Art Therapy for Teens
in West Hartford, Connecticut
Be who you are. Become who you want to be.
Create the Future You Want with Lee Ann Thill, Art Therapist for Teens in Gibbsboro, NJ
Virtual Art Therapy in NJ, CT & PA
Teens, you want acceptance & support to become your own person. Working with an art therapist for teens can help.
For a lot of teens, sitting and talking with a therapist feels awkward and uncomfortable.
If you’ve had that experience, I bet you felt like you were under a microscope. You probably felt pressure to know what to say and how to say it (ahem, isn’t that the therapist’s job?).
And the therapist’s questions probably didn’t help, and maybe even made you feel worse – like you’re taking a pop quiz and you should know the answers.
I have good news for you – art therapy is a totally different type of therapy.
During art therapy sessions, you and I are both looking at your artwork instead of directly at each other talking.
For a lot of people, this feels much more comfortable, kind of like how it’s easier to talk to your parents when you’re both in the car looking at the road.
Instead of sitting there and staring at each other, you and I will focus on what you’re creating (drawing, painting, sculpting, etc). I’ll ask you questions about your choice of colors, materials, and the ideas behind it. In a roundabout way, this gives us information about your emotions that you may not know how to verbalize.
If you have trouble focusing during conversations, art therapy is really helpful because when you create art, your brain can enter a state of “flow.” This flow state will allow you to naturally pay more attention, and it won’t feel forced.
Working with an art therapist will help you develop skills that might feel difficult right now, like:
- Making decisions: through the process of selecting art materials or collage images, for example, making decisions will start to feel easier and less stressful as you pay attention and learn to trust your intuition
- Releasing unpleasant feelings like frustration, anxiety, or overwhelm – before they lead you to say or do something you regret later: the physical act of making art can help you channel these feelings before they become all-consuming
- Organization and planning: working with different materials (paint, paper mache, markers, etc.) and following certain steps can help you learn how to plan and organize better
- Becoming more flexible and forgiving yourself when you make a mistake: being creative and making art naturally involves “mistakes” and unexpected results, and these are opportunities to practice going with the flow, becoming more flexible when responding tounexpected outcomes and learning how to adapt
Art therapy is unique because it has an added benefit of being able to look back at your artwork from different sessions and actually see how you’ve changed over time.
If you’ve ever been in therapy and asked yourself, “Is this even helping?”, well, now you have tangible evidence (in the form of your artwork) about how far you’ve come since starting therapy.
For example, someone who started therapy feeling depressed might notice their artwork gradually using brighter colors or more hopeful imagery over time.
What does art therapy help with?
A lot of things! Here are some common ones:
- Anxiety: art gives you a way to express your worried thoughts and calm your mind and body down when you feel stressed out
- Depression: art is a way for you to express your feelings when you can’t find the words, especially when you feel numb
- ADHD: art therapy can be a better experience for teens with ADHD than talk therapy because you’re not required to sit still for an hour – you can move around and focus on creating something your way instead of on a conversation
- Very upsetting experiences: art helps you work through your difficult memories without having to directly talk about the upsetting or scary event
- Figuring out who you are: art helps you explore different aspects of who you are, including things like your gender identity or sexual orientation, what you want to be when you grow up, how to know what you want vs. what’s expected of you by your family, etc.
- Family problems: art gives you a way to express complicated feelings about your family members so that you can better understand and communicate those feelings and get along better at home
- Stress about school or sports: art provides an outlet for the stress you might be feeling about your school or sports performance, and it will help you cope better with that stress (and likely perform better)
- How you view and think about your body: art can help you to express your emotions about your body in a safe way (since you don’t have to actually directly talk about it!), and eventually you’ll compare yourself to others less often and be more accepting of yourself
The bottom line is: art therapy is super helpful when emotions are big and words are hard.
Art therapy helps you understand and express yourself, and this ultimately leads to you feeling better – less anxiety, stress, depression, and better relationships.
What should I expect if we work together?
To start, you’re welcome to contact me to set up a free 15-minute phone or video consultation if you’d like to discuss working together in more detail.
Once we decide to work together, I will send you a link for intake forms and payment set-up. These both need to be completed at least 24 hours before your first session to avoid an automatic session cancellation.
During the first session, I’ll talk with both you and your parent/caregiver. I’ll ask about your history, what’s worked for you and what hasn’t, and your main reasons for coming to therapy. This will give me important information to help you, and help me know what topics we should focus on in future art therapy sessions.
We’ll also get into more details about how I can tailor art therapy to meet your needs. If we’ll be meeting virtually, I can also make suggestions about art materials and workspace.
You and I will meet mostly by ourselves after the first session. Your parent/caregiver won’t be involved unless we decide together that they should be involved (or if there’s a really urgent reason they need to be involved, like if you’re not safe).
Here’s what to know about getting started with art therapy:
- At first, we’ll use basic drawing supplies, like colored pencils and markers. Later, we can get into other materials, like paint or paper mache.
- I’ll help you with what types of things to draw, so there’s no pressure to decide what to make.
