Hello and Welcome to Beyond the Masks!
Therapies we offer include:Art Therapy
Art therapy can be useful for people who have poor verbal ability or difficulty verbalising thoughts and feelings.
Art therapy can be less threatening than other forms of therapy because it allows the therapist and the client to externalise the problem, feelings and emotions. The use of drawings allows the freedom to express feelings, moods and reactions without having to state them verbally.
Sand Therapy
Although Sand Therapy may sound like child’s play, it can be a highly effective in providing emotional release and reducing the emotional causes behind difficult behaviours.
Sand Therapy involves a person creating scenes in a tray of sand, using symbols and realistic miniature figurines. It gives the person a symbolic way of expressing their feelings and thus can be used with a wide range of people with varying verbal and cognitive abilities.
Symbols are used as a means of expressing the ‘story’ to be explored and is highly effective in reducing the emotional causes behind difficult behaviours.
Sand Therapy provides a non-threatening approach to exploring the unconscious, and a safe space in which to explore feelings and life situations that may feel overwhelming.
How to include Art Therapy or Sand Therapy in your NDIS Plan
For individuals with a disability who qualify for an NDIS plan, it is possible to receive funding for art therapy and sand therapy. However, alternative therapies receives less attention from the NDIS and it will likely be harder to get art therapy or sand therapy approved in your plan.
Without doubt, being self managed would give a participant the best chance of using their funding for expressive therapies. As a self manager you need to answer YES to these questions in order to use your funding for these therapies:
- Will the support help you to reach the goals in your NDIS plan?
- Is the support reasonably priced and good value?
- Can you afford the support within your support budget?
- Will the support help you to connect with your community and improve the relationships you have with family and friends?
- Is the support something that should be funded by the NDIS and not other government services?
- Is the support safe?
You need to demonstrate how this type of therapy can help you achieve your goals and aspirations. Finally, as with any supports included in an NDIS plan, it also needs to be directly linked to a person’s disability. (See "I'm Self Managing - What can I spend my NDIS funds on?")
Types of goals that could justify Art Therapy or Sand Therapy funding:
- "I want to be able to control my behaviour and express my emotions"
- "I want to be able to communicate with my family and community more effectively."
Beyond the Masks was founded by Patricia Reilly.