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ARTON PROGRAM - The therapeutic power of the group
Creative projects involving group work - general musical performance or group painting, collage, sculpture - are useful in helping to explore and strengthen social...
ARTON PROGRAM - Three-dimensional works in art therapy
In the sessions of the ARTON Program, the creation of sculptural compositions from different materials - quick-drying clay, plasticine, model - allows children to see things in three dimensions. Observing a structure from all sides - front, back, side, top, bottom - encourages patients to expand their way of looking at life - to see a situation from many different angles, points of view. Such activity focuses on abstract thinking, this allows everyone to explore their experiences from a different perspective. Thus one learns that life has gray areas, that not everything is only black or only white. Coagulation enables a person to model, shape, construct and process their environment, an experience extremely valuable for patients.
By itself, working with clay allows children to get dirty and thus through joy to express themselves freely. The tactile sensations provoked by the material release the sensuality, unblock the traumas experienced through the body. Feelings get opportunities for different manifestation. Children can crush, hit, squeeze, smooth, tap, process the clay and thus bring out some of their anxiety, anger or excitement. At the same time, they experience themselves as masters of clay, they can cultivate it at will and control it. Working with clay allows the child the opportunity to learn and work with the three-dimensional, to see things not only from one perspective. The use of clay allows to model behaviors, attitudes and self-images. Participants in these art sessions here also gain insights and develop new methods for dealing with difficulties and problem solving.
Painting, using paints and making sculptures helps patients relax, making them more focused and present. The creative process can be cathartic because energy is used in a constructive way and stress is released. The creative child no longer thinks only about his worries and problems, he focuses on the very process of creation. The creative product created, as well as the insights from group sharing, always help to deal with anxiety and fear.
The reality of the alternative experience of the world, in which we enter and exit throughout the art session, is also perceptible here through the creative work finally obtained and through its completion as an "object". In its perceptible presence, it offers many options that help children distinguish between different realities. The differences between concrete material art materials, space, group and the usual experience of the world are concrete and definite in a sensory-motor way, which provokes children and moves them forward towards their own healing.
The guiding principle, which in these sessions works in full force - "Less is more" - reminds us that usually the limitations (situational, physical) in the field of play and creativity can lead to many more discoveries for the patient, and the instructions the therapist is further helped by giving sensory directions for examination.
