Program for the Nordic Art Therapy Conference 2020,Compassion and Inclusion in Art Therapy.

OVERVIEW OF THE 4 DAY SCHEDULE* - press on the link below                Final schedule.doc 

(we reserve the right to make some schedule changes if the need arises) 

All participants are permitted to reserve a place at three workshops and/or workshop with lectures. There is no need for reservations

regarding lectures for there is no limit on the number of participants. 

 Link to biographies of all the presenters: biographies for internet FINAL.docx   ___________________Thursday 11th of June___________________

15.00-17.30 Arrival, check-in and registration.19.00- 20.30 Welcome to Sigtuna!

Performance: FANCY EXPRESSIONSilvia Wieser, artist, art therapist, voice therapist,Elisabeth Engström Franzén, psychologist, art therapist.Sweden20.30 mingle

Friday 12th of June

7.30-8.30 breakfast8.30-9.00 registration

9.00-9.30 opening ceremony 

Friday morning 9.30-10.30

Key Note speaker Christine Kerr, USA*- all attendSocial Action and the ARTS -inclusion of global diversity and the role of creativity.There is a growing understanding of the therapeutic power of the arts when practiced within an ethnocultural and empathetic context. The New Free dictionary (2016), defines “Ethnocultural empathy as an understanding of feelings of individuals that are

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ethnically and/or culturally different from one’s self.” Ridley and Lingle (1996) state that cultural empathy and ethnocultural empathy “involves a deepening of the human empathic response to permit a sense of mutuality and understanding across the great differences in value and expectation that cross-cultural interchange often involves” (p. 22). When an art therapist is able to be more open to new cultures- this awareness provides the structural framework to work successfully with clients within their own homeland with diverse ethnic backgrounds different from one’s own (Kerr, 2016). The Long Island University’s (LIU) ten-day social action art therapy initiative (2012,2013,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019) is an exceptional opportunity to explore the role of art therapy as a cross-cultural intervention tool. Graduate level art therapists and faculty have traveled to Russia, Nicaragua, Korea, Israel and Trinidad-Tobago. By working within this multi-cultural framework, these art therapy projects help to foster the awareness of social advocacy and ethnocultural and empathetic awareness for the students, faculty and native participants. In this paper presentation, videos of these diverse experiences will be shown on screen. The presenter will give an academic background of the role of art therapy within social advocacy. A segment of the presentation will allow for questions and answers. The attendees to this presentation will receive a recent publication on this topic (Kerr 2017).

- Christine Kerr, Ph.D., A.T.R.-BC, LCAT, USA.

10.30-11.00 coffee and fruit break 

Friday morning 11.00-13.00: Parallel workshops combined with lecture, 2 hours

W/L #1: Friday morning 11.00-13.00:(Max 20) Inclusion versus exclusion of groups in the society and the world. What happens to the subjective sense of inclusion when the society suppresses a group’s history and thus denies it to be part of the collective memory? When the lived experience is obscured and the suffering is met by dismissal instead of compassion?Which group do we acknowledge, which group is forgotten? What lived experiences are made visible, which remains invisible? How does the exclusion affect the individual, her self-esteem and identity? How is the sense of belonging affected when the society suppress a group ́s history and excludes it from the common memory? The Soviet Prisoners of War, second largest group of Nazi victims, belong to a group that is not officially recognized, neither in Sweden nor Europe. In May 2015, Germany apologizes for the Nazis brutal treatment of the 5,5 million Soviet Prisoners of War, whereof 3,3 million died in captivity. 4.000 Soviet refugees came to Sweden from occupied Norway. 900 were secretly deported in October 1944. Press coverage and photography were prohibited. Two days after the deportation articles were published. In his study from 1992 about the Swedish policy towards the Soviet refugees, Anders Berge, severely criticize the repatriation. According to psychotherapist Judith Beerman Zeligson, the deepest silence cannot be broken individually or in the family; it has to be broken and carried collectively. When lived experiences are rejected and suffering is met by dismissal instead of

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compassion, feelings of uncertainty and doubt may arise. What is true or false, real or fancied? Based on a personal image suite inspired by my father ́s experiences as a prisoner of war in Nazi camps, refugee camps in Sweden, threats of deportation during and after the second world war, and the silence that followed, I pose the following questions: what happens to the group itself, the generations that follow, and the society it lives in, when a group ́s history of suffering is made invisible? The workshop is based on personal memories of a refugee, conversations with researchers, military personnel, civilians in Norway and Sweden, the exhibition Grossraum, documentaries, literature, other media, and made visible through my personal images. The workshop will be held in Swedish and English.

