Art for Change
In Psychotherapy
A course series and conference in partnership with the Danish Psychotherapist Association
From July 2025 to July 2026, ArtMentum and the Nordic School of Arts and Health carried out the project Art for Change – art therapy and storytelling in work with trauma in partnership with the Danish Psychotherapist Association and with support from the Danish Victims Fund.
The aim was to give professionals working with people affected by violence and abuse tangible tools from expressive arts therapy and True Storytelling® – tools they could take directly into their own practice.
The partnership
The Danish Psychotherapist Association was a partner on recruitment, communication and delivery. Participants were recruited primarily through the association’s newsletter, website and its journal Tidsskrift for Psykoterapi.
The association emphasises that the low participation fee – made possible by support from the Danish Victims Fund – was decisive: the target group is largely made up of self-employed psychotherapists who lose income on the days they attend.
”It was a great joy to be able to open this up to so many, to give them a community where they could meet colleagues in the field. That they could gain new knowledge together.”
– Chair, Danish Psychotherapist Association
The course series
The courses ran as three two-day programmes with one to two weeks in between. Group 1 met on 19 January and 16 February 2026 at KLUB in Copenhagen, group 2 on 2 and 16 March 2026 at Kirstinelund in Lystrup, and group 3 on 13 and 27 April 2026, again at KLUB.
The split was deliberate. The interval between the two course days worked as a built-in trial period, where participants could take the methods back into their own practice and return with concrete experience. Several point to precisely that gap as what made the methods their own rather than something they had merely heard about.
Teaching moved between theory, hands-on cases and the participants’ own creative exercises – including exercises focused on the therapist’s own wellbeing. All three groups rated both content and teachers highly, and 92% would recommend the course to a colleague.
The conference on 11 May 2026
The project closed with the professional conference Art and storytelling as inspiration for trauma work in Copenhagen, with more than 50 participants. The programme moved between expert talks, film, panel discussion, case work and bodily and creative exercises at the tables.
The results
The evaluation draws on 36 responses from the three course groups, 46 from the conference and six follow-up interviews. It was carried out by Dorte-Pia Ravnsbæk, Lindskov Consulting, for ArtMentum.
4.6
out of 5 for the overall course experience
94%
rate the course and the teachers as good or very good
92%
would recommend the course to a colleague – none said no
50+
participants at the closing conference
Three themes recur
Usefulness in practice. The tools are simple and can be put to use straight away. They integrate into an existing therapeutic practice without requiring it to be rebuilt.
The therapist’s own wellbeing. The course’s focus on self-care stands out as a gain in its own right. The methods have a dual function: tools for client work, and a way of preventing wear and stress in the professional.
Network and a shared language. Both courses and conference gave rise to professional exchange. Case sharing and peer reflection are named throughout as among the most valuable elements.
From the conference
Photo: Westring
The material lives on
The project produced new video modules building on ArtMentum’s online course, five expert interviews on the principles, and the handbook Art for Change, now printed and distributed to professionals in the field.
The project was carried out by ArtMentum / Art Nordic and the Nordic School of Arts and Health in partnership with the Danish Psychotherapist Association, with support from the Danish Victims Fund. Project period 1 July 2025 – 1 July 2026.