Jemma Timberlake (she/her)
About me
I am a qualified Art Psychotherapist (MA, BAAT), registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (registration number AS018216). I work with children (12+), adolescents and adults in my private therapy practice.
Previously I have worked with adolescents and primary aged children in education settings, in a NHS CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) outpatient setting, and with adults in a mental health charity.
Before training as a psychotherapist, I completed a degree in illustration, later gaining experience supporting children on the autistic spectrum in education. Alongside this, I facilitated creative wellbeing workshops in charity settings, supporting service users with extensive brain injuries and those who were accessing homelessness support services.
My practice
Bringing warmth, compassion and empathy in to the therapy room, I aim to gently challenge and offer new perspectives. With a particular interest in working with neurodiversity (autism, ADHD), trauma, low mood and self-esteem, anxiety, bereavement, intergenerational patterns, and gender transition.
A trauma sensitive integrated psychodynamic & psychoanalytical approach is used, where we can focus on both past and present experiences. This could be by using attachment theory, noticing repeating relational patterns or cycles of conflict, and thinking collaboratively about how you might begin to break free from these.
I offer a client-led, non-judgemental and contained space to help you to process difficult life experiences and to better understand your emotional weather. We can use creative expression, art making, metaphors, play, psychoeducation, and conversation to work through present challenges and current fears whilst also nurturing hopes for your future.
Engaging in art therapy can help you to articulate & process traumatic experiences, to hold and contain some of the unspoken pain you are experiencing. Together we can share curiosity about what emerges in the imagery, how it felt connecting to the materials, and to think about what it might be telling us about your life experiences & sense of self.
What is Art Psychotherapy?
Art therapy is an established form of psychotherapy, delivered by trained art therapists (also known as art psychotherapists).
Art therapy uses art as the primary mode of expression, alongside talking with an art therapist. It aims to reduce distress and improve social, emotional and mental health by promoting insight, self-compassion and a sense of agency and self-worth. During art therapy, you are supported by an art therapist to use art to express and articulate often complex thoughts and feelings through art making. This may be following difficult or traumatic experiences which may be hard to talk about.
British Association of Art Therapists
No previous art skills/experience are required to participate in Art Psychotherapy sessions, with the focus being on the process, not the end product.
Accessing the unconscious through the act of creating can increase feelings of empowerment, agency and ownership of your own story, when words alone are not enough.
The Therapy Room
My practice is based in the wellness centre at The Practice Rooms on Ship Street in the centre of Brighton. The space is easy to find, with many bus routes close by and is a 11 minute walk from Brighton Railway Station.
The therapy room is a calm and comforting environment with natural light, plants and homely furnishings.
Inclusive, de-medicalised and trauma sensitive Art Psychotherapy sessions are provided. I hold a welcoming space for clients from all backgrounds, where culture, identity and difference can be explored.
Long term, short term or open ended work is offered. Therapy sessions can be attended in person or online. Please contact me to discuss my ways of working.
The Practice Rooms, Brighton
Ship Street
Brighton
BN1 1AF