Art Therapy 18+
8 classes
The term “art therapy” stands for any therapeutic use of the creative art-making process as part of the professional interaction between a therapist and a client.
The “therapeutic use” means that the chosen activity helps the client achieve awareness of his or her inner self – “What I feel”, “Why I react this way”, “What I want”, “Why I am (not) doing it”, “What scares me”, “What makes me happy”, “What I prefer”, and so on. The ability to understand and deal with inner emotional experiences facilitates self-expression, as individuals comprehend their preferences, become aware of their personal space and other individuals’ spaces, and learn to handle their psychophysical power rationally.
Due to certain cultural conventions (not just in Russia), our contacts with the inner reality (i.e., desires, feelings, etc.) are often clouded. Creative activities help us transcend the boundaries of standard reactions and behavioral patterns. Adequately selected artistic media will help you relax (no need to speak up or prove your point), realize what representation of yourself you normally project into the world, how comfortable you are, what qualities you have developed or overlooked, what possible outcomes the future may have for you, what exactly you should do to secure or avoid these outcomes, and so on.
All creative activities are healthy, but not all of them qualify as art therapy. Art therapy begins when the creative process and the art object provide the client with a basis for a conscious contact with oneself and the outer world. This can only be achieved effectively within a professionally moderated environment, thus the need for a specialist – art therapist.
Group or individual art therapy sessions are recommended for children and adults who are:
• Seeking personal, intellectual, and creative development
• Experiencing unresolved difficult situations
• Suffering from a disease or consequences of a psychological or physical trauma
• As working specialists, looking for a creative shift in focus to resolve structural professional issues
Art therapy groups 18+ focus on in-depth analysis of situations submitted by group members. The major goal is to identify and answer actual needs for creative self-expression and psychological support.
Most commonly adults need to:
• Achieve creative liberation
• Overcome difficulties in interpersonal communication (in a couple or family, at work, with people in general, etc.)
• Implement a change or changes
• Relieve everyday stress
• Resolve a conflict (in a couple or family, at work, etc.)
• End dependence/addiction (on/to a person, thoughts, activities, medications, etc.)
• Resolve a traumatic situation (too much happened, problems at work, broken heart, etc.)
Art therapy groups 18+ are confidential and small size, with no more than six participants in each. There are no set themes. Groups provide an environment for therapeutic treatment of actual states discussed by participants during the sessions. Participants may choose themes and artistic media.
The confidential format and adequate performance by an art therapist help create a secure space for intensifying contacts between group members and boosting the therapeutic effect of creative efforts.
Art therapy group can become a resource platform for expression of non-verbalizable inner processes and stressful situations, finding support, relief of tension, resolution of traumatic experiences, and rehearsal of alternative social behavior.
Tuesdays, 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm; February 18 through April 22, 2014
Class size: 6
Price: 15,000 rubles.
Course Instructor – Anna Shestakova
Professional Art Therapist Shestakova holds a master’s degree in Clinical Art Therapy from Long Island University in New York. She is also a member of the American Art Therapy Association. Previously, she has worked with the ‘Perekryostok’ (‘Crossroads’) Center of Assistance and Adaptation of Teenagers, ART magazine and the Department of Education at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. She has also worked in a freelance capacity as a clinical Art Therapist for charitable organizations worldwide.
For more information, please call +7 (968) 731-16-88 or contact Evgenia Mikhina: em@garagemca.org. Tickets are available at the ticket desk of Garage Exhibition Pavilion in Gorky Park or at Garage website: garagemca.org.
