Lindsay Hamilton has been a therapist with other organizations in the Fort Frances area for several years but has been working for about a year to open an independent practice.
Dust Off the Soul (DOTS) Art Therapy is the new practice’s name and it’s located at 265 Scott St. the former Lotus Hair Studio location.
Hamilton initially trained as a visual artist studying for her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. She returned to fort frances after her studies and worked as an arts educator in the area with a variety of groups. After realizing how people were using art in a non ‘traditional’ way, she decided to go back to school to be an art therapist.
“What had caught my eye was that people were also using the art as a way to heal or a way to express themselves, and it wasn’t necessarily in a visual art, ‘Art’ with a capital ‘A’. They didn’t really have an interest in sharing their art, having it in galleries, or weren’t interested in the whole arts industry, let’s say,” Hamilton said. “But there was still something really profound and powerful happening. I did some research and found out that art therapy was a thing, and realized that I was pretty much doing that with myself the entire time with my own artistic practice.”
From there it was back to British Columbia to study Art Therapy. She did her post-graduate diploma at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in Nelson, BC. After writing her thesis and graduating in 2015, she returned to Fort Frances and began working with local health care agencies to obtain work hours and become a registered psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. She continued to offer art therapy within child and family services, school systems, healthcare and social services systems over the past decade. She decided that she needed a bit more flexibility in her personal life since having a child.
“I felt especially after COVID and I hit midlife, I decided that I needed more flexibility in my personal life, with a child in my household. To be in independent practice was always the goal to work towards. I took my experience in various agencies, applying art therapy within the agency, and then decided last year in September that I was going to take a big leap of faith and go it on my own in private practice. So here we are. It was September 1 I left my position, and a year later, here I am with the studio opening.”
Art therapy includes different aspects of traditional therapy including some from traditional talk therapy, Hamilton says.
“It is a very experiential form of psychotherapy, which means utilizing talk therapy and a lot of more traditional ways of doing psychotherapy,” she said. “But we also then include the creative process, which can mean making art, using our bodies, drawing on more like somatic types of therapy, like using the body and how things appear in the body, such as our feelings or memories, sensory pieces, a lot of times it can be non verbal, like the the art process is therapeutic. In and of itself. Making art is a way to regulate our emotions, right and and also so it’s utilizing that process.”
There are a few different aspects to art therapy that make it therapeutic, she added.
“Art therapy is very process based. Like, if you are feeling down or low energy, oftentimes using bright colors or energetic mark making can raise our mood or, vice versa it can, for those who are really anxious or feeling really intensely, it’s also a way to ground those emotions and calm the nervous system. So art therapy is evidence-based. A lot of neuroscience is proving more and more what a lot of people already know is art making can be very therapeutic. But it is also another way to explore personal symbolism and metaphor to connect with unconscious things that might be affecting our lives. So it’s sort of twofold, like there’s the art making itself that’s therapeutic, and then there’s the symbolism and all of the knowing that can come out of reflecting and interpreting artwork that we’ve made.”
Art therapy also isn’t just for those who are creative or artistic to have a therapy option it’s for everyone, Hamilton says.
“Because it’s process based and it’s also a way to get in touch with ourselves and better understand ourselves. You don’t need to be creative or consider yourself an artist at all to benefit from art therapy,” she said. “Anybody across the lifespan can benefit from engaging in art therapy.”
There is also no one set condition that can benefit from the use of art therapy which is why after contacting Hamilton she will arrange a time for an intake appointment where she discusses the client’s needs to best determine a course of therapy.
“Grief and loss, trauma, relational, spiritual [issues]. It can be used to support people with mental health conditions, but it’s not necessary right,” Hamilton said. There are, of course, risks with any type of therapy, and there are risks that go along with art therapy as well. This is not a guarantee. Everybody who’s engaged in art therapy needs to be actively engaged and seeking their own wellness, they’re actually responsible and in charge of their own progress, not me.”
Hamilton says the job of an art therapist is not to analyze the art that clients create.
“As an art therapist, my role is to create a safe space, to encourage the creative process, to ask some informed questions, but also to expand on what’s coming up in the art, whether that’s through materials. I’m also a trained visual artist, so I can help people further their artist identity as well. If they’re into painting, they’d like to learn a certain technique, I can also offer a more ‘art as therapy’ approach.”
After discussing whether or not art therapy might work for them, clients can book in weekly or bi-weekly one-hour sessions.
“The majority of the time in the studio space will be focusing on art making, and if the person chooses, usually around end quarter of the session will take time to put the artwork up on the wall and process anything that might be coming up for them in the artwork, any memories that it triggered, or any experiences or feelings within their body that they’d like to explore, and all of their artwork is theirs to take home. I do not interpret the artwork. If someone uses a certain color, I’m not ‘like that means this,’ I rely on the client as their own expert of their own self, and they can share with me their own thoughts, memories, feelings and associations with whatever’s coming up in the artwork.”
Hamilton provides all of the necessary art supplies and importantly does clean up as well.
For more information on DOTS Art Therapy check out dustoffthesoul.com or email Lindsay Hamilton at lindsay@dustoffthesoul.com
Hamilton shares the space with Registered Psychotherapist and Canadian Certified Counsellor Lauren Matheson. Matheson specializes in more traditional therapeutic techniques and does individual, relationship, and family therapy. More information on her practice is available at mathesoncounselling.ca
The 265 Scott St. location is by appointment only, no one can walk in.