- Nadja Gruberg - UniKrea - Studio for Expressive Arts Therapy, Sweden*. 

W/L #2: Friday morning 11.00-13.00:(MAX 12)THE FACETo perceive and to shape. Your face. My face. Searching beyond the portrait.             To explore in color, form and history. This involves the eye of the beholder.In the Fayumportraits, (The earliest painted portraits that have been found from around 100 B.C.) - we meet a strong presence and a gaze that catches us.We are being looked at from another time.The gaze also mirrors the relationship between the one who is seen and the one who paints.What is there in the meeting? With what gaze do we meet ourselvesand others? In what way does it hold our feelings of compassion and trust?This workshop is about the mutual relationship and the question:What is a face? Is the face also the body and a place? Or a memory?We search for the face beyond the portrait.This is what we want to study artistically with a limited material: paper, charcoal, crayons and color.

-  KUB - Kerstin Johansson, Ulla Blohm and Birgitta Hallqvist, Sweden*.

Friday morning: Parallel workshop 1.5 hours 

W# 1: Friday 11.00-12.30(MAX 40) Tear and share: collage as collaboration.Collage is by nature collaborative, using as it does as a starting point someone else’s work, typically an image torn from a magazine, a book or old postcard. The artist or artists participate to reassemble the broken pieces into a new whole. This workshop will invite participants to take part in a large facilitated collaborative collage. Perhaps there is a metaphor here to apply as art therapists. The act of cutting mirrors the lines that sever communities and whole nations. Perhaps the bringing together and sticking parallel the mending of past traumas when those same communities come together in the spirit of compassion and inclusion. Perhaps the whole process of collaborative collage becoming an enactment of healing.

- Anila Babla, Art Psychotherapist, qualified Goldsmiths University, London. Currently working ad hoc in the NHS (National Health Service), UK. *

Friday morning: Lectures

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 L# 1: Friday 11.00-11.45 Compassion and body memory: How cultural identity influences the insight and the therapeutic space in art therapy.The understanding of boundaries and dealing with them in social interactions are embedded culturally different in the society. What would happen if two or more worlds came together in the therapeutic space? What would happen if the verbal communication reaches its limits?The present research explores the movement and boundary phenomena in psychopathology. It is interested in body movement in conjunction with the creative act in art therapy and takes the external real movements in space as well as the internal, which are the result of imagination or dissociation, into consideration. To emphasize body expression as important in therapy, we should first recognize that language and images are not the only channels of communication in art therapy. Thus, movement appears as an additional level of communication between therapist and patient. Since movement has many facets, cultural background plays by no means the least important role in the encounter. Cultural differences are significant for communication in psychotherapy, with the result that the therapeutic relationship can be impacted in different ways. Otherness and identity are social factors, which are important not only in a therapeutic setting with refugees, even if the therapist herself works in a foreign environment. The Emigration as a phenomenon poses further challenges in social interaction, as well as in the therapist’s ability to understand and appreciate others.Keywords: Art Therapy, Dance and Movement Therapy, Body Memory, Movement, Localization, Boundary, Cultural Identity.

- Avgustina Stanoeva, Bulgaria, Germany*.

 L # 2: Friday 12.00-12.45 Communicating without Words – The Art Therapy Process of a Child with Selective Mutism within the Frames of Therapeutic Possibilities at a State Primary School in Budapest.An almost seven-year-old girl starts school with heavy burdens: she has just lost her mother due to a long illness and she has never spoken to other children in her life except her sister, being a selective mutist since she was about two years old. She has a bilingual family: she is fluent in English and Hungarian as well – if and when she speaks. In social situations – at the playground, in the kindergarten, at birthday parties and at the primary school in her class – she never says a word. Children with selective mutism are fully capable of speech and understanding language but are physically unable to speak in certain situations, though they are able to communicate in settings where they are comfortable, secure and relaxed. This anxiety disorder of-ten co-exists with shyness and social anxiety.Is it possible to integrate her in her class? Would the teachers be patient enough to tolerate somebody who is so different and needs extra time, patience and energy? Are there any tools the school can use to help and develop her in this state? My presentation is going to show the five-year process in art therapy at the school which finally – together with all the teachers’ help and effort – led to the improvement and healing: at the age of 11 the girl started to speak in front of her classmates, teachers and peers.

