Clara’s Blog – Her Internship Experience at Yellow Door

We are always excited to discover inspiring stories involving young individuals!

This blog post is from Clara, a Jack Petchey Foundation Intern in our current cohort who recently did an art therapy course as part of her bursary from the internship programme!

About Me

Hi! I’m Clara (the one on the left 🙂), a Jack Petchey Foundation Intern and youth worker at Yellow Door, a youth charity based on Canvey Island. I have loved my experience with the Jack Petchey Foundation and feel I have learned so much from the workshops and the other interns.

Yellow Door

Yellow Door has been running on Canvey Island for over 30 years, previously named The Canvey Island Youth Project. People in the community would always point out its building as “the one with the yellow door”, and the name stuck. I personally see it as a little ray of sunshine. Yellow Door is dedicated to supporting young people in the local community, giving them a place to be themselves, make connections, and learn and grow.

With youth clubs, social skills groups, mentoring and counselling, I feel Yellow Door is an absolute asset to the community, with a dedicated team behind it that I’m proud to call my colleagues. My main focus and passion is art and how it can support young people and their growth. I take on the role of Creative Arts Youth Worker at our hub, organising art projects and activities for all of our clubs and groups.

I absolutely love it and get so excited seeing young people connect with their creative sides in all sorts of ways. I also run an Art Mentoring group with my colleague, offering mentoring alongside creating art. Arts for health is something I feel a lot of people overlook, but I see every day how creating art can significantly improve the wellbeing of young people.

My Training Experience

As someone always looking to broaden my understanding of arts for health and art in a therapeutic setting, I used my Jack Petchey Bursary to access an exciting course from the British Association of Art Therapists. This Introduction to Art Therapy course ran online full-time for one week. During this week, I learned about the diverse uses for art therapy while also developing my own creative practice.

Day 1 Highlights

On day 1, we were asked to make a self-portrait, which we would revisit at the end of the week. My simple pencil self-portrait looked a little anxious!

A pencil sketch of a human head and upper shoulders, drawn on white paper. The sketch shows the outline of the head with medium-length hair falling to the sides, visible ears, and a neck with some shading to indicate contours. The shoulders are lightly sketched, and there are faint construction lines around the head.

Clara’s self portrait on day one

Day 2 Highlights

On day 2, we explored how art therapy is used in prisons and saw some beautiful stop-motion animations made by people in prison, highlighting their complex and often heartbreaking experiences.

Day 3 Highlights

A highlight for me was exploring art therapy in the context of neurodiversity, as this feels particularly relevant in my field. Art therapy has been seen to have a profound positive impact on neurodiverse young people. The art-based learning exercise focused on sensory experiences created by different mediums. I used my finger to paint and focused on the cold wet paint and the rough, dry paper.

An abstract painting on white paper featuring various colorful shapes and strokes. On the left side, there are two vertical brushstrokes in blue and green. To the right, there are multiple green circular spots arranged in a loose vertical pattern. Further right, there are several large yellow circles, also aligned vertically. At the bottom left, there are small yellow and green blotches clustered together. The overall composition appears playful and experimental, using bright colors and simple shapes.

Clara’s sensory artwork

Day 4 Highlights

We talked about maintaining creativity as an Art Therapist, and we were asked to make artwork with media we were unfamiliar with. We had only five minutes to complete something, which took away the pressure to create something “perfect”. I ended up really liking the result and it’s an exercise I would love to try with young people at our youth clubs.

A colorful mixed-media artwork featuring a stylized deer head outlined in white against a pale blue background with leaf patterns. Surrounding the deer are torn pieces of textured paper in vibrant shades of purple, pink, and blue, arranged in an abstract composition. The overall design has a layered, collage-like appearance with contrasting colors and organic shapes.

Clara’s 5 minute collage

Day 5 Highlights

On day 5, we were asked to create another self-portrait. This time, what I created felt bright, full of colour and energy. I think it represented how I felt—full of new knowledge and excitement for what was to come.

A colorful drawing on white paper depicting a person with orange hair wearing large black headphones. The figure has freckles and is dressed in a striped top with shades of brown and yellow. The background is plain, and the drawing uses bold, textured strokes with a mix of orange, yellow, and brown tones for the hair and clothing.

Clara’s self-portrait on day five

The Future To Come

In the future, I would love to continue my journey to becoming an Art Therapist. Until I gain a master’s level qualification in Art Psychotherapy, I won’t be able to practice professionally, but I can use skills from the course in my mentoring work and youth groups to promote positive mental health and increase creative confidence in young people.

I wouldn’t have been able to access this course without the help of the Jack Petchey Foundation and their support. The course has reignited my passion and given me the confidence to try to apply for the master’s after my internship. Ideally, I would love to do the course part-time while still working with Yellow Door, as I think it is an incredible charity that is so vital for young people in my local areas.

As for now with my work at Yellow Door, we are in the process of setting up an art exhibition called My Passion, Myself. It will showcase a collection of artwork by young people from the community and those who have engaged with Yellow Door services. I have been thrilled to work on this project, encouraging young people to take pride in their creativity and submit their pieces for the community to see. The exhibition is opening next weekend, which I’m sure will be a great success!

Our internship programme for 2026 is live now! Check out the roles here