Drawing and Talking can be used with children from Foundation stage to KS4.  The only requirement is that the child is able to produce drawings that mean something to them, and is able to talk about their drawings.  No special artistic ability is required.

Drawing and Talking is a fairly short-term intervention which consists of weekly half hourly sessions, usually over a twelve week period, though occasionally a child may require more sessions.

We aim to run at least one Foundation to Drawing and Talking course every term in each region in England.  The details are available on the ‘Course Dates’ page of our website.

All our training course are available to be run at a Local Authority level, and we also offer the Foundation to Drawing and Talking for individual schools or clusters of schools as INSET days.

Support is available in the following ways:

• On-line peer supports – Members only
• Telephone or email Drawing and Talking directly and someone will reply within 48 hours
• Drawing and Talking run a supervision course which supports participants in setting up and managing supervision locally.  All participants on this course must have attended the Advanced Knowledge training and will; have completed work with a least 3 children.

Dr John Allan of British Columbia University in Vancouver, Canada devised a Serial Drawing Technique which was then developed by Michael Green, Child Psychotherapist in England for the use in schools by those who had no previous training or experience with counselling work.

Drawing and Talking is based on the work of Carl Jung and on John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

A child who is on the waiting list for CAMHS is an ideal candidate for Drawing and Talking.  It means that the healing process will have already started by the time they attend CAMHS and should be able to make really good use of their time. 
If a child is already working with CAMHS, you should wait until they have finished before you start Drawing and Talking as there could be a conflict for the child.

How lovely and lucky that the children in your LEA have access to an Art Therapist.  You can, of course, use Drawing and Talking with children who would not be able to be seen by or even referred to the Art Therapist.  This is a safe technique as no feedback or interpretation is involved in Drawing and Talking.  It is designed to complement, rather than replace Art or Play Therapy.

Drawing and Talking can be used with children from Foundation stage to KS4. The only requirement is that the child is able to produce drawings that mean something to them, and is able to talk about their drawings. No special artistic ability is required.