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How she was able to cope with grief and loss, how her social anxiety disorder disappeared, how her classmates learnt to accept the situation and provide help when needed, why and how art therapy was able to help her to find the words – the presentation shows it through her wonderful pieces of art.

- Zsuzsanna Várnai, Art Therapist, Hungary. *

Lunch 12.30-14.00  Friday afternoon 14.00-14.45

Plenary presentation, Astri Ziesler Norway- all attend“To see and be seen” What elements in art therapy create the golden moments of compassion and inclusion?A cancer patient in an art therapy group commented on her drawingof a flower: “This is a beautiful orchid that needs extra care and nurture. Patients must be treated in the same caring way as preciousflowers. It is all about dignity.” In my mind, dignity has much to do withcompassion and inclusion. Therefore, inspired by this quote, I will startmy paper by trying to define the words compassion and inclusion froman art therapy viewpoint. What is the actual meaning of these words for me as a therapist, orfor those I work with? What are the advantages or possible challenges?concerning these words in our daily work as art therapists? What kind of tools or interventions do we apply to obtain compassion and inclusion in the therapeutic relationship? To further explore these issues, I will look back upon several years ofexperience both as an art therapist mainly working with cancerpatients, and as a coordinator and lecturer for art therapy students at Oslo Metropolitan University. I will present a selection of cases and images which I hope will mirror some sort of compassion or inclusion.In my search for suitable examples, I have looked particularly for whatI call “golden moments” in the therapy room as well as in the classroom. Simultaneously I will dive into relevant literature and be curious to see if others share my thoughts of the meaning of compassion and inclusion in the creative arts therapies.

- Astri Ziesler, Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), Norway

14.45-15.30 coffee and fruit break- Poster viewing  

Friday afternoon parallel workshop/lectures 2hrs 15.30- 17.30 W/L # 3: Friday 15.30-17.30 (MAX 20) “Inhabiting transformation” – How my surroundings form and transform me.This combined lecture and workshop is inspired by the Australian art therapist and interior architect Dianne Smith, who presented a paper on the Ecarte Conference in

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Krakow in 2017. She talked about how “the environments we occupy from a time in the womb, through childhood and to the creation of our own places are integral dimensions of our evolving lives. Place making can be understood as meaning making, - an expression of understandings of self or one’s place in the world.”In our lecture we will give examples of how different environments and surroundings can be of symbolic and cultural importance to us and to others. We will refer to images made during art therapy practice; and to a Japanese painter who focuses in his artwork on moving from his homeland and settling down in another culture. We will also mention how art and creativity was applied in planning a new library in a neighborhood in Oslo where there is a large immigrant population.On a more personal level we will share thoughts about how much importance - or pressure - there is on the surroundings and the context others see us. What do my surroundings tell others about who I am? What aspects of myself do I show the world? Do I dare to show and be my true self? Or who I want to be?In the workshop we will explore how to create our own places, working individually using different 3-dimentional art materials. There will be time for sharing in small groups, and hopefully at the end we will have a plenary discussion about how we can literally have room and places for compassion and inclusion.

- Astri Ziesler and Kristin Svendsen, Oslo Metropolitan University (Oslo Met), Norway*.

14.45-15.30 coffee and fruit break- Poster viewing  

W/L # 4: Friday 15.30-17.30(MAX 35) Shaping Consciousness.Feelings, thoughts, and other mental phenomenon can be seen as shapes or structures in our consciousness. If we want to communicate or make changes feelings or thoughts needs an expressed shape or form. The formless cannot live.Often, we express our inner mental life in language and concepts, but this have a tendency of restricting our thinking to what we know beforehand and creating distance to our feelings. Therefore, we need a widening of shaping. Especially if we want change or want to open our perspective to new ideas, language itself can be nearly like a prison for our consciousness. But also, in times of crises and big insecurity conceptual language will be inadequate. In these cases, it can provide a creative opening to shape a material and use our body and senses to create an aesthetic satisfying form. In this shaping something new will arrive, and it is not only a shaping of our self or our thoughts and feelings, but rather a shaping that bring into being new creatures and things, which often can teach us something and enrich our living. The dialogue with the artistic form shapes our consciousness.In the workshop participants will engage in creating artistic form as a way to shed light on the individual’s personal questions. We will use at least two different artistic modalities which will help us to let go of previous thoughts about the chosen issue and to sharpen the expressions.  Beside the experiential workshop I will present ideas to “hold” the experience. We will touch the concept of the preverbal self, the necessity of beauty and we will also discuss how artistic shaping of consciousness can be used in clinical practice with examples from own practice.

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- Hanne Stubbe Teglbjærg, Psychiatrist Ph.D. and expressive art therapist CACS, Aarhus Denmark. *

 

W/L#5: Friday 15.30-17.30(MAX 12) Stepping into their shoes...Into mine.Just keep going. There is no time for wondering, for questioning, for going deeper into things. Silence, calm, listening is expected just when they are tightly necessary. But then, if we allow ourself to stop, to breath... Our paths crossed; our eyes met. We feel safe enough to reveal ourselves. Discovering our diversity, our uniqueness. Accepting our differences. We recognize ourselves in the eyes of the Others, we are entire worlds: of knowledge, of roles, of narratives and beauty.  We are a group of people with different stories, thoughts, needs and dreams. We could find out what link us and what set us apart. Diversity enriches us, making a group unique in its singularity. We are able to create a place of freedom, of pure beauty, of poetry. Where there is no need to judge or being judged. A safe place. Where we allow ourselves to live by compassion, empathy, care and inclusion. During the workshop I will invite the participants to walk together into a creative route, in which we can enrich each other through the relation, using our imagination, our abilities to create together, playing and discovering new nuances of our person. I will propose techniques based on dramatherapy. This creative art therapy promotes positive mood, insight, empathy, and facilitates healthy relationships.“Acceptance makes an incredible fertile soil for the seeds of change.” (Steve Maraboli).

- Anna Malavolta, trainee drama therapist, Italy*.

Friday afternoon lectures 

L# 3: Friday 15.30-16.15 Ethics of inclusion in Arts Therapies.“Do not do to somebody else what you would not like to be done to yourself” We are facing nowadays important and difficult issues on moral values, ethics, tolerance, acceptance, inclusion. New findings might help deeper understanding of the unacceptable.Recent scientific underpinnings of the human individual and social behavior are based on the analysis of the interactions between psychic attitudes such as empathy and the biological findings on the neurons’ mirroring, on the complexity of children’s development from imitation to individuation, etc. But the plurality of cultural / moral codes of regulation in social life mostly divides and excludes instead of being accepted as an offer for a rich palette of simultaneous possibilities.Our challenge is to become oneself without alienating the other – which is another oneself – nor alienating ourselves from the internal multitude of our own “myselves’ system”! How could we enlarge the way to deeper compassion and more effective inclusion? Maybe we could develop an updated philosophy of life based on the idea of the uniqueness of a fundamental principle of Ethics, which would be intrinsically inclusive because based on the notion of respect for the living other: vegetal / animal / human - as well as the mineral/cosmic environment with its impact on the living.

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Never the less, how can we deal with the intrinsic nature of primary violence and acting out in order to foster empathy and ethics? Arts therapies offer a powerful help and some examples of my own practice will show visual and sensible illustration of efficiency with non-directive/inclusive methods and attitudes. 

- Irina Katz-Mazilu, Artist/Art Therapist, France*.

