Drawing and Talking Therapy chief Catherine Beagley on using creativity to support young people with SEND

Beagley speaks with passion about the company’s humble beginnings and the transformative impact of the practice, particularly in schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

She also shares why Drawing and Talking Therapy is more important than ever, particularly in the current digital age.   

Drawing and Talking Therapy was launched in 2002 and has become the largest mental health training programmes in the country. The company trains around 3,000 people a year through its foundation course and has trained 45,000 Drawing and Talking practitioners across in the UK, Europe and America.

Meanwhile, approximately 2mn students have accessed Drawing and Talking Therapy.

Therapeutic intervention

Drawing and Talking is an attachment-based therapeutic intervention that consists of 30 minute meetings on the same day, time and place each week, for 12 weeks.

The pupil is invited to draw – or alternatively, use sand play – and the practitioner asks non-intrusive questions about their creations.

As the pupil feels safer, their imagination begins to unfold, and based on Jungian principles , they are guided through the power of healing when working with the unconscious.

The Jungian approach focuses on the link between the student’s conscious and unconscious world, which becomes more apparent through drawing. The aim of the therapy is to “find a symbolic resolution”, allowing pupils to gain greater control of their behaviour and develop higher self-esteem.

Beagley touches on the history behind the therapy, and what ultimately pushed her to create a business dedicated to the practice.

“It all began back in 2001 – 22 years ago – when the child psychotherapist, Michael Green, noticed there was a lack of gentle and non-intrusive therapy that doesn’t require the level of expertise psychotherapists have. In Canada, a technique called serial drawing was used by another child psychotherapist and he trialled this in a pilot project in an autistic unit attached to a mainstream primary school.

“The results of the project were fantastic. What was interesting was all the students followed a similar pattern in terms of the processing they went through. The children became happier in their school environment, were able to access the curriculum better and engage with their peers more,” she explains.

Her mother, Maria Beagley, a former special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO), and Michael Green co-wrote the current training programme off the back of this study.

Creative outlet

There is no age limit for Drawing and Talking therapy: the practice is broad and wide-reached, not only limited to schools, but has also been tailored for elderly and dementia patients.

Beagley highlights that every human’s intrinsic need is to survive in the world. The three pillars of survival are safety, belonging and connectedness, she says.

Notably, for children with SEND, she acknowledges that “they know the world is not built for them.”

Safety, belonging and connectiveness is harder to maintain in environments where this is continuously challenged, and Drawing and Talking Therapy helps these children overcome this.

Beagley adds: “We train practitioners in how to develop a secure attachment figure. You must connect with other people around you; it is all well and good having an intimate and safe relationship with a practitioner, but what happens when the practitioner is no longer there? Our role is to teach students how to soften the nervous system and feel safe with other people again.

“The second part brings in Carl Jung’s fundamental belief that every human has the ability to self-heal. He said that when we are asleep, our psyche uses dreams, fantasies, and stories to process and make sense of the world around us.

“We just get people to tap into that – to listen to the emotional value of what they’re drawing and talking about. We want people to process their emotions, not have them disappear.”

Practitioner training

Beagley also shares the importance of properly supporting trained practitioners both during and after their training.

“It is just as important because you can teach someone how to deal with people, the environment around us and how that impacts them.

“You have to constantly be aware of what their challenges are and how to improve them,” she says.

 “How do you know if the therapy is actually working? How do you really know that these children are benefitting from the therapy? Can you measure that?,” I ask Beagley.

She responds with a story about the “most spectacular moment of her career.”

It was during a foundation group meeting and one participant confidently said she already knew everything about Drawing and Talking therapy.

Given it was an introductory lesson, she asked her how and why, and the woman said she had gone through the therapy when she was 14 year old. She held up her Drawing and Talking folder and proudly said “I would not be able to do my job today if I didn’t go through the therapy.”

Beagley recalls: “I burst into tears because I was so moved.”

Impact of technology

However, she adds that the rise of social media use among children is impacting the key connections humans require.

“Kids are getting information much quicker now, and as a result, tapping into emotions has become more challenging,” she says, adding that she has developed a focus on coaching young people to move away from social media and back towards traditional community interaction.

“Human beings cannot survive on their own: we need each other. What does that mean for our future happiness and how can we beat AI and stay true to ourselves? Eventually, technology will separate us all.

“The mental health gap is going to become even bigger if we don’t address the power of AI,” Beagley warns.

Despite this challenge, she remains hopeful that technology won’t impact the relationships that are crucial for human development.

With the help of therapies such as Drawing and Talking, children – particularly those with SEND – can be safe in their environment, feel a sense of belonging and be connected to their peers in a school setting and beyond.