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Individual sessions

Express
Explore
Become

the stories beneath, with art as your map
your feelings, their texture and rhythm
who you are, finding clarity and direction
Expressive Arts in Berlin and online
75 min
No art skills

Expressive Arts sessions: a space for you 

Losing touch with yourself can feel like exhaustion, a fading taste for life, tension in relationships, or changes in health. I know this terrain. Learning to hear my own voice beneath all the other voices has been an ongoing journey for me.​​ 

 

This 1:1 space is an invitation to come back to yourself through creativity and care. You’ll be guided to listen to your body, your senses, and that fertile inner presence where every impulse begins. From there, different art forms become ways of following what draws your attention and what wants to express itself.​​​​​​

Each expression reveals a unique facet of you

Together, they create a landscape rich with sensation, image, feeling, and unexpected possibility.

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A sound that wants to be heard
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​A shape that calls you
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A story that suddenly arrives
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​A movement your body wants to make

​The dynamics that unfold through making art — tension, release, discovery, uncertainty, surprise — are also part of how we move through everyday life. As you explore creatively, you may find yourself taking small risks, becoming more courageous in letting yourself be seen, and growing more trusting of your own way of shaping life beyond the session.

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These sessions may support you to:​

  • Tune into what you’re feeling right now

  • Reconnect with your sensitivity, imagination, and playfulness

  • Rediscover joy and the inner strengths that are already yours

  • Find greater clarity, trust, and a renewed sense of direction

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At its heart, Expressive Arts practice is about connection: to your senses, to creative life force, and to the living world around you that continually offers inspiration, meaning, and nourishment.

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And most importantly, it is an invitation to show up for yourself.​

Absolutely NO art skills needed

All activities are accessible and can be as simple as folding a piece of paper

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Session structure

01

Opening

We start by talking about what feels alive for you — a question, a feeling, or a life situation asking for attention. Together, we bring awareness to what needs space.

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Throughout the session, we work together as creative partners. My role is to hold the space with curiosity and care, opening room for exploration.

02

Unfolding

We enter the creative process, where you are invited to explore, play with different forms, and follow what feels right.

 

Our focus is on presence: letting expression take shape without expectation of perfection. Your senses and imagination guide you, while I am here to support and witness.

03

Landing

We close by naming and reflecting on what has emerged. Some insights arrive immediately, while others ripple out over time. 

 

Together, we explore how these experiences connect to your life beyond the session. You may feel lighter or in need of rest. Take the time you need to integrate.

“Creating is not only a healthy outlet to process your emotions, but it’s also a place to meet yourself, a place where you get to know yourself deeper"

Reflection from my client

"Within the expressive arts method I feel at home, safe. But not in the sense of 'limited and cramped', but in the sense of freedom. There are no limits to my expression. And if there were some, then they were internal, and the method helped me a lot to find and accept these inner blocks. To let the voice inside me speak that had been silent for a long time. To revive the joy of life that had been buried for a long time. To stand there at the end of a session and have discovered something new in myself. A new 'Aha!', a light, a new side perhaps. Falling in love with myself again :) — this is how I felt after the first circle."

Vera, participant of "The Liminal" - expressive arts circle in Berlin

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How Expressive Arts supports wellbeing 

Holistic view of the person. Expressive Arts recognises body, emotions, mind, spirit, and environment as interconnected threads shaping your overall wellbeing.

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Multi-sensory and intermodal. Colours, shapes, sounds, and movement become your language, opening a space beyond everyday words. In a session, you move between different art forms. Each shift enriches your understanding: what begins as drawing might deepen through movement, or find new meaning in a line of poetry.

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Resource-oriented. The focus is on your strengths, not symptoms or diagnoses. Expressive Arts recognises that health and creativity are always present, even in difficult times, and can strengthen them through art and expression.

 

Presence-oriented. Sessions are grounded in the present moment. Guided by your senses and imagination, you engage with the creative process as it unfolds. In that openness, new possibilities emerge.

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​​​​Making sense of experience. Creating gives your feelings a shape. You notice them in your body, express them through art, and find the words to understand what came up.

 In the art-making we don’t have to solve the problem. Challenges present themselves in a liquid and dynamic state. As soon as we engage in a work of art, we perturb the previous thinking and worrying. New fields of meaning open up through the sensory experience of shaping. The work of art becomes insightful.

Paolo Knill "POIESIS: A Journal of the Arts & Communication Vol. 17, 2020"

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Your journey with me

Intro call

We begin with a video call to connect and see if working together feels like a good fit

20 min  •  Free  •  Online

Making space for gradual change

Come for a single session to get a feel for my approach. If it resonates, we can continue regularly, at a pace that suits you. Change often unfolds gradually, and having consistent space allows you to listen, express, and integrate what emerges.
75 min  •  Sliding scale: 70-100€/session  •  Online and in Berlin

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychotherapist. My sessions are meant to support your well-being but are not a substitute for therapy. Sessions are not covered by health insurance.

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My training

2023 - 2026

MA in Expressive Arts Therapy with a Minor in Psychology

at The European Graduate School​
Research on the pre-reflective self & embodied perception
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Sep 2022 - Jun 2023

Expressive Arts Facilitation

at step ahead! Expressive Arts Institute Berlin

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​Jul 2021 - Dec 2021

"Art Therapy Certificates: Foundation &  Advanced" 

at the International Training Company "Osnova" and the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University
Polina Yakymenko portrait

Polina Yakymenko

Expressive Arts Facilitator
Designer & Researcher
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Berlin, Germany

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Impressum  |  Datenschutzerklärung  |  © 2026 Polina Yakymenko - Expressive Arts & Design. All rights reserved.

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