L# 4: Friday 16.30-17.15 Imagined Creatures - Adolescent group technique to integrate group members and raise self-worth and self-compassion.In my presentation I would like to give an overview of group therapy method called imagined creatures (IC). In IC, which is used mostly with adolescents and children, client is asked to form a creature by following range of criteria. Then, the group works with the imagined creatures. IC aims to help young people with inclusion and acceptance in a peer group. This projective exercise was designed to help expressing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and transforming them to useful and acceptable values of the self.The theoretical background of the technique is multidisciplinary: includes mythology, contemporary media, research on emotional flexibility, symbol-therapy, and Jungian analytic theory. Most of the time mythology stories describe abilities and the narrative context about how to become a beast. Nowadays media uses the same concept regarding the birth and suffer of beast. It refers to the collective experience and emerging view of the disturbed human nature and a moral change of evil towards injured, traumatized individuals. Adolescents are highly sensitive to such interpretations (see success and popularity of Vampire Diaries, Fantastic Beasts, and Superheroes) and therefore easily get involved.Getting familiar the nature, needs and suffer of an imagined creature supports the integration of the client’s experience of his or her own story, reactions and emotions and through these increases self-compassion. Scientific study shows that self-compassion is a building block emotional flexibility and resilience.IC is a form of creating a symbol and therefore way to canalize tension rather than bearing symptom of it. Symbolizing also requires playfulness and the capacity to experience a transitional space where all play, fantasy may occur (Jung, Winnicott, Neumann). In group therapy the members are the creators of the transitional space and also the ones experiencing the possibility to let inner images born to this accepted and open space. 

- Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, clinical psychologist, art therapist, symbol-therapist, Hungary*.

17.30-18.00 Poster viewing

18.15-19.15 guided tour of Sigtuna.19.30- 21.00 dinnerAfter dinner mingle

  Saturday 13th of June

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Saturday morning 8.45-9.15 Movement and dance with Eva Tillberg, Sweden* Welcome to start the conference day by getting in touch with your body, mind - and each other. Movement and dance for everyone to enjoy!

Saturday morning 9.30-10.30 Key note speaker: Jonathan Isserow, UK* -all attendTracing the indexical image at the intersection of art psychotherapy and documentary film.This presentation aims to push forward art therapy theory through the inclusion of seemingly disparate fields of study. It does this by interrogating the indexical image at the intersection of art psychotherapy and documentary film. At first glance the two domains seem incompatible with radically different aims and outcomes. Historically, documentary film is associated with images of the social, objective and external world. In sharp contrast, images produced within art psychotherapy are concerned with the subjective and the internal. However, bringing these disparate disciplines together may be surprisingly productive. To begin to explore this relationship, this paper draws on Pierce’s notion of the index (1958) as a bridging concept to both disciplines. Index as trace in documentary film and in art psychotherapy is first delineated. Following this, the paper asserts that the visual production of subjectivity in art psychotherapy can also be understood as a form of documenting interiority and documenting the self. Rather than working up any definitive conclusion, this presentation opens up questions and challenges assumptions regarding the constructed and partial nature of all visual truth claims. In doing so, it aims to innovatively advance art psychotherapeutic theory and develop a more compassionate and inclusive epistemological base.

- Jonathan Isserow, Educator, psychotherapist, documentary filmmaker, researcher.

Saturday before lunch, 11.00-11.45

Plenary presentation: Mimmu Rankanen, Finland * -all attendInclusion of compassionate perspectives into art therapy.Paul Gilbert (2014), developer of the compassion focused therapy has proposed four evolutionary categories of social motives that effect also our art therapy practices: 1. Motivation to dominate and compete, 2. Motivation to share, belong and co-operate, 3. Motivation to nurture and take care, and 4. Motivation to seek and receive care and help. Each of these motivations are needed at some situations or environments but depending of a person and culture, some of them are more scaring and maybe not accepted on personal or social level. Competing motivation can elicit positions of being inferior-superior, more-less powerful, harmful/benevolent in relation to others, which can easily cause feelings of being ashamed, abused and marginalized. Cooperative motivation evokes appreciating and valuing attitudes towards self and others but if reciprocity is missing, we can feel cheated, unappreciated, rejected or shamed. Care taking motivation can

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create experiences of protection, safeness, reassurance, stimulation and guidance, but there is risk of becoming overwhelmed, unable to provide care, guilty or overtly focused on threats. Care receiving motivation allows us to accept nurturance, protection, safeness, reassurance and guidance but includes a risk of encountering unavailable, withdrawn, withholding, exploitative, threatening or harmful attitudes or actions that make us vulnerable.Our implicit affects and emotions are thus always connected with social situations and live between ourselves and other persons even if we would consciously not recognize or accept the existence of certain motivations. Based on these motivations, Gilbert (2014) also suggests there are three types of evolutionary functions of emotions: 1. Activation of protective strategies, 2. Activation of seeking resources and rewards, and 3. Calming recognition of security.How do we acknowledge and work compassionately with these motivations and emotions within our art therapy practices? Within ourselves as art therapists, within client’s internal world and life situation, and within the relational field between art, client and therapist?

