Valley Art Therapy Ltd.

Valley Art Therapy Ltd. Therapy for kids, teens & adults to heal from trauma, anxiety & overwhelm—so you can feel calm, connected & resilient. Birtle-Russell-Swan River-Online

Beyond talk alone - We use art, play, somatic & trauma-focused approaches to support your healing.

09/03/2026

The calendar has flipped to September, and your child, who seemed completely fine all summer, has started worrying about school.

That shift makes sense. Summer means fewer demands, fewer transitions, more choice. As school gets closer, all the things that felt far away start becoming real again — teachers, classmates, expectations, being away from home. And often, the body reacts before a child can explain why. Stomachaches, harder bedtimes, tears over small things. Some worry may be typical in this transition. What matters is how much space it starts taking up.

For now, keep things simple. Ease back into routines. Talk about what they’re looking forward to, not only what feels hard. Give them enough information to know what to expect — without making school the focus of every conversation. And notice what the worry is doing. Is sleep getting harder? Are the same questions coming up again and again? More irritable or tearful? Avoiding things they normally enjoy? Is school worry starting to take over the last few weeks of summer? You don’t have to wait until they’re refusing school or completely overwhelmed. If your child seems to be working really hard to manage the worry, therapy can give them a place to understand what’s happening — and build some ways to work with it before school gets underway.

We’re accepting new child and teen clients. If you’re wondering whether some support might help, reach out — we can help you figure that out.

Therapy works best when it’s something we do with you — not to you.You shouldn’t have to fit yourself into a particular ...
09/01/2026

Therapy works best when it’s something we do with you — not to you.

You shouldn’t have to fit yourself into a particular approach just because that’s what your therapist offers.

We bring the training and clinical experience. You bring what only you can know about your own experience. And we pay attention to your goals, your preferences, your pace and your feedback as the work unfolds — adjusting as we go, as we learn more about you and what helps.

If you’ve been in therapy before and felt like you couldn’t say, “this isn’t helping,” therapy doesn’t have to feel that way.

Valley Art Therapy & Wellness | Rural Manitoba & Saskatchewan

08/28/2026

Relaxing sounds simple — until you actually try to do it.

For some people, slowing down creates more restlessness, not less. When your body has spent a lot of time anticipating what’s next or staying alert, settling doesn’t necessarily happen just because you finally have an afternoon with nothing to do.

You can be sitting beside a pool, lying on the couch, or away for the weekend and still feel like some part of you hasn’t quite stopped.

That’s one reason we pay attention to the body in therapy, not only the thoughts. Your body can relearn what settled feels like — without you forcing yourself to “just relax.”

What helps your body actually slow down? Share it below — someone scrolling right now might need it.

08/26/2026

Therapy doesn’t have to be the thing you reach for only when you’ve run out of options.

Sometimes it starts with noticing that something has been harder than you want it to be — and deciding you’d rather have support now than keep waiting to see how much harder it gets.

Starting early can make a difference — easier to take care of something before it becomes tangled up with five other things, easier to work with a pattern before it’s had years to settle in.

You don’t need a crisis. You don’t need the perfect words. And you don’t need to know what kind of therapy you need.

You can just start with what’s happening now.

And we’re currently accepting new clients.

P.S. Robyn made this reel look easy — turns out the former model still has it.

Art therapy is less about what you make and more about what happens while you’re making it.For people who overthink, get...
08/25/2026

Art therapy is less about what you make and more about what happens while you’re making it.

For people who overthink, get stuck trying to find the right words, or feel pressure to “do therapy right,” having another way to work can change the experience.

And if perfectionism shows up on the page? We can work with that too.

No artistic skill required.

You can’t always think your way into feeling settled.Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented approach to stress and trau...
08/25/2026

You can’t always think your way into feeling settled.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented approach to stress and trauma, developed by Dr. Peter Levine and now practised around the world.

It gives us another way to work with the things talking doesn’t always change — the bracing, tension, shutting down or feeling constantly on edge, even when you know you’re okay.

The work isn’t about forcing memories or creating a big emotional release.

It’s slower and more careful than that.

We pay attention to what you’re noticing in your body, work with it a little at a time, and move at a pace your nervous system can manage.

At Valley Art Therapy, Somatic Experiencing can be a focus of therapy or drawn on alongside EMDR, art therapy and other ways of working.

You don’t have to know what kind of therapy would be the right fit for you.

But if Somatic Experiencing has you curious, let’s talk.

EMDR is one of the most studied trauma-focused therapies for PTSD.But having a PTSD diagnosis isn’t the only reason EMDR...
08/21/2026

EMDR is one of the most studied trauma-focused therapies for PTSD.

But having a PTSD diagnosis isn’t the only reason EMDR might be considered.

It can also be used to work with distressing experiences that continue to affect you now — a difficult relationship, a medical experience, a loss, or things from childhood that still seem to show up in how you feel or respond today. If it still has a charge when it comes up, that’s often a sign there’s something to work with.

And a question people often have is: “Would it even work for me?”

You don’t have to know.

Part of the early work is figuring out together whether EMDR fits — and whether now is the right time. Exploring it doesn’t commit you to doing it.

At Valley Art Therapy, we can draw on EMDR, somatic work, art therapy and other therapeutic approaches depending on what fits you.

You don’t have to choose the therapy before you come.

08/19/2026

Trauma healing doesn’t always look like a big breakthrough.

A lot of it is quieter than that.

It can be noticing you recovered faster. That something didn’t hit quite as hard. That you had a little more space between what happened and how you responded.

Those small shifts matter.

They often come from slowing down enough to notice what’s happening — and getting the chance to respond differently instead of automatically.

Over time, those moments start to add up.

Not because the past disappears, but because it begins to have less say in what happens next.

If this is the kind of healing you’re looking for, we’re currently accepting new clients.

Kids don’t always communicate the way adults do — and therapy doesn’t have to depend on them having the right words.Talk...
08/18/2026

Kids don’t always communicate the way adults do — and therapy doesn’t have to depend on them having the right words.

Talking may be part of therapy. But so is art, play, movement, games, creating, and learning what feelings feel like in their body.

A child might tell us something through a drawing before they can explain it. Work something out through play before they understand it. Or need to move when sitting still makes it harder to stay connected.

That doesn’t make it “less” therapy.

For children, play and creative approaches are natural ways to communicate, explore feelings and make sense of experiences.

And we’re not trying to make your child talk before they’re ready. Getting comfortable, building trust, and learning what it feels like to be with this new person are part of the process too.

At Valley Art Therapy, therapy for kids is shaped around their age, development and personality — using art, play and creative approaches when they fit.

So when your child comes out of their session saying, “We just played,” remember: art and play aren’t separate from the therapy - it’s often how the work happens. Your child’s therapist can help you understand what they’re working on and how things are going.

You don’t have to wait until things are really hard before getting some support.

If you’re wondering whether therapy might help your child, we can talk that through with you.

Address

743 Main Street
Birtle, MB
R0M0C0

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 11am - 7pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 6pm

Telephone

+12048423869

Website

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