Healing Roots Therapy
Creative Journey:
Group Art Therapy for Teens In Mississauga
A 4-week in-person group art therapy for teens (ages 13 to 17) who feel things deeply, don't always have the words, and want a space to figure themselves out alongside people their own age. No art skills needed. Just your curiosity and willingness to explore, are more than enough!
Our group art therapy for teens can help your child:
Put Big Emotions Into Something They Can See And Make Sense Of
Build Coping Skills And Emotional Regulation Skills That Stick
Feel A Little More Like Themselves, And A Little Less Alone
They don't have to have it all figured out
A lot of teens carry more than they let on. The stress, the comparison, the pressure to keep it together, the feeling that nobody really gets it. Sometimes it comes out as anxiety, sometimes as shutting down, sometimes as “I’m fine” said three times too fast. Art therapy gives those feelings somewhere to go that isn’t a perfect sentence or a graded assignment. In this group, teens make, reflect, and connect with others who know exactly what this stretch of life feels like. The result is a little more self-understanding, a little more confidence, and the relief of realizing they’re not the only one.
Give your teen a place to be seen, supported, and creative on their own terms.
in-person group Art Therapy for Teens In Ontario
What Makes Creative Journey Different
Creative Journey is a small, therapist-led group art therapy for teens, built around something that’s hard to find at this age: a space where there’s no wrong way to feel, no pressure to perform, and no one grading the outcome.
Over 4 weeks, our art therapist guides the group through hands-on creative activities that open up emotions, identity, coping skills, and connection, one theme at a time. Each session blends a short, relatable teaching piece with guided art-making, followed by gentle reflection and optional sharing. The art does a lot of the talking, which takes the pressure off teens who freeze up when someone asks, “So how are you feeling?”
Because the group is closed and stays the same all four weeks, teens get something rare: consistency, trust, and a small circle of peers who show up for each other. That sense of “oh, it’s not just me” is often where things start to shift.
In this group, your teen will:
- Learn how emotions show up in the body and mind
- Build practical coping skills and emotional regulation skills they can use long after the group ends
- Explore identity, strengths, and self-expression through creative activities
- Practice grounding tools for anxiety and overwhelming emotions in real time
- Connect with other teens in a space that's confidential and genuinely their own
- Discover that creativity can be a way to figure things out
Group Details
(Closed-group model)
This group is designed for teens ages 13 to 17 who are navigating anxiety, stress, low confidence, identity questions, or big emotions, and who want to understand themselves better and build coping skills in a supportive group of peers.
in-person group Art Therapy for Teens In Ontario
Is Creative Journey Right For Your Teen?
- Feels anxious, stressed, or weighed down by emotions that are hard to name
- Tends to keep things in, shut down, or insist they're fine when they're not
- Is working through questions about identity, self-worth, or where they fit
- Struggles with confidence or is hard on themselves
- Wants coping skills and emotional regulation skills, not just somewhere to sit
- Feels isolated and could use a deep connection with peers who understand
- Is open to creative activities, with no artistic experience or drawing skills required
- Can commit to all 4 sessions, since the group builds week to week and stays closed after Week 1
This group may not be the right fit if your teen is currently in crisis or needs urgent, one-on-one support. If that’s where things are right now, individual teen therapy is a better starting point, and we’re glad to help you find it. You’re also welcome to reach out and talk it through with us first.
in-person group Art Therapy for Teens In Ontario
What Your Teen Will Explore, Week By Week
Every session follows a comforting rhythm, including: a check-in and grounding exercise, a short intro to the week’s theme, guided art-making, reflection with optional sharing, and a calming activity to close. No art experience is required.
Week 1: Creating Safety and Self-Expression
We start by building the group together, literally. Teens help shape the group agreements, meet the people they’ll be creating alongside, and ease in with a first creative activity focused on identity and self-expression. The goal of week one is simple: feel safe, feel welcome, and notice there’s no wrong way to show up.
Week 2: Emotions and Stress Awareness
This week is about getting to know your emotions instead of being run by them. Through creative activities like emotion mapping, teens explore how stress and big feelings show up in the body and start building grounding and emotional regulation skills they can actually use, particularly when anxiety spikes or emotions feel overwhelming.
Week 3: Strengths, Support, and Coping
Teens are great at listing what’s wrong with them and terrible at naming what’s right. This week flips that. Through activities like a coping toolbox or resource tree, the group explores personal strengths, the people and supports in their corner, and the coping skills that help them through hard moments.
Week 4: Hope, Reflection, and Closure
We close by looking forward. Teens reflect on what they’ve discovered, name a strength they found in themselves, and create something that points toward where they want to go next. It’s a chance to celebrate growth, sit with what mattered, and carry the group with them after it ends.