- Mimmu Rankanen, Professor of Art Therapy at OsloMET University, NorwayArt Therapist, psychotherapist at private practice in FinlandScientific head of group art therapy program at Eino Roiha Institute, Finland

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10.30-11.00 coffee and fruit break

 

Saturday before lunch, parallel workshops 1.5 hrs. W# 2: Saturday 12.00- 13.30 (MAX 20) When Words are not Enough.In the workshop ”When words are not enough” participants will be invited to create black and white collages (silhouettes) in a three-step process inspired by Ehrenzweig´s ”Triple rhythm of projection, dedifferentiation and re-introjection” (1971), followed by an investigation of how colour and the relational perspective influence the art making process (Lyons-Ruth, K., 1998, Shore, A., 2011).The workshop is inspired by experiences of conducting a small study where I used collage making (Hass-Cohen, N. & Carr, R., 2008, Butler-Kisber and Poldma, 2010) as a an Art-based-Inquiry (McNiff, 2011, Eaves, 2014) as means to collect data about informant’s non-verbal memories of an episode from the interplay within a therapeutic relationship followed by Verbal Inquiry. Another source of inspiration is Art Therapy with patients who suffer from fatigue symptoms, working with series of collages (Vance, R. & Wahlin, K., 2008, s.168) in a, from an Art Therapy perspective, limited setting concerning space and time due to the short number of therapy sessions available in psychotherapy financed by employers.The findings in both examples show how Art-Inquiry in different settings could bring out and give form to painful and/or traumatic experiences and at almost the very same moment, as the pain is seen and felt, offers opportunities to perceive the painful memory from a variety of perspectives that seem to smoothen the gaze of the

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participant and helps him or her to ”see everything in a fresh way” (Winnicott,1971) A feeling of playfulness, compassion and inclusion often follows.

- Jenny Butler, Cert. Art Therapist, Psychotherapist, Social worker and painterMA of Social Science in Social Work, Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapy, Sweden*. 

W# 3: Saturday 12.00- 13.30 (MAX 40) Doing it together- moving from exclusion to inclusion.Drawing and painting together with clients both individually and in groups can be used as an effective and change promoting tool for implicit, corporal communication. Jane Hawes in her work with both groups and individuals has found how potent relational or “joint” creation can be a method for creating A) a safe place to open up and discover different levels of “self” B) an interactive stage that can promote spontaneous, positive role modelling and build a strong therapeutic alliance and finally C) to create a feeling of inclusion, hence lightening the ever present, overwhelming weight of human isolation.After a short verbal presentation of what Jane has found to be the effective elements involved in joint creation. Jane will present some case scenarios resulting from her work with individuals and groups with eating disabilities, autism, psychosis and cognitive disabilities.After the presentation Jane will lead the group in some relaxing, playful and interactive exercises that promote joy, inclusion and human connection. 

- Jane Hawes, Relational Art Psychotherapist, Sweden/USA*. 

W# 4: Saturday 12.00- 13.30 (MAX 24) Slaughtering the horse, feeding the ravens: Mythic images of compassion and inclusion.In this workshop, we will engage with images in mythic stories that we can regard as symbolic presentations of compassion and inclusion. In myths and fairy tales, the hero or heroine will often come upon an excluded and troubled figure - a hag, fox, raven, dwarf – who asks for help. To respond to the character’s need involves a sacrifice, as what the figure wants seems to be of vital importance to the hero /ine’s venture. An example is a young man who slaughters the horse he is riding to feed some fledglings. Towards the end of the enterprise, it turns out that the figure can provide the means for the hero/ine to pass the tests he/she encounters. And the helper goes through a transformation and is included in the community.The theoretical foundation rests on plots and symbols in mythic tales, originating from the work of the American folklorist Joseph Campbell and