Art-based self-help in eight modules

Get to know the different sides of you, one simple drawing at a time

Draw It Out is a self-paced course created by a Clinical Psychologist and a Registered Art Therapist. It uses simple art-making to explore your Inner Critic, the ways you cope and the kind, steady adult in you. No art skill needed.

Join the waitlist Is this right for you right now?

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Meet Your Inner Critic is a free 8-page guide. It explains the inner voice that can be so hard on you, then takes you through a short drawing exercise. It takes about 40 minutes.

Before you join, please read 'Is this right for you right now?' below. Draw It Out is for adults aged 18 and over.

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What Draw It Out is

Many people carry a harsh inner voice, a habit of pleasing people or shutting down, or a sense that some young part of them still hurts. Draw It Out gives these patterns a shape on paper, so you can look at them from the outside.

It draws on the schema therapy mode model, a way psychologists describe the different states, or modes, that people move between. You'll learn it one piece at a time, in plain language.

Draw It Out is educational self-help. It isn't therapy, and it doesn't replace professional care.

How it works

  • Wattle

    Eight modules, with a new one opening each week. Each takes about 45 to 75 minutes, spread over two or three sittings.

  • Sky

    The same five parts every time: check in, learn, see and make, reflect, and settle.

  • Coral

    Written and illustrated, with pictures for every step.

  • Sea glass

    No art skill needed. Stick figures, scribbles, colour and collage all count.

  • Lilac

    Three ways to do every exercise: the full version, a low-energy version and a no-materials version.

  • Leaf

    Simple materials: paper, a pencil, coloured pencils or crayons, old magazines, a glue stick and scissors.

Safety comes first

  • Calm before anything else. Module 1 helps you make a calm place image, and teaches a 0 to 10 check-in and clear pause rules.

  • It stays in the present. Draw It Out never asks you to go back into painful memories.

  • Every module opens with a check-in and ends with a short practice to settle. At 7 or above, you skip the art that day.

  • Support details are on every page.

How the check-in works

Tap a number to see what happens in the course.

0 is calm and settled. 10 is the most distressed you can imagine.

Is this right for you right now?

Please read this before you join. Please wait, or use Draw It Out only alongside a therapist, if any of these are true for you right now:

  • You're in crisis, or you're having thoughts of suicide.
  • You're currently harming yourself.
  • You often lose track of time, or feel unreal or outside your own body.
  • You're having flashbacks, where a painful memory feels as if it's happening again.
  • You're experiencing psychosis (for example, hearing or seeing things other people don't) or mania (for example, very high energy, racing thoughts and little need for sleep).
  • You're living with an eating disorder that is active at the moment.
  • Something traumatic happened to you recently, in the last few months.
  • You're in a relationship or a living situation where you don't feel safe.

Draw It Out is designed for adults aged 18 and over.

If any of these apply to you, it means the timing or the setting needs care. You could wait, go through the course alongside a psychologist, counsellor or arts therapist, or talk to your GP.

If you're thinking about suicide, or you're not safe, please contact someone now. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 at any time, or 000 if anyone is in danger. 13YARN, on 13 92 76, offers crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 1800RESPECT, on 1800 737 732, supports anyone affected by domestic, family or sexual violence.

The eight modules

  1. Module 1

    Safety First. Make a calm place image and learn how to pause.

  2. Module 2

    Meet Your Modes. Draw a first, rough map of the different sides of you.

  3. Module 3

    The Inner Critic. Give your Inner Critic a shape, then draw it smaller.

  4. Module 4

    The Protectors. Make a portrait of one of the ways you cope, and thank it.

  5. Module 5

    The Child's Needs. Make a collage of what the young part of you needs these days.

  6. Module 6

    The Healthy Adult. Draw the kind, strong part of you that can take the lead.

  7. Module 7

    Conversations. Make a comic strip where your kind, strong side gets the last word.

  8. Module 8

    Keeping It Going. Make a pocket-sized map and a plan for harder times.

Who made it

John

Dr John Forbes, Clinical Psychologist (PhD), is a Fellow of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists. He's Ahpra-registered and works in Perth, Western Australia, with more than 25 years of practice in schema therapy and CBT. John wrote the psychology in Draw It Out.

Hannah

Hannah Nyx is a Registered Art Therapist (AThR, ANZACATA) at Creative Minds Art Therapy. Hannah designed every art process in Draw It Out.

Common questions

Do I need to be good at art?

No. Stick figures, scribbles, blobs of colour and pictures cut from magazines all count. You won't be asked to make anything look good. If you catch yourself thinking 'I can't draw', you can still do every exercise.

Is this therapy?

No. Draw It Out is educational self-help. It doesn't replace professional care, and joining doesn't make you a client of either of us. Although one of us is a Registered Art Therapist, Draw It Out isn't therapy of any kind.

Can I do this alongside therapy?

Yes. If you're seeing a psychologist, counsellor or arts therapist, you're welcome to use Draw It Out alongside your sessions. It's a good idea to let them know. You can bring your images along if you'd like to talk about them.

What if it stirs up difficult feelings?

That can happen, and every module shows you what to do. You check in from 0 to 10 at the start of each sitting. At 7 or above, you skip the art and go straight to a short practice to settle. The pause rules tell you when to stop and what to do instead, and support details are on every page. If you have thoughts of suicide, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency.

When does it open?

launch date to confirm Everyone on the waitlist hears first.

For practitioners

Are you a psychologist, counsellor or arts therapist? We're planning a professional edition. It will have a self-paced written CPD course of about six hours, an optional live workshop kit and a licence to use the printed exercises with your own clients. Price: CPD price to confirm. To hear when it's ready, email us at contact email to confirm with 'Professional edition' in the subject line.

Draw It Out is educational self-help. It is not therapy and does not replace professional care. If you need support now, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency.