What is this group?

Creative Expressions is a six-week therapy group, designed for children ages 8-12. The group combines evidence-informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) strategies with creative, developmentally appropriate activities to help children build emotional awareness, coping skills, and confidence in a supportive group environment.

Children don’t always have the words to describe what they’re thinking or feeling. Creative expression, through art, writing and other expressive activities, provides children with additional ways to communicate, explore emotions, and make sense of their experiences. Integrating these activities with CBT concepts helps make therapeutic skills concrete, engaging, and accessible to children. The group setting adds peer connection, social learning, and a sense of belonging.

Why is this group beneficial?

Practice Self-Awareness & Flexible Thinking

• CBT encourages children to notice rigid or unhelpful thinking patterns and consider alternative perspectives. Creative activities can make this process concrete and accessible.

• Uses creative activities to help children explore emotions and experiences in a way that feels natural and engaging.

• Encourages children to consider different perspectives and possibilities when faced with challenges.

• Helps children learn that making mistakes, changing their minds, and trying something differently are healthy parts of learning and growing.

Fosters Confidence & Resilience

• Encourages taking healthy risks, try new things, and tolerating uncertainty without needing everything to be perfect

• Helps children recognize their strengths, abilities, and progress rather than focusing only on what’s difficult for them

• Builds confidence in their ability to manage difficult emotions and navigate challenges.

Positive Self-Talk

• Helps children identify negative or self-critical thoughts that can affect their mood and behavior.

• Teaches children how to challenge unhelpful thoughts and develop more balanced, encouraging, and realistic self-talk.

• Particularly supports children who struggle with perfectionism, fear of failure, or being overly critical of themselves.

• Encourages children to speak to themselves with the same kindness and encouragement they would offer a friend or loved one.

Promotes Emotional Regulation & Coping Skills

• Creative activities can provide a structured way to slow down, focus attention, tolerate uncomfortable feelings, and practice regulating emotional responses

• Offers an outlet for expressing complex or difficult feelings that may be hard to verbalize

• Gives children opportunities to practice coping skills for handling stress, anxiety, frustration and big emotions through creative activities in a safe, supportive environment

Builds Self-Esteem

• Completing creative activities and learning that they can manage difficult emotions can give children a greater sense of competence and control.

• Children learn to value their unique ideas and creations

• Reinforces messages of worth and capability

• Children can demonstrate strengths through creativity, humor, imagination, problem-solving, persistence, or collaboration.

• Replaces negative inner dialogue with affirming language