What is Social Art & Therapy, or SA&T?
SA&T, when spoken sounds like Saaat, or Sart. The organisation was formed to provide social art and therapeutic services.
In mid 2011 I began to use the label 'SA&T' for social art projects I worked on and for my art psychotherapy sessions. This was with a small cluster of charities, NGOs and art organisations. In mid 2012 the social art and therapy initiative moved to within the social services - housing and health - primarily helping to create a Community Social Work Team in the London Borough of Sutton.
Three years later, in May 2015 SA&T was registered as an independent social art and therapy services provider (Ltd) aiming for a small and light structure that could develop autonomously, with a range of partnerships but without being dependent on public funding.
Due to the political climate and paperwork involved I decided SA&T would not be a charity, but where possible would contribute to services for people unable to pay, through great organisations that are already established. Although relatively young, SA&T enjoys wide reaching projects and partnerships, with trusted freelancers, collaborators, and supervisors.
Clients range from the individual attending private therapy sessions in the SA&T studio, to charities operating on a global scale.
It is with pleasure that SA&T has been doing the following:
- Providing therapy for adults and children in the art studio
- Self-care workshops for people at risk of work related stress or trauma
- Developing a method for working with people who hoard
- Providing clinical supervision for therapists and social workers
- Expert witness services: mental health reports and court attendance
- Providing therapy for MA students
- Psychological support for people threatened with deportation
- Supporting team building and contributing to corporate trainings
- Providing art therapy for child refugees
- Intergenerational project work,
SA&T, when spoken sounds like Saaat, or Sart. The organisation was formed to provide social art and therapeutic services.
In mid 2011 I began to use the label 'SA&T' for social art projects I worked on and for my art psychotherapy sessions. This was with a small cluster of charities, NGOs and art organisations. In mid 2012 the social art and therapy initiative moved to within the social services - housing and health - primarily helping to create a Community Social Work Team in the London Borough of Sutton.
Three years later, in May 2015 SA&T was registered as an independent social art and therapy services provider (Ltd) aiming for a small and light structure that could develop autonomously, with a range of partnerships but without being dependent on public funding.
Due to the political climate and paperwork involved I decided SA&T would not be a charity, but where possible would contribute to services for people unable to pay, through great organisations that are already established. Although relatively young, SA&T enjoys wide reaching projects and partnerships, with trusted freelancers, collaborators, and supervisors.
Clients range from the individual attending private therapy sessions in the SA&T studio, to charities operating on a global scale.
It is with pleasure that SA&T has been doing the following:
- Providing therapy for adults and children in the art studio
- Self-care workshops for people at risk of work related stress or trauma
- Developing a method for working with people who hoard
- Providing clinical supervision for therapists and social workers
- Expert witness services: mental health reports and court attendance
- Providing therapy for MA students
- Psychological support for people threatened with deportation
- Supporting team building and contributing to corporate trainings
- Providing art therapy for child refugees
- Intergenerational project work,
Many thanks to Goldsmiths University of the Arts London, Skoun Lebanese Addiction Centre, Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation, London Borough of Sutton Council, The NHS Jubilee Health Centre, Second Floor Studios and Arts, Doctors Of The World, Freedom from Torture, Sutton Mental Health Foundation, Beth Derry, Mohamad Hafeda, Jenna Lambert, Yijing Li, Nicola Kelly and everyone else who has worked with SA&T or given advice and encouragement in these early stages; particularly the inspiring clients who persevere through both cold days and hot spells in the studio.
Lee Simmons, 2016
Lee Simmons, 2016
