Alamandria Arts Therapy Sessions with Mark
What is Alamandria Arts Therapy?
An arts therapy session with Mark may employ any of a number of modalities such as drawing, painting, writing, sculpture, movement, visualisations and meditation, depending on the needs of the client. It is important to note, however, that one does not need any artistic skill or experience to benefit from these sessions. Complicated and confusing emotions, often so hard to express in thoughts and words, can be made conscious and illuminated through creative artistic approaches. Fears, stresses and anxieties, so prevalent in today’s world, can be successfully ameliorated through carefully guided creative processes. Mark is interested in transformative pathways in healing and self-awareness, and the source of a client’s desire and will to implement change.
Art therapy can be used in:
Reducing stress
Building problem-solving skills
Improving self-esteem
Managing anxiety
Resolving inner turmoil and conflicts
Relaxing and calming nerves
Expressing feelings and experiences
Developing ways to cope
Working towards wellbeing
Staying motivated during the recovery process
Developing personal insight
Change management
Mark Geard
ARTS THERAPIST
MAAT. Clinical (First Class Honours). MDes. (Distinction) Reg. Arts Therapist ANZCATA
Mark has experience working with youth at risk and clients suffering from stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, marital issues, and mental trauma. He also has considerable experience running one-on-one art therapy sessions, and a mindfulness and wellbeing programme for inmates at Te Ware Manaakitanga, therapy unit at Rimutaka Prison. He runs workshops each year for students of Arts Therapy at Whitecliffe College.
Colour as an aid to healing, and also as a doorway into meditation, is of great interest and an area of research for Mark. He is part of an international meditation initiative and is co-founder of Alamandria: The Art of Self-Mastery, Mindfulness and Meditation, facilitating retreats and workshops throughout the country, for individuals, groups and the workplace. Mark is a practicing meditant of many years and an experienced Tai Chi Wu style practitioner. He is a painter (Link to page), poet and writer, and has his therapy practice at Toi Poneke Arts Centre in Wellington City.
Mark has great respect for the biographical path each person forges in life, often under the weight of great personal hardship and suffering, and has often witnessed phenomenal endurance, transformation and transcendence through such adversities. “My clients are so often my teachers, and it is a privilege to accompany them on their path of recovery and self-knowledge.”