- Don’t worry about whether or not you’re “good” at art. Our focus isn’t on learning art skills, but I can definitely help if you want to work on any technique, especially if it makes it easier to represnts your ideas.
- When you create something, I’ll ask questions about your art (like decisions you make or feelings that come up), and you can share whatever feels comfortable. I’ll never ask you to go beyond your comfort level. My job is to help you connect your art to why you’re in therapy and how to make things better.
Details for Parents
Will I be involved in my child’s therapy?
By the time you’re looking for a therapist for your teen, you’ve likely tried countless resources to help them – planners, youtube, books for you, workbooks for them.
Maybe you’ve already met a therapist who wasn’t a good fit, or the problem wasn’t the therapist but their approach. Talk therapy might not have gone well because they need less talking and more doing. Many teens are unbearably uncomfortable in traditional talk therapy, like they’re under a microscope, which makes them doubt therapy can help.
Overall, you feel like it’s been mixed results, so your teen is still struggling and you’re still trying to find the thing that will help them turn the corner. Art therapy is especially good if your teen needs an action-oriented, multisensory approach. so you can look forward to seeing your kid deal with frustration without flipping out, ask for help before things get out of hand, and use whatever adhd hacks work for them based on their strengths.
How much does art therapy cost?
The initial session with me is $200. Each 50-minute session after that is $175. I don’t bill insurance directly for art therapy. Here are the main reaons:
Licensing
In New Jersey and Connecticut, I have an art therapy license, which isn’t accepted by insurance companies. This means I’m unable to be in-network. Previous clients have had success getting out-of-network reimbursement though (see below for other options).
Client Privacy
When a therapist bills your insurance, they are required to provide information about your mental health to the insurance company. Insurance companies are increasingly auditing therapists, requiring records about sessions. But, by operating outside insurance, I am able to maintain your privacy and provide treatment without needing to label you with a diagnosis that could follow you in your health record.
Treatment Flexibility and Choice
Insurance companies can decide that you no longer need therapy (or you never needed it in the first place) and deny coverage, limit what interventions can be used, or require therapists to continuously justify why a client still needs therapy (even if the client simply wants it!).
By not working with insurance, you and I are free to decide the most appropriate length of therapy, use methods (like art therapy) that you feel most comfortable with, and I can make decisions that are based on your unique needs, not on an insurance company’s restrictions.
Quality of Care
By not participating in insurance networks, I am able to maintain a smaller caseload. Having a small caseload for a therapist is like when a bakery advertises “small batch” cookies – the cookie quality is higher because the baker has more time and attention to devote to it.
Similarly, maintaining a smaller than average caseload helps protect my own capacity and energy levels, which helps me be a more present and supportive therapist.
Having a small caseload also allows me to give my clients much more individualized attention. This includes things like reading up on topics you and I have talked about in between our sessions so that I come to our sessions prepared with helpful information or resources.
Reimbursement
Insurance reimbursement rates for therapists are low compared to other healthcare providers with similar levels of education in their field. Rates have stagnated for at least 10 years, and some therapists are seeing rate decreases.
Also, insurance companies do “clawbacks,” which means they paid a therapist, change their mind about covering the service, and make the therapist pay them back. This can happen up to 2 years after payment, and recovering those funds by billing clients for services that were initially covered means therapists frequently never recover that income, especially if the client has already ended treatment.
Is there another option for using insurance benefits?
If you need to use insurance benefits, you might have out-of-network benefits, with or without a deductible. Not everyone’s plan has these benefits, but many do. You might be surprised at how much this can offset costs.
It’s very important to get details about your out-of-network benefits from your insurance company or plan administrator (the person or department at your workplace that manages employee benefits).
To do this, contact your employer (for most people, this is Human Resources) and they can direct you to the person who can answer these questions. Some employers work with a separate company that offers a Patient Advocate, so you can get help with specific insurace issues without disclosing personal information to your employer.
Alternatively, you can call the customer service number on the back of your insurance card and ask for your “out-of-network benefits for outpatient mental health.”
How do out-of-network benefits work?
You pay me directly. I provide a monthly Superbill (an itemized receipt) for you to submit to your insurance company (you will need to ask your insurance company or plan administrator how to submit the superbill), and they reimburse you directly for part or all of the session cost, according to your benefits.
If you have additional questions about if you have benefits that might apply, I will help you. If I’m unable to answer your questions, I can make suggestions about what to ask and who to contact.
Art Therapy for Teens
in West Hartford, Connecticut
Developmental Benefits
Healthy Risk-Taking
Risk-taking is normal for adolescents. Risks exist on a spectrum, from low risk to high risk and harmful. For example, trying a new hair style is one kind of risk, whereas drinking alcohol is another.
Any kind of creative endeavor requires a kind of risk. Art-making is a low-stakes risk with potential high reward in the form of increased confidence, sense of competence, and enhanced self-awareness.
Reduced Anxiety in Session
Imagine sitting across from your teen at the kitchen table and asking for eye contact during hard conversations. Compare that to talking with them in the car or when you’re doing an activity side-by-side.
Similarly, teens can bristle in conventional talk therapy because the direct nature of the interaction feels threatening. As such, sitting across from each other and eye contact expectations while talking can lead to defensiveness and reluctance to participate.
