Hi, I’m Joana.
I am a Relational Art Therapist, having completed the Master in Relational Art Therapy – Psychotherapeutic Application of Artistic Practice at Metàfora in 2025.
The Between Spaces — Art Therapy refers to the relational space where experience takes form: between inner and outer worlds, between people, and between what is felt and what can be expressed. The name reflects the essence of my work, where meaning and transformation can emerge in the “in-between.”
My professional journey in this field began in 2021, when I first encountered art therapy while working in graphic design. Although creativity had always been central in my life, I felt called to move beyond the visual as product and toward the image as process. Choosing to leave design in order to study art therapy was a meaningful transition that allowed me to engage with art as a living and therapeutic experience.
My training integrates relational psychoanalysis, psychodynamic theory, and artistic practice. Alongside my clinical studies, I also studied drawing and painting, experiences that shaped my understanding of how art can transform both inner and outer experience.
In this approach, the therapeutic relationship is central. Attention is given to presence, emotional communication, transference, countertransference, and the co-creation of meaning. Art therapy offers a way to explore experience through creative processes without the need for artistic skills. The focus is not on the aesthetic result, but on expression, reflection, and the relationship that supports the process.
My clinical practice has primarily focused on children between the ages of 3 and 8, where I have developed experience in symbolic play, non-verbal communication, and emotionally attuned support. Over the last year and a half, I have also worked with migrant children and adolescents, supporting experiences related to displacement, identity, adaptation, and belonging.
The Between Spaces is not only a name, but a way of understanding therapy: a space where creativity and relationship meet, and where new meanings can gently emerge.
Therapeutic approach
My work is grounded in a relational and psychodynamic framework, where the therapeutic relationship is central to the process. Healing grows through presence, attunement, and the shared exploration that develops between therapist and participant.
Through art-making and dialogue, emotions and experiences that may feel unclear or difficult to express can gradually take shape, be understood, and integrated. The therapeutic space offers safety, reflection, and the possibility of change.
Relational Approach
Experience is understood as something shaped within relationships. Attention is given to emotional communication, transference, and the dynamics that emerge within the therapeutic encounter. What happens between us becomes part of the work.
Creativity & Potential Space
Inspired by Winnicott’s concept of the potential space, art therapy creates an in-between space where play, creativity, and transformation can unfold. The image becomes something personal yet shareable. A bridge between inner and outer worlds.