Joseph has been a practising art therapist for 6 years now. His passion for self expression and curiosity in human behaviour began at a very early age, and has led him to many weird and wonderful places.
Since he was a young boy, art has always had a very special place in Joseph’s life. From primary school to high school and beyond, art making was a dependable friend that could be turned to, no matter how overwhelming adolescence or adult life could be. It was in these solitary moments of engaging with his practise that problems, pressures and expectations would seem to fall away. A state of ‘flow’ was entered into; a creative release of anything ‘sticky’ could be processed and purged. It felt good.
Over the years, Joseph began to expand his practise. He was mostly interested in drawing for many years, and gradually developed unique approaches to working with paint, collage and sculpture. Studying with various teachers and institutions, both in Australia and abroad, little by little he began to develop what he calls a ‘creative signature’ – a visual language that is truly his.
Slowly, over time, and through many ups and downs, he began to see the undeniable connection between the work he was making, and who he was as a person. As he was becoming himself, so was his visual language. He could see that his practise was merely a mirror – it existed to show him all the things he was feeling inside, about who he was.
Joseph began sharing the insights that he had discovered, at first by facilitating small groups of people. He was excited to witness other people finding their own creative signatures and visual languages – those expressions of themselves that made them uniquely them. Joseph increasingly understood that those expressions could be nurtured and coaxed out of their hiding places, if participants could only trust themselves and learn to let go of old ideas about who they were, and risk being themselves.
Art therapy was an obvious choice of career at this point.
Joseph met and married his wife, Olga (also an art therapist), in 2020. Soon after they founded Intuitive Art Therapy, and have been working together ever since. They enjoy their work immensely and feel lucky to engage with so many interesting people every day.
Joseph has a Bachelors degree in Fine Art from RMIT University, and is currently studying Gestalt Psychotherapy. He has worked with hundreds of clients in various settings, and remains passionate about facilitating the connection between the self and its creative expression. He still maintains a strong art practise of his own, enjoys reading, collecting vinyl and spending time with his wife, daughter and dog, at home on the Mornington Peninsula.