violence charity, and at an Adult mental health residential care home in Richmond.

I worked as a nanny developing hands-on experience in looking after children from 3 months to 5 years old and gained 5 years’ work experience in an Applied Behaviour Analysis Home Team, working with a young person with Autism and his family.

After qualifying in 2016, I ran an art therapy service in a primary school in London and worked in specialist schools with neurodivergent children and a pupil referral unit with children experiencing complex behavioural difficulties.  My last role in London, before making the move to Hastings, was in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), where I worked within a multidisciplinary team specialising in the younger years local network team and dyadic art therapy ( working with parent/carer and child) and working with many young people up to the ages of 18 with a wide variety of mental health difficulties.

I am now a mum of 2 children living in Hastings and providing specialist art therapy within my own private practice. I also provide art therapy services to Eggtooth Children’s Charity, Compass Therapy Community services ( specialist Looked After Children Service) and Heart Smart Arts Childrens Therapy Service in Rye.

If I sound like the kind of person who could help you or your child find a path through a challenging time, I would love to hear from you. Please do get in touch for a free online meeting or phone call so we can see how we could work together.