Expressive Therapies

Using Art & Movement to Heal

Expressive therapy uses creative arts like painting, drawing, dance, music or other movement activities to improve some aspects of mental health. Often used as a compliment to more clinical therapy modalities, expressive therapies can be used to round out a holistic treatment approach, offering a creative way to teach patients self-care, stress management, and coping strategies. Rockford Center offers expressive therapy as a component of all its treatment programs, providing our patients of all ages the opportunity to find a new outlet for their stress or trauma and an additional pathway to healing. Learn more about some of the specific types of expressive therapies we offer below.

Music Therapy

Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional. At Rockford, all of our music therapists are board-certified masters-level clinicians. They apply the prescribed use of music to restore, maintain, and improve the emotional, physical, physiological, and spiritual health and well-being of our patients. Music therapy groups are provided to all of our inpatient units as well as outpatient programs. Examples of goals for our music therapy groups consist of: stress management, emotional regulation, coping with negative symptoms, self-care practices, and maintain reality orientation and present focus.

Art Therapy

Art therapy is the intentional use of art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork for psychological change in the context of a therapeutic relationship with a trained professional. All of our art therapists at Rockford are masters-level clinicians and work across all units of our inpatient and outpatient programs and locations. Interventions in art therapy seek to help patients explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A goal in art therapy is to improve or restore a client’s functioning and his or her sense of personal well-being.

Dance/Movement Therapy

Dance/Movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual to improving health and well-being. Our dance/movement therapists are all masters-level clinicians trained to use movement to help our patients achieve emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration. Beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance/movement therapy can be used for stress reduction, mood management, improve self-esteem and body image. All of our inpatient and outpatient programs benefit from having dance/movement therapy groups.