Hi, I’m Stjohn Small, and I’m a HCPC registered art therapist in Bolton, Greater Manchester. I have been a therapist for over ten years, predominantly working with trauma survivors, neurodivergence and the LGBTQIA+ community
As a queer, neurodivergent therapist, I understand how important it is to have a safe, non-judgemental space to process and explore without having to adapt to someone else’s way of communicating, or to meet their expectations of who you are and how you should be. My approach to therapy is grounded in compassion, creativity and a fundamental belief that people thrive when they are accepted and truly seen.
My journey
I initially began working as a trauma therapist in 2015 for a sexual violence and domestic abuse service in North Lincolnshire whilst gaining my BA in Humanistic Counselling. During my time there, I saw two contradictory truths- that talking could be healing and life-changing, and that there were places that talking just couldn’t reach.
Art-making has long held therapeutic benefit in my own life- when I feel anxious, overwhelmed or at a loss, I turn to creativity before anything else. Art therapy felt like the natural progression for me, especially as I began to see how art could support the people I was most drawn to working with- trauma survivors looking for ways to regulate and rewrite their automatic internal responses to triggers, neurodivergent people who struggled to articulate themselves or communicate in the way they wanted to, and LGBTQIA+ people who found words couldn’t quite express their identities or experiences adequately
I began my Master’s in Art Psychotherapy in 2019, whilst working at Barnardo’s with children and teenagers who had experienced developmental trauma. There I truly saw the power of creativity for healing, navigating challenging life transitions and reconnecting with others. Over time, I developed a reputation for working with “complex needs”- people who had found talking therapies unhelpful or frustrating, or who had been given diagnoses that restricted their access to therapies elsewhere.
In 2021 I began teaching Counselling & Psychotherapy for levels 3-6. Training the next generation of counsellors and therapists was incredibly rewarding, helping me to build my skills as a supervisor, and helping me to maintain a contemporary awareness in my own practice. I continued to delivery trauma therapy at local colleges alongside my teaching.
In January 2025 Inked Art Therapy was born, and by summer I made the decision to move away from teaching and working for services to instead commit to my own practice full time. I now have the privilege of offering art therapy on a one-to-one basis, as well as supervision for counsellors and therapists, including a monthly supervision group. Through small local and national funding streams, I’m able to offer workshops and events to support my community in accessing creative wellbeing and therapeutic support, and by offering a sliding scale of fees for services, I’m able to provide limited low-cost, accessible therapy for individuals who need long-term support.