Bethany Mahadeo

Flow

Artwork size: 42cm x 36cm

Artwork medium: Acrylic and graphite on canvas

'Flow' represents the way in which the creative process sustains me as a therapist and deepens my engagement with the young people I work with, myself and our collective ways of being. Creativity allows for both the effort and the rest of therapy - it is motion and pause, release and containment, nurture and push. Art creates space in therapy to tolerate ambiguities and absolutes, to experience both energy and stillness, to close doors and throw windows wide. It makes the unseen visible and gives voice to that which defies language.

When working with young people of refugee background, art therapy creates a safe container in which to imagine, remember, explore, take risks, make mistakes and simply be. In times when the way forward is not always clear, trusting the flow of creativity to act as a vehicle of change reminds me, as a therapist, what a privileged position I hold, being able to journey alongside young people as they find their place in the world. In doing so, I am deepening my own connection to the beauty and the ache that is life.