Coming to our senses: How creativity helps us trust our own experience, with Dr Carla van Laar Show Notes In this episode, I speak with Dr. Carla Van Laar, a creative and experiential therapist, painter, and passionate advocate for the creative revolution in mental health and wellbeing. With over 30 years' experience using the arts for health and wellbeing, Carla is the founding director of the Creative Mental Health Forum and convener of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia's (PACFA) College of Creative and Experiential Therapies. Carla shares her compelling vision for how creativity can act as a reality check in a world that constantly asks us to outsource our sense of what's real. From her early childhood discovery of perspective in art through to her current advocacy work at a national level, Carla's journey illuminates why creative engagement is essential—not peripheral—to mental health and social wellbeing. The conversation explores the disconnect between mounting evidence for creative arts therapies and their limited implementation in Australia's health system, the need for a rethink of biomedical models to better accommdate creative therapies, and what happens when we create accessible spaces where people can connect through the arts. Key Topics Discussed Creativity as a Reality Check How creativity restores trust in first-hand experiencing in a society that asks us to outsource our sense of reality The parallel between gaslighting dynamics and systemic forces that undermine our perception How creative practice brings us into the present moment and to our senses—sight, touch, hearing, taste, and scent Creative Flow States and Wellbeing Research on the benefits of engaging in creative practice for as little as 20 minutes How flow states create a sense of timelessness, reduce stress, improve sleep, and help us meet life's challenges Navigating obstacles to creativity: inner critics, self-judgement, attachment to product over process Personal Journey to Creative Arts Therapy How learning about perspective as a young child changed Carla's worldview Using creative practice to navigate uncertainty and make sense of the world through her own lenses The convergence of fine arts, community arts practice, and creative arts therapy Systemic Advocacy and Reform Strategic positioning of creative arts therapies within the broader psychotherapy and counselling framework The 2020 push during COVID to ensure creative therapists were part of mental health system reforms Inclusion in national standards for the psychotherapy and counselling workforce The Evidence Gap and Implementation Challenges Why the question "does it work?" is now outdated—World Health Organisation and global health bodies have established the benefits Creative engagement addresses isolation and loneliness, underlying causes of depression and mental ill-health The challenge of measuring relational, context-responsive practices using biomedical models Looking at return on investment differently: reduced hospital admissions, reduced burden on mental health services, suicide prevention Rethinking Service Delivery Models The limitations of applying one-hour-a-week biomedical models to creative therapies Carla's vision for community creative health hubs where people can spend time, connect, participate, and be audiences The story of the Inverlock Pop-Up Art Co: what happens when creative spaces become accessible The gap between GP mental health care plans and accessible support Shifting Worldviews Why awareness-raising alone isn't enough—people need embodied experience to understand the benefits The 85-year-old veteran who went from "what's this mumbo jumbo?" to "this creative stuff actually helps me" in 12 months Different forms of evidence: the persistence of creative and cultural practices over millennia as proof of efficacy The importance of policy makers and health professionals having their own creative experiences Notable Quotes "Creativity itself can and does restore our trust in first-hand experiencing in a world that keeps asking us to outsource our sense of reality." "Our senses—whichever ones we love the most—can all be sources of wonderful information about the world around us. And they are the original source for us of our ways of knowing and navigating the world. Creativity in that way isn't seen as an escape from reality, it can actually be a reality check." "Engaging in a creative practice of any form really brings us into the here and now. We have to be present, because that's where it's happening, right here, right now." "Connection is the most important thing. We need connection, and in fact, us, like every other living thing, we gravitate towards connection. Everything is connected, everything wants to be connected. We're no different. We need connection to thrive." "Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I might remember, but involve me and I'll understand. When people experience for themselves the benefit, then that's the best evidence that a person can have—knowing that it's good for them." "Look at our evidence. It's the evidence of continuing practice over millennia. It's the evidence that these things persist and continue, and people keep doing them, because people for that long have known that they work." "What if there was a person who took that help seeker and actually literally walked across the road to a community creative hub, and introduced them to a couple of people there? That's what we're missing." "I would wave my magic wand, and boom, inside or beside and alongside and co-located with every GP practice, library, community hub, there would be a community creative hub for every member of Australia's communities." Resources Mentioned Carla's Publications Seeing Her Stories – Explores making women's unseen stories visible through art and includes findings on how creativity brings us to our senses Organisations and Initiatives Creative Mental Health Forum (founded by Carla) PACFA (Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia) – College of Creative and Experiential Therapies ACARTA (Australian Creative Arts Therapy Association) – founded by Carla and colleagues in 1999 Inverlock Pop-Up Art Co – community arts initiative Research and Policy World Health Organisation evidence on benefits of creative engagement VicHealth advocacy for creative engagement Creative Australia's work on creative engagement for communities National standards for the psychotherapy and counselling workforce (released 2024) About Dr. Carla Van Laar Dr. Carla Van Laar is a creative and experiential therapist, painter, and passionate advocate for the creative revolution in mental health and wellbeing. With over 30 years' experience using the arts for health and wellbeing in community organisations, justice, health, and education settings, Carla has dedicated her career to making creative therapeutic practices more accessible and embedded in Australia's mental health system. As the founding director of the Creative Mental Health Forum and convener of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia's (PACFA) College of Creative and Experiential Therapies, Carla works at both grassroots and systemic levels to advocate for the profession. Her advocacy work spans decades, including founding the Australian Creative Arts Therapy Association (ACARTA) in 1999 as its inaugural president. Carla currently lives and works on Boonwaring country in Inverloch, where she runs a welcoming art studio and creative therapies practice, working with NDIS participants, war veterans, and families affected by violence. Her work is grounded in the philosophy that arts-based practices are essential for healing our troubled world. She has authored two books, including Seeing Her Stories, which explores making women's unseen stories visible through art. Known for community arts initiatives like the Inverloch Pop-Up Art Co, Carla insists on being part of a creative revolution where art re-embodies lived experience, brings us to our senses, and serves as an agent of social change. Connect Carla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlavanlaar/ Website: https://carlavanlaar.com/ Episode Highlights [00:02] Introduction to Dr. Carla Van Laar and her work in creative arts therapy [01:51] Why we need to be brought back to our senses and how creativity helps [02:50] The gaslighting boss metaphor: how systems undermine our perception of reality [04:39] The biomedical model and the mind-body split [05:16] Research findings: creativity brings us to our senses and into the present moment [08:04] Ancient cultural practices that privileged social and emotional health [08:46] Creative flow states: what happens when we engage for 20 minutes or more [09:39] Navigating obstacles to creativity: inner critics and self-judgement [12:02] Carla's journey into creative arts therapy [13:03] How learning perspective as a young child changed her worldview [15:52] Systemic advocacy work and the founding of ACARTA in 1999 [17:07] COVID and the push for mental health system reform [18:03] Positioning creative arts therapies within PACFA's framework [19:02] Working intermodally: visual arts, mindfulness, embodiment, and drama [20:00] Inclusion in national standards for psychotherapy and counselling [22:30] The disconnect between evidence and implementation [23:01] The question "does it work?" is now outdated [24:11] How creative engagement addresses isolation and loneliness [25:25] Return on investment: reducing burden on health systems [27:08] Why biomedical measurement methods don't fit relational practices [28:08] The problem with one-hour-a-week creative therapy models [28:26] Vision for community creative health hubs [29:09] The challenge of patient perception: when GPs prescribe the arts [30:00] The Parkinson's symposium experience: the unwavering belief in biomedical