In art therapy, the art mediates the interaction because it’s the focus, which can ease discomfort and anxiety. Both teen and therapist are paying attention to the art making process, and when that’s complete, focus is split between each other and the art.
The Value of "Best Effort"
Most adolescents give up art as an activity. Reasons for this include a harsh inner critic, criticism from others, and lack of positive feedback. Also, the importance of identity development at this stage can compel teens to give up art if they don’t identify as an artist.
However, there’s something to be said for doing activities even if we aren’t “good at them.” You’d see what I mean if you ever caught a glimpse of me at the bowling alley.
Creating something that meets high aesthetic standards isn’t the only valid reason to make art. It can be fun and relaxing and a healthy emotional outlet.
Valuing “best effort” can help quiet the inner critic and cultivates adaptability, so your teen is less likely to be overwhelmed with negative feelings about themselves that lead to breakdowns.
Communication Alternatives
Teens can be skepitcal of disclosing information to adults. They can also be uncomfortable discussing more personal issues due to embarrassment.
Visual expression can be a way of introducing or exploring topics that are uncomfortable. Art therapy for teens can serve as a stepping stone to more effective dialogue and transparency.
Is art therapy right for your teen?
Art therapy with me is a good fit for your teen if:
- Your teen enjoys art, or they are open to trying it and seeing if they enjoy it
- They want a different experience in therapy than just sitting and talking
- They are interested in working with a therapist who’s neurodivergent and queer so they feel more comfortable and better understood
- You and your teen are looking for a therapist who can form a respectful, trusting relationship with your teen, so they feel like they’re being heard
- You want your teen to have dedicated time to focus on what’s on their mind
- You want a therapist who values your perspective and will keep you in the loop according to your teen’s comfort level (note: safety concerns are always shared with caregivers)
Art therapy with me isn’t a good fit for your teen:
- Your teen is not open to the idea of making art in session
- You’re looking for a family therapist – my job is to work with just your teen, but I can refer you to a family therapist who can see your whole family if necessary
- You’re in a custody dispute – I’m not trained to assess who should have custody. I’m happy to give you a referral to someone with those credentials
- Your teen is in crisis and needs urgent care – I’m not available outside of work hours, so if your teen needs a therapist who is available on-call or on evenings/weekends then I would not be a good fit for their needs
- You need to work with a therapist who’s in-network with your insurance – I’m not in-network with insurance, and my fees are $175 for 50-minute sessions ($200 for our initial meeting)
- You’re primarily looking for a prescriber – I don’t have the ability to prescribe medications, but I’m happy to refer your teen to a prescriber while we work together in ongoing therapy (therapy and meds combined provide the best outcomes)
- You’re looking for short-term treatment that follows a standard protocol – art therapy with me is a style of therapy that is about building trust and being responsive to your teen’s unique needs
Consistency instead of chaos. Peace instead of power struggles.
Your teen can be less frustrated and more engaged in ‘regular teen stuff.’ You can have less conflict at home and a more satisfying relationship with your teen, even as they become more independent.
Book a consultation or first appointment to start art therapy
in Gibbsboro, NJ or virtual art therapy in NJ, CT or PA.
Mental Health Resources
near West Hartford, CT
West Hartford, CT, located in Hartford County, is a vibrant suburban community known for its excellent schools and diverse cultural offerings. The town features the popular Blue Back Square, which offers shopping, dining, and entertainment options.
West Hartford is home to notable institutions such as University of Hartford and Hartford Seminary, contributing to its educational landscape.
For more information about what to see and do in West Hartford, visit the official website at West Hartford CT.
Driving Directions to West Hartford, CT
From the North (Simsbury, CT): Take Interstate 84 (I-84) eastbound, which leads directly into West Hartford. The drive typically takes around 15-20 minutes from the 15-mile mark.
From the South (Newington, CT): Travel north on Interstate 84 (I-84), providing a direct route into West Hartford. The journey usually takes about 15-20 minutes.
From the East (Manchester, CT): Head west on Interstate 84 (I-84), which brings you into West Hartford. The drive time is approximately 15-20 minutes.
From the West (Farmington, CT): Use US Route 6 (US-6) or Interstate 84 (I-84) eastbound, leading directly into West Hartford. This route takes about 15-20 minutes.
Art Therapy for Teens Locations:
New Jersey:
Art Therapy for Teens in Gibbsboro
Art Therapy for Teens in Livingston
Art Therapy for Teens in Princeton
Art Therapy for Teens in Westfield
Art Therapy for Teens in Marlboro
Art Therapy for Teens in Hoboken
Pennsylvania:
Art Therapy for Teens in Philadelphia
Art Therapy for Teens in Pittsburgh
Art Therapy for Teens in Allentown
Art Therapy for Teens in Lower Merion
Art Therapy for Teens in State College
Connecticut:
Art Therapy for Teens in Greenwich
Art Therapy for Teens in Fairfield
Art Therapy for Teens in West Hartford
Art Therapy for Teens in Bridgeport
Art Therapy for Teens in Stamford
Art Therapy for Teens in Norwalk