Origami, sumi-e and kintsugi-inspired art practices

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Japan

What it is

These are client-made art practices used inside art therapy, or as structured arts activities in health settings:

Format

• Activity use: origami and ink-painting groups can be run by artists or tutors as arts-in-health activity. At Mersey Care the origami workshops are led by an origami tutor and arts facilitator, not a therapist.
• Phase A, Engage and frame (part of session 1). Goal: introduce the kintsugi idea of honouring breakage and repair, agree on aims, and check safety and materials.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Therapy use (working with breakage, shame, guilt, trauma or grief through art): this belongs to a trained art therapist or a psychotherapist with art-therapy training. In the UK, art therapists are regulated by HCPC, with BAAT as the professional body. In the US, the bodies are AATA and the ATCB credential. Other countries have national art-therapy associations.
• Destruction steps: do not use breaking, tearing or destroying directives without art-therapy training and established rapport. The Broken Bowl write-up says to use it only after rapport is established.
• Sumi-e: an attentional and acceptance mechanism is inferred. Preparing the ink and making one irreversible stroke at a time asks for slowed, present-focused attention and tolerance of imperfection. Pinelo Páez (2019) set out the hypothesis that sumi-e-inspired ink work can support bodily and emotional awareness, self-regulation and resilience, and paired the single, unretouched stroke with mindfulness concepts; the…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the same signs as 4.2. This is my adaptation, not a published protocol.
• a client who feels pressured into a "growth" story. Accept "it doesn't fit".
• reluctance to leave the work, or urges to destroy it after the session. Agree on safe storage.
• the material-safety notes above apply. In addiction services, check whether solvents or adhesives are a misuse risk.
• harsh self-judgement. Reframe the aim as attention, not beauty. Signs it is working: the client relaxes into imperfect marks and criticises less.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.