Creativity is one of my favourite topics. It was the main exploration of my PhD, and I like to experience it myself when I play the guitar or paint.

One of my main motivations as a therapist and scholar has been making therapy more creative. On one hand, I have always been into it, and my family and friends have always been a bit artistic. On the other hand, I feel the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott's idea of a True creative self helps me organise my work and many of my clients' conflicts.

Winnicott studied children's early engagement with toys and their play. He proposed that we need a creative introduction to the world to feel it is meaningful. He saw in play a space where our unconscious is not hidden inside or repressed but in-the-world.

For years, I have been finding ways to adapt the therapeutic knowledge and different techniques to feel more authentic and playful. For this reason, I like having no script in the sessions and allowing natural interaction and inspiration to guide the process.

I have many little toys in the office, like a guitar, cards with images, stones, pencils, and paper. I also like to do bodywork exercises, mindfulness, drama therapy, and active imagination.

I do not use all of this with everyone, and we often talk a lot. But it feels quite liberating and friendly to use some prompts or to delve with a more playful exercise into what is still unformed and without words or when things get stagnant or too tricky to name.

It is a bit paradoxical but quite effective that making the problematic things playful allows the process to move forward.

I approach these creative practices with care and emotional contact, checking what feels right now. My strong foundation in trauma-informed approaches and years of training in clinical psychology gives me the confidence to notice when things need to be done slower and more carefully.