A person shaping clay on a pottery wheel with their hand covered in white clay.

Clay + Counselling

Mindful Healing Through Creative Expression

Why Clay + Counselling?

If talking point blank seems confronting, or if certain topics feel difficult to express through words alone, let’s process this alongside working with clay.

You don’t even have to be dealing with a particular issue to attend a mindfulness session with clay. Treat this as taking your mind to the spa for a mental health wellness day.

This integrated service offers a unique blend of talk therapy and mindful clay work. Clay provides a grounding, hands-on way to stay connected to the present moment — making it a powerful ally for managing anxiety, trauma, or low mood.

  • Supports emotion regulation through sensory awareness

  • Encourages presence without judgment — a core principle of mindfulness

  • Helps externalise internal experience (through shape, texture, and gesture)

  • Can be especially helpful when verbal processing feels overwhelming

“Mindfulness helps reduce negative thinking, ease worry, and increase self-compassion and psychological flexibility."”

— Mental Health Foundation Consumer Guide

Therapeutic benefits of
Clay + Counselling

  • Clay’s tactile and malleable nature offers a unique sensory experience that facilitates deep body–mind connection. Unlike two-dimensional media, clay requires full-bodied engagement—pressing, pinching, rolling—which activates sensorimotor pathways. This physicality can aid in expressing and processing complex emotions, even when verbal articulation is challenging.

  • Clay invites presence. Practitioners describe entering states of “flow” during clay work—a form of meditative absorption that parallels mindfulness practice. In a single-subject study, clay handling correlated with heightened scores on mindfulness scales, suggesting that clay can be a viable mindfulness-based intervention.

    This aligns with broader applications of clay in trauma-informed care, where grounding through sensory input is crucial to self-regulation and healing.

  • For individuals living with chronic illness or disability, working with clay fosters a sense of agency, mastery, and meaning. Participants in phenomenological studies described the experience as “alchemy and magic,” where the transformation of earth into form mirrored their own personal resilience and transformation.

    Clay work becomes a site for identity reconstruction, social connection, and emotional healing—particularly valuable for clients navigating grief, trauma, or physical decline.

  • Clay offers a profound medium through which clients can externalize internal experiences, using form and symbolism to give shape to emotions, memories, and unconscious material.

    The tactile engagement with clay allows for metaphorical expression—clients may create vessels, barriers, or abstract forms that represent aspects of the self, relationships, or trauma.

    This process bypasses the limitations of language, enabling individuals to communicate complex inner states nonverbally. The transformation of formless clay into meaningful shapes becomes a therapeutic act of witnessing and making sense of one's internal world in tangible, visual ways.

  • Clay engages the senses and bypasses the analytical mind, creating space for unconscious material to surface. Its playful, hands-on nature also reconnects clients with their inner child—tapping into spontaneity, curiosity, and early emotional experiences. This connection can unlock deep insights and foster a sense of safety, creativity, and emotional release.

Clay + Counselling
Session Formats

Clay + Counselling Standard session - $150

  • 1 hr of one-on-one Clay in Counselling

  • Held at private studio

  • All material & tools provided

Clay + Counselling Intentional Processing - $280

  • Extended session (2hrs allocated)

  • Held at private studio

  • Focused in-depth session with set intention

  • Prior counselling sessions required (1-2 sessions), post-session recommended for follow-up integration and processing.

  • All material & tools provided.

  • Final output fired as a symbolic keepsake (where applicable)

Reported outcomes after clay-integrated Counselling:

Grounded, Emotionally lighter or clearer, seen and expressed, connected, empowered, reflective…

BOOK YOUR SESSION

OR book a free introductory consultation to work out if this is for you.

FAQs

  • We offer three distinct formats of support:

    • Talk Therapy: Traditional counselling sessions focused on mental health and wellbeing.

    • Clay + Counselling: A unique, integrated experience that combines therapeutic conversation with the grounding and expressive practice of working with clay.

    • Clay Sessions (Non-Therapeutic): Hands-on clay sessions for creative exploration and learning—no therapy involved.

    • If you're looking for support with mental health, life challenges, or emotional wellbeing, Talk Therapy is a great place to start.

    • If you're drawn to creative expression and interested in exploring your inner world through tactile experience, Clay + Counselling might be a better fit.

    • If you’re simply curious about clay or want to learn hand-building techniques in a relaxed environment, the Clay Sessions are perfect.

    We’re happy to discuss which approach suits your needs—just reach out or book a free consultation call.

  • We work across two locations:

    • R2R Health Clinic (Moonee Ponds):

      • Talk Therapy only

      • No clay-based services

      • Suitable for clients looking for a clinic setting or using NDIS/private insurance

    • The Grounding Space Studio (Oak Park):

      • Clay + Counselling and Clay Sessions only

      • Also offers Talk Therapy in a more creative, home-based studio setting

    We also offer Telehealth sessions for Talk Therapy via secure video call.

  • Yes! Our counsellor works at both R2R Health and The Grounding Space, and you’re welcome to choose the location (or online option) that works best for you.

    • Talk Therapy may be claimable through the NDIS (self or plan managed) or some private health insurers.

    • Clay + Counselling may be covered under NDIS therapeutic supports depending on your goals.

    • Clay Sessions (non-therapeutic) are not claimable through NDIS or insurance.

    We can help you navigate the options.

  • Sessions typically include time for talking, reflection, and working with clay. The clay becomes a tool for expression—helping you access emotions, symbolism, and insights that may be harder to express in words. No art experience needed—just curiosity and openness.