Hello, Welcome. Creative Arts Therapy (CAT) is a unique, holistic, complementary approach to psychotherapy. It integrates expressive arts with modern neuroscience and trauma-informed practices in current research that requires a Master's qualification.

 Through visual arts, dance, drama, expressive writing, poetry, and sand tray and clay field CAT,  supports emotional expression, builds resilience, and encourages self-understanding—especially when words fall short. CAT reconnects you with parts of yourself and guides you release shame in a personal, embodied way.

Where Creativity Supports Positive Change

Taming the Tiger

Taming the Tiger Creative Arts Therapy Studio

Founder: Lorelee Gobetti

Creative Arts Therapist & Educator
BA (VArts), GradDipEd, GradDipCAT, MCAT, AThR
Taming the Tiger Studio – Where Creativity Supports Positive Change

I am a creative and compassionate Psychodynamic Creative Arts Therapist and Educator with over 20 years of experience in therapeutic arts practices and teaching. I work with people of all ages and life stages, offering a warm, grounded, and non-judgmental space for expression, reflection, and growth.

I have a Master’s degree in Creative Arts Therapy rooted in trauma-informed care and polyvagal neural science. My approach integrates Creative Arts Therapy (CAT) with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), counselling, and resilience training. I support individuals in reconnecting with their values, being teachable, developing psychological flexibility, and taking empowered steps forward, even when life feels overwhelming. I believe healing begins when we are truly seen and heard, when we learn to listen to our own bodies, and when we make ecologically meaningful connections between our internal and external realities.

My career has spanned art education, mental health, and hospital-based care. I have conducted formal research on an arts-based approach to First Nations cultural awareness training, with an emphasis on empowering First Nations people to deliver these programs. I have also facilitated a First Nations Outreach program. I’ve worked with diverse communities, including refugee families and people at risk, designing art-based programs that honour cultural safety, emotional expression, and nervous system regulation.

How CAT Helps

At Taming the Tiger Studio, sessions and workshops draw from:

  • Neuroscience and nervous system literacy
    Learn to recognise stress patterns, sensory responses, and what your body is communicating.

  • Polyvagal-informed practice
    Understand how to cultivate inner safety, soothe overwhelm, and strengthen connection.

  • Expressive arts processes
    Through movement, writing, art, music, sand tray, clay field and play, you’ll learn techniques that anchor, regulate, and restore.

  • Boundary and self-care practices
    Build resilience, reduce emotional fatigue, and strengthen the distinction between self and work, empathy and depletion.

Together, these approaches help you:

  • Reconnect with your creativity and body wisdom

  • Reduce burnout and emotional exhaustion

  • Move away from harmful coping patterns

  • Meet challenges with clarity, courage, and compassion

  • Experience greater calm in everyday life.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but power. They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, deep contrition, and unspeakable love.

Washington Irving (Writer)

Individual Sessions Creative Arts Therapy Sessions

Individual sessions offer a warm, supportive space where you can pause, reflect, and explore what’s happening in your inner world. With a calm, attentive presence, I listen deeply and support you to gently explore your thoughts, feelings, and body sensations—at your own pace and in your own way.

You may be invited to slow down, step out of everyday busyness, and connect more fully with yourself through mindfulness and creative processes. Art-making is used as a tool for reflection rather than performance or skill. By working with materials, images, and creative expression, new insights can emerge—often revealing understandings that are hard to reach through words alone.

Individual sessions can be helpful if you’re navigating anxiety, low mood, grief, heartbreak, stress, emotional overwhelm, life transitions, or questions around identity and meaning. They also support people who are neurodivergent, including autistic individuals and people with dyslexia, offering a flexible and respectful approach that honours different ways of thinking and experiencing the world.

You may also come simply because you feel drawn to personal growth, creativity, or exploring your life direction more deeply.

Through this work, many people experience greater self-understanding, increased self-compassion, emotional clarity, and a stronger sense of direction. Sessions can support you to make sense of challenging experiences, recognise patterns, express complex feelings, and reconnect with your inner wisdom.

At Taming the Tiger, you are offered a safe, compassionate space to explore what is alive in you—welcome just as you are.

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell the truth." Oscar Wilde

Session Length

Each session runs for 80 minutes and includes all art materials.

To get the most out of your experience, I recommend bringing a blank-page journal or sketchbook for creative notes, reflections, and any between-session activities. Choose any colour or size you like—make sure the paper is at least 150 GSM to handle a variety of art materials.

How to Make a Booking

Call Taming the Tiger on 0413 867 998 to get started and ask for Lorelee Gobetti.

We'll begin with a relaxed phone intake to get to know you, your goals and needs, and whether one-on-one or group Creative Arts Therapy is the right path for you.

After our chat, I'll send you a Welcome Pack with everything you need to feel prepared:
Payment details, what to expect when you walk through the studio door and a clear map showing exactly where to find the studio.

Payment Details

Sessions are prepaid to secure your booking.

If you're unable to attend, only $50 is retained; the remaining amount can be refunded or credited toward your next session.

Session fee: $178.00 (includes GST)

Directions & Parking

Once you have made your booking and paid, you will be sent a welcome pack with directions and parking information. It also includes an intake form to learn about your interests, goals and obstacles you are overcoming.

Confidentiality & Reporting

Your safety, privacy, and trust are deeply valued here. What you share in your sessions is treated with the utmost care and respect.

·        Confidentiality is a cornerstone of our work together. Everything discussed stays private unless there is a legal obligation (such as a court subpoena), or if there is serious concern that you or someone else may be at risk of harm. In such cases, I am ethically and legally required to act to keep everyone safe.

·        Secure Record Keeping: Your case notes are safely stored using secure cyber systems, and any physical records or creative portfolios are kept under lock and key with video surveillance when the studio is closed.

·        Photographs of Your Work: With your consent, photos of your artwork may be taken and shared directly to your phone. This helps build a living record of your creative journey, capturing insights and milestones you can reflect on over time.

·        For Clients Under 18: To support your child's growth and ensure alignment, parents or guardians are invited to a review meeting every six weeks (without the child present) to share feedback and reflect on progress.

Ready to reconnect with yourself through creativity and embodied insight? Let's co-create a space that honours your story.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

But what if I can’t draw?
You don’t need to be an artist to benefit from Creative Arts Therapy. The focus is on the process of making, not the outcome.

Will you interpret my art?
 No. I will ask reflective, open-ended questions to help you discover your own meaning.

What if I do it “wrong”?
There is no right or wrong way to make art, and no right or wrong way to respond to it.

What will I be doing?
Creative Arts Therapy may include visual art, drama, movement, clay, sound/percussion, expressive writing, textiles, poetry, and sculpture.

Do I have to use paint?
No. You choose the materials that feel comfortable for you.

What might a session include?
 • Drawing, painting, collage
 • Drama or role exploration, photography and film
 • Movement or body-based expression
 • Clay or 3D materials
 • Sound, percussion, music
 • Poetry or expressive writing
 • Textiles or sculpture

You will be invited—not required—to explore modalities that feel right for you.