Creative Arts Therapy as a means to Rebuild

“When there is peace, you can see it on the faces and in the eyes of children." A.K., a middle-aged man from Iraq, shared this quote about his drawing of children playing around trees.  A.K. noted during his sharing time that the music playing in the background, eased his nerves as he drew.  Read about A.K. here.

Oliver, a man in his young thirties, drew stick figures at an airport about to board a plane to a new land. In describing his image, he discussed his journey of leaving behind his home country and going to new country where he is currently unfamiliar with the language, people and the culture. Overwhelmed by these challenges, he shared with the group that he often thought “maybe I should go back home".  With encouragement from the group and much reflection through his artwork, he felt by the end that the group would be a good place to network and share his story as a survivor of torture.  

As part of BuildaBridge's efforts with the Philadelphia Partnership for Resilience, creative arts therapists and teaching artists provide art therapy and therapeutic art making groups in the community context for survivors of torture.  The stories of A.K. and Oliver signify the positive outcomes art can have in facilitating hope, healing and resiliency.  BuildaBridge uses creative arts therapy and the therapeutic arts because they are some of the most effective strategies for alleviating symptoms of trauma, abuse and stress through its effects on physiological, brain and hormonal activity. 

In honor of Creative Arts Therapy Week (#CATW2015), we share these stories of the transformative power of the arts through our work with survivors of torture, just one of many different vulnerable populations the organization serves through the arts.

Additionally, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) affirms strategies like the ones BuildaBridge uses.  They note the use of Creative Arts Therapy with survivors of torture by describing Lembe's story.  "Lembe, a torture survivor, wrote her name on a colourful cloth. As part of her rehabilitation therapy, Lembe worked passionately on it, designing a fish, a bird and adding the names of other survivors. “Designing on the cloth helped my creativity,” she said “it allowed me to mentally relax, to learn how to express myself and to forget my daily hardships.”  Read Lembe's story and the UNHCR's article here on art therapy.

What's in a name?

S. wakes up every Sunday saying that it's the day for her art class. She looks forward to attending because her teacher knows her name and calls on her by name to lead dance movements.  S. had perfect attendance during the Fall of 2014 because BuildaBridge's art class made her feel important and valued.  

Julia Crawford, lead therapeutic movement instructor, greeting a child at the threshold

S. is one of 51.2 million displaced persons in the world today.  According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this is the highest number since World World II and equivalent to the 26th largest nation on earth.

To S., the fact that her teacher knows her name is a huge reason why she attends BuildaBridge's art class.  Artists, teachers and creative arts therapists are trained in BuildaBridge's Classroom Model, a trauma-informed, hope-infused, child/client-centered approach that facilitates hope, healing and resiliency among populations experiencing crisis and poverty.  A large component of the trauma-informed method is affirmation of the individual, the culture from where they came and recognition of their abilities towards a hopeful future.  Artists learn each child's name as part of this affirmation process and call the child by name when welcoming them across the threshold, throughout the course of the class and when the child is leaving.   Learning one's name is the first step towards affirmation of the individual, becoming aware of their situation and taking action to make a difference.

BuildaBridge has taken that first step and gone beyond in providing programming as part of its Refugee Project serving 300 refugees, immigrants and survivors of torture  since 2011.

Imagine if we learned the names of all 51.2 million displaced persons in the world - we would be one step closer towards a brighter future for everyone.

To learn more about the conflicts that have caused displacement and how many have been displaced, check out the United Nations' The Refugee Project - an interactive map of refugee migrations around the world in each year since 1975. United Nations data is complemented by original histories of the major refugee crises of the last four decades, situated in their individual contexts.