The Beauty in Broken Things: How Creative Therapies Can Help You Heal

When we think of healing, we often picture progress as linear—a straight path from brokenness to wholeness. But real healing is messy. It’s layered. And sometimes, it’s artistic.

As a therapist, I’ve learned that words don’t always reach the deepest places in us. That’s where creative therapies come in. Two of my favorite tools are Kintsugi and Sand Tray Therapy. They help people explore what they can’t always articulate, and they invite us to transform pain into something beautiful.

Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Imperfection

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver, or platinum. Instead of hiding the cracks, Kintsugi highlights them—honoring the object’s history and making it more valuable because of its scars, not in spite of them.

In therapy, I use Kintsugi as a metaphor and a practice. When someone feels “broken” or ashamed of the past, I guide them to see those experiences not as defects, but as part of their unique story. We might create a symbolic Kintsugi piece together—taking a broken object and mending it with care, intention, and gold paint.

This isn’t just arts and crafts. It’s a gentle, embodied way to say: Your pain matters. But it doesn’t define you. And beauty can come from your healing process.

Sand Tray Therapy: Giving the Subconscious a Voice

Have you ever had a feeling you couldn’t explain? Or a memory that haunted you, but you didn’t have the words to unpack it?

That’s where sand tray therapy steps in. Using miniature figures, symbols, and objects in a small sandbox, clients create scenes that represent inner thoughts and feelings. It’s a surprisingly powerful way to give shape to what’s going on beneath the surface.

In my practice, I invite people to “let the sand speak.” The process often reveals deep truths—fears, longings, unprocessed grief, even moments of clarity—that have been quietly trying to come to the surface. We don’t analyze it like a dream, but we do explore the symbols and feelings that emerge. Often, the tray becomes a mirror for what the subconscious has been trying to communicate.

Why Creative Therapies Work

Both Kintsugi and sand tray therapy bypass our usual defenses. They meet us where language stops. And they offer something many people long for: a way to heal that feels safe, creative, and deeply personal.

Whether you're facing trauma, life transitions, or just a general sense of being lost, these practices can help you:

• Reframe your story

• Honor your journey

• Make sense of your inner world

• And begin again, with gold in your cracks

If you’re curious about how creative therapy might support your healing, I’d love to connect. You don’t have to have the words. You just have to show up—and we’ll begin there.

Amanda Crosland, MSW, CSW

*Responsibly created with the help of ChatGPT