WHEN Lilly Meikle decided to help others heal their trauma through painting, she found her own path back to becoming an artist.
The art psychotherapist, who lives in Checkendon, will be exhibiting her artworks in the Community Gallery at the River & Rowing Museum in Mill Meadows from next Thursday until Tuesday, July 1.
Lilly says: “The reason that I got into art-making and back into painting was because of my art psychotherapy master’s.
“They asked us to create in response to our clinical work and that’s when I started painting but I actually had no idea that I was going to become a painter alongside it, it never was the plan.
“So, that’s why it’s just become such a helpful tool for me, doing the art psychotherapy and the painting together.”
Lilly, 30, and her boyfriend Charlie recently relocated from London.
“I was working at Candle Child Bereavement Service, which is connected to St Christopher’s Hospice, in Sydenham,” she says.
“I think with the art making, it’s my own processing to ground myself back.
“It’s so huge when you’re working in bereavement, because you really face the feelings with the client. Sometimes it’s so consuming just hearing the stories and things and I think bereavement can just take you out of the norm of reality so much.
“Painting has just allowed me to ground myself back a bit.
“My practice now is bereavement along with working with children with anxiety, and adults as well, so it’s a bit more varied now, which is quite helpful.”
Having grown up in Peppard, where her parents still live, Lilly went to Peppard Primary School, Gillotts and The Henley College.
“Then I went to Brighton University to do a fine art photography degree.
“I had done the art foundation course at Oxford Brookes and I wanted to get into painting but they saw my photography and they said ‘We think that you should do photography’.
“So I did that but, to be honest, I always wanted to do art psychotherapy.
“I started volunteering during my degree, working with adults with learning disabilities and then I was able to apply for a master’s.
“The voluntary work was interesting, I volunteered at Headway in Henley and then Sue Ryder in Nettlebed when it was open and at different schools in the area. My master’s was in art psychotherapy at Roehampton University.”
Her exhibition, “Brushstrokes of Change: The Art of Emotional Expression”, focuses on a series of paintings inspired by trees, particularly how they represent resilience, growth and the cyclical nature of life, mirroring the emotional journey through grief, loss and healing.
“With the paintings, they’re very colourful pieces, although quite expressive.
“I think when you’re hearing grief that’s perhaps unresolved or it’s been quite traumatic, there’s almost as if this emotion hasn’t been processed or it feels quite blocked in.
“I think that’s why sometimes literally the act of doing something very abstract, when I don’t really know what I’m doing, feels quite in harmony with that, because I think what you’re sometimes working with is something that feels so hard to make meaning of.”
Lilly is expanding her art psychotherapy practice in Checkendon, which she runs alongside regular art classes and workshops and private tuition.
“It’s quite exciting to move back,” she says.
“The exhibition has come at a really good time because I feel like with recently moving back it would be nice to hopefully be able to connect to families around the area.
“Normally, families will contact me and I will explain how I work and hear a bit about why they want to come for counselling.
“Then usually I have an assessment which discusses what they want to gain from our sessions. It’s very much person-centred, so it’s led by whether they want to continue. I have got clients that are very long term and I’ve also worked with clients that only sometimes need about six sessions and then they might come back later on.
“I think talking about death and dying is quite taboo, people don’t like to talk about it, and I thought if I had this exhibition, having paintings as the focal point, it kind of gives permission to be able to step into it.
“I think having the paintings is almost a safe way to go there for people.
“It’s not just bereavement, anxiety and depression has definitely increased in recent years, especially for young children.
“Little ones can be so anxious, so I think for children that can’t necessarily talk about their feelings or name the feelings, art is just a safe way to explore those emotions.
“Therapy can be quite intimidating for children if they just suddenly have to sit there and talk, so art is a safer way to do that and be creative.
“I think the actual act of art-making can be a really helpful process because sometimes you might not necessarily know exactly what you’re doing but it can feel quite therapeutic and then you can be curious as to the process, with how it coincides with your internal feelings. It just is a safe way to understand what’s going on.”
l “Brushstrokes of Change: The Art of Emotional Expression” is in the Community Gallery at the River & Rowing Museum in Mill Meadows from Thursday, May 22 to Tuesday, July 1, open from 10am to 4pm daily. Lilly will be giving a free talk in the gallery on Saturday, June 29 at 3pm. For more information, visit rrm.co.uk or www.lillymeikle.co.uk or to book tickets for the talk, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brush
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