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Clients in the Crossroads adult residential substance use treatment program will now benefit from a new creative, expressive art therapy program designed to help them access their innermost selves. This is one of several program enhancements made to the Crossroads treatment services in the last year with the goal of creating the best opportunities to attain life-changing wellness. Additional alternative methods implemented include yoga, equine-facilitated psychotherapy, tobacco cessation groups, music therapy as well as enhanced aftercare and family support services.

Art therapy provides an opportunity for clients to explore feelings, fears and desires in forms other than words and to process them in a healthy way. The creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight.

The registered art therapist, who is also a licensed mental health counselor, helps clients look deeper into their inner world through symbols evoked in their artwork. This process allows substance use treatment to address areas that otherwise may not be addressed in standard therapies. Clients find themselves able to express feelings and emotions that they may have found difficult to express in individual or group therapy.