David Cunningham

David Cunningham is a registered Art Psychotherapist and Somatic Experience practitioner, a background that has allowed him to develop a range of person-centred, creative and trauma-in- formed approaches. For over twelve years, David has been working with family members of all ages, who have been struggling to cope with high levels of anxiety, depression, rage or over- whelm.

Working with adults he offers them a safe space to know how their experience of trauma has been held in their body and an awareness of the choices and tools they have at their disposal to live a fuller life.

David’s creative work with children and young people uses age-appropriate sensory play, games and movement along with art-making to unlock and renegotiate trauma.
When we feel overwhelmed we often don’t have access to the words to express how we think and feel. That’s why our Nervous System can find welcome ease in using creative and non-verbal ways to connect to ourselves and the people around us.

After graduating with a Fine Arts Degree from Glasgow Strathclyde University, David wanted to develop ways to create with people, which led to working as an Arts Facilitator over in the Health and Early Years Educational sector in Northern Ireland.

Noticing the healing power of creativity led him to graduate with a Masters of Science in Arts Psy- chotherapy from Queen’s University, Belfast, in 2009. Since then, he has been a full-time Art Psy- chotherapist, working in the community sector and private practice with such diverse groups as bereaved families in Corrymeela or teenagers and adults with developmental trauma in Belfast.

His passion to understand how the body’s Nervous System heals and renegotiates trauma led him to complete a Post-Diploma in Somatic Experiencing from the Trauma Institute of California in 2017. To date, David continues to be a primary assistant on the Somatic Experience training Post- Diploma Course.
Ultimately, his extensive experience and ongoing training are rooted in his ability to remain curious about each person he works with and in their innate capacity to heal.

David has shared his passion for art with many varied groups. For twenty years he worked as a Community Artist, learning so much from his long term art-residencies with both Shaftesbury Nursery school in the Shankill, Belfast and with Arts Care in the SHSCT.

David is married to an Argentine and has one son of primary school age. Together as a family they have travelled extensively and on one occasion developed a creative community arts project en- titled, ’Draw Me In!’, working in Sydney and in Adelaide Australia and Kerala in India, and on their return, they worked with two Nursery schools in the Falls and Shankill.

'Draw Me In!' with 'Connections' Art Group 2012
David is a traditional singer and is enjoying learning Irish with ‘Turas’ in the Skainos centre, East Belfast.