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Old Growth Forest

Depth-oriented, long-term Arts Therapy practice

This page is layered like the soil we live on. You are very welcome to pause at the top soil, or follow the roots deeper!

Overview

The Old Growth Forest represents Arts Therapy practice that is slow, anchored and depth-based.

This terrain supports work that unfolds over longer timeframes, with change emerging gradually rather than within brief or time-limited contexts.

Practitioners who are drawn to this terrain often work with complexity and longer therapeutic arcs, which allows change to emerge gradually and cumulatively.

Species play an important role in this terrain, reflecting the different ways practitioners inhabit and sustain depth work.

You may feel at home in this terrain if:

  • You are drawn to longer therapeutic arcs

  • You work with clients over months or years

  • You value containment, regulation, and nervous system safety

  • You are comfortable holding unfinished or returning material

  • Your work is characterised by continuity and consistency

Practice orientation

Practice in the Old Growth Forest can be described using language such as:

  • Depth-oriented

  • Long-term / process-based

  • Relational

  • Somatic

These terms are offered respectfully, as points of recognition rather than labels.

Practice characteristics

In the Old Growth Forest, practitioners may support clients navigating complex trauma (CPTSD), developmental and attachment trauma, as well as long-standing disruptive emotional patterns.

Practitioners in this terrain may work at a pace which is shaped by the clients nervous system capacity, paying careful attention to careful titration around emotional material. Practitioners may find their clients healing and progresscan often be non-linear, and certain themes may re-emerge over time as capacity and the therapeutic relationship develop and deepen

In this terrain, art processes might be revisited over multiple sessions rather than completed. Practitioners may also find that some art materials are preferred by clients, and these may act as companions across sessions, allowing meaning to surface slowly and emergently.

Species that may commonly be found in the Old Growth Forest

While practitioners may find they move across multiple terrains at different times; the following species are often at home here:

Root Stabilisers 🫚
Practitioners who are deeply grounded and provide stability and somatic anchoring within sessions. Root Systems work slowly and carefully, supporting safety over time.

Companion Plants 🪴
Relationally attuned practitioners who walk alongside clients through complex and often non-linear processes. These practitioners prioritise emotional presence, trust and consistency.

Compost Stewards
Composters support the gradual metabolising of difficult experiences. They support the gradual transformation of material that has been carried for a long time; such as trauma, grief, shame, or loss

You may recognise more than one species within yourself!

Sustainability and limits

Work in this terrain is usually depth-oriented which can place significant relational and nervous system demands on practitioners. To work in this terrain sustainably, usually requires strong supervision, reflective practice, and clear boundaries.

In the wider ecology

Within the Arts Therapy ecology. the Old Growth Forest provides depth, continuity and holding.