Our Approach
How Our In-person Group Art Therapy Works
Each 80-minute session follows a consistent flow, so teens always know what to expect:
A warm check-in and grounding exercise to settle the group and arrive in the space
A short, down-to-earth intro to the week's theme
Guided art-making, the heart of each session, with materials and prompts provided
Reflection time, with sharing always optional and never required
A closing regulation activity to wind down, like breathing, stretching, or a quick grounding exercise
A few group agreements keep the space safe:
- What's shared in the group stays in the group, we respect each other's stories and expereinces.
- We listen when someone's speaking.
- This is a non-judgemental space, for feelings, art and creative expressions.
- You don't need to be "good at art". There is not right or wrong way to create.
- Teens commit to all 4 sessions. The group closes after week 1 to help build trust, safety and connection.
About Us
Why Healing Roots Therapy?
Safe
A place where clients can share their most challenging experiences, feelings and thoughts in order to heal.
Open
The ability to make decisions that are best for emotional and mental well-being come from the trust created within a relationship built on transparency.
Curious
When we replace judgment with curiosity we provide space for understanding. When we can understand what we are feeling, thinking or experiencing we empower ourselves to make the changes we want in our life.
Take a tour of the Healing Roots Therapy office in Mississauga.
Therapist Who Facilitates Our In-person Group Art Therapy for Teens
What Your Teen Can Take Away From Creative Journey
Over our 4 weeks together, your teen may notice shifts such as:
- A better understanding of their emotions and less fear of the big ones
- Coping skills and emotional regulation skills they can reach for when anxiety or overwhelm shows up
- More confidence in who they are and what they bring
- A growing sense that they're not carrying things alone
- New ways to express what's been hard to put into words
- Stronger resilience when stress, school, or relationships get heavy
- A clearer sense of their own strengths and supports
- A small circle of peers who reminded them they're understood
- Creative tools and grounding practices they can keep using long after the group wraps
Healing Roots Therapy
Questions about our group art therapy for teens
Creative Journey is for teens ages 13 to 17 across Ontario who are working through anxiety, stress, low confidence, identity questions, or big emotions, and who want to understand themselves better and build coping skills alongside peers. It’s not designed for crisis support, so if your teen needs urgent or one-on-one care right now, individual teen therapy is a better fit, and we can help you find it.
Not even a little. No art experience or skill is required, and there’s genuinely no wrong way to make something here. The art is a tool for expression, not a performance. Plenty of teens start out convinced they “can’t draw” and find that’s the point; the focus is on what comes up, not what it looks like.
Art therapy uses creative activities, like drawing, painting, collage, or working with different materials, as a way to explore and express emotions that can be hard to say out loud. For teens, who often don’t have the words yet or feel put on the spot by direct questions, making something can be a gentler, more honest way in. It supports emotional awareness, coping skills, confidence, and connection, all guided by a trained therapist.
Each group therapy session opens with a check-in and grounding exercise, followed by a short intro to the week’s theme, guided art-making, and time to reflect and share if your teen wants to. Sessions close with a calming regulation activity. Sharing is always optional, and the whole thing is led by the facilitator.
Once the group starts, no new members join. Keeping it closed all 4 weeks helps teens build trust, feel safe, and settle into a consistent circle of peers, which is a big part of what makes the experience work. That’s also why we ask for a commitment to all 4 sessions.
No. Sharing is always invited, but it’s not required. Plenty of teens start by listening and watching, and open up at their own pace as the group feels safer. Observing is a real part of the work too, and Grace Choi (Psychotherapist, Art Therapist & Group Facilitator) makes sure there’s room for both.
It can be, even if the idea feels intimidating at first. For a lot of anxious teens, a small, consistent, judgment-free group becomes a low-pressure place to be around others, with art taking some of the spotlight off conversation. Your teen sets their own pace, and Grace is there to help them feel supported the whole way through.
Both matter, and one doesn’t replace the other. What a group offers that home can’t is peers, the chance to see other teens working through similar things, to feel understood by people their own age, and to realize they’re not the only one. That sense of belonging tends to ease anxiety and build confidence in a way that’s hard to get anywhere else.
Reach out to register, and we’ll set up a short screening form and a brief phone consultation. This helps us understand your teen’s needs, answer your questions, and make sure the group is the right fit before anyone commits. If it’s not the right fit, we’ll point you toward support that is.
We provide receipts for insurance reimbursement. Coverage depends on your provider and the therapist’s designation. We recommend checking with your insurer for the specifics of what’s included.
How To Get Started
To get started with Group Art Therapy for Teens or to learn more, please completely the form below. We will be in touch shortly with more information!
Healing Roots Therapy
Your teen's story is still being written. Let's give them space to create, connect, and discover what they're made of.
