Clay Field Therapy

What is Clay Field Therapy?

Founded by Professor Heinz Deuser and further advanced by Cornelia Elbrecht (Founder of the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy), Clay Field Therapy is a form of sensorimotor art therapy focused on the sense of touch. “The therapeutic focus of Clay Field Therapy is neither on symptoms nor on the story of what-happened, but on the innate urge to find a more adequate response to the world at hand. In this way the encounter at the clay field allows us to gradually rewrite our biography” (Cornelia Elbrecht).

A clay field is a rectangular wooden container which can hold 10-15kg of clay. During a Clay Field Therapy session while being accompanied by a therapist, you will be provided the wooden field containing smooth clay and a bowl of water. You will be invited to interact with the clay field through haptic sensations. Your hands will touch the clay following their intuitions and impulses, concentrating on the felt sense. This is not a cognitive process and you are not expected to create an object or artwork.

Through your hands, you project your motor impulses into the field, and receive sensory feedback from the clay. This sensorimotor experience facilitates a relational encounter between you and the Clay Field, and in turn enables self-discovery, insight identification and trauma healing.

The Therapist will assume the role of an accompanier, who will provide you support, as well as act as the “cognitive function” for you during this deep therapeutic process. During the post-session debrief, the Therapist will support you to explore, contextualise and integrate your experience, with a focus on the felt sense and the embodied experience. You may engage in meaning making based on your experience and situation.

Click here to watch a short video of how Clay Field Therapy helped a boy diagnosed with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Our Services

Benefits of Clay Field Therapy

For both children and adults, Clay Field therapy can help to:

Facilitate trauma healing using a bottom-up approach

Achieve greater mind-body connection

Strengthen one’s inner resources

Explore and consolidate novel sensorimotor experiences

Service Details

Clay Field for Children

Integrating play with sensory engagement with clay, while being supported and co-regulated by the therapist.

Clay Field for Adults

An immersive body-based experience. Focus on your bodily sensations and the process, rather than “making something”.