How Inner Transformation Affects Mental Health

A quiet reflection through art therapy, presence and the body’s wisdom

By Chloe Sykes, Art Psychotherapist & Yoga Teacher, based in Manchester, UK

www.heyfromwithin.co.uk

Client engaging in a guided drawing art therapy session, using various coloured pastels to form dynamic patterns on paper. Consent to share image gained

A Gentle Start

Inner transformation isn't always loud. It doesn’t often arrive with fanfare, or a single moment of clarity.

In the therapy room, especially in art therapy, inner change often looks like... a breath released. A jaw unclenched. A choice made gently instead of automatically.

It may sound subtle but these shifts speak volumes in the language of mental health.

The Body Remembers, the Art Makes Room

In my work at heyfromwithin.co.uk, I draw on Sensorimotor Art Therapy, a powerful, body-oriented way of working that recognises what Dr. Bessel van der Kolk so clearly outlined in The Body Keeps the Score: that trauma isn’t just remembered in stories, but stored in the body.

When something overwhelming has happened, especially in childhood, language often falls short. The thinking brain may disconnect, but the body keeps track. Muscles tighten. Breath shallows. Emotions echo long after the event has passed.

Art-making allows another way in. Through materials like clay, paint, or guided drawing, we can begin to give shape to feelings that words can’t reach. These creative processes engage the body, the senses, and the nervous system, where trauma often lives.

A swirl of chalk might hold a child’s unspoken grief. A pressed palm into clay might name an anxiety too tangled for language. A parent’s collage might reflect both their guilt and their love, equally held.

As van der Kolk describes, healing doesn’t just come from insight, it comes from experiencing safety in the body. These creative processes offer attunement without analysis. And the nervous system begins to settle, layer by layer.

Why Does This Inner Work Matter?

Because mental health isn’t just about reducing symptoms. It’s about safety. Wholeness. The capacity to meet life, even its trickiest edges, from within.

This is where Person-Centred Therapy guides us. The relationship comes first. The client leads. I listen closely. And together, we find a rhythm where your voice begins to feel more like home.

It’s less about solving, more about softening. Returning to yourself with curiosity instead of judgement.

And yes, this can change lives.

Attachment and the Inner World

If you’ve ever felt stuck in repeated unhealthy patterns with your partner, your child, or within yourself attachment theory helps make sense of this.

We’re wired to seek connection. But when early relationships felt unsafe or unreliable, we adapt. These adaptations make sense, but they can leave us feeling anxious, hyper-independent, disconnected, or overwhelmed.

In therapy, we tend to those no longer helpful patterns gently and with care. The therapy relationship itself becomes a safe enough space to begin again.

For parents, this can be deeply meaningful: learning to pause, to repair, to notice your own triggers. For young people, it can mean being seen without needing to perform. For adults carrying shame or anxiety, it might be the first time their pain feels held, acknowledged with compassion, and not pathologised.

So, What Is Inner Transformation?

It’s not perfection. It’s not “getting it right.” It’s something quieter.

It’s feeling a little less reactive. A little more rooted. More able to notice what you need and ask for it.

In art therapy, it’s the moment someone doesn’t apologise for the mess. In therapy for anxiety, it’s when a client realises they’ve been breathing more easily all session. In parents therapy, it’s when the tears flow not from crisis, but from relief.

This is transformation. It’s not outside of you. It’s from within.

In a peaceful setting, at From Within, an art therapy client delves into the creative process of collaging, using vivid images and thoughtful words to explore and connect with hidden aspects of their self. Client consent gained to use image.

A Note If You’re Wondering…

If you're seeking therapy in Manchester, or you’re curious about how art therapy might support you or your child I offer a space for just that.

Not to fix. But to listen, to hold, and to gently unfold what’s already waiting from within.

Sometimes healing looks like a collage.

Sometimes a small, strange drawing.

Sometimes just a sigh that wasn’t there before.

Chloe Sykes

Art Psychotherapist | Yoga Teacher www.heyfromwithin.co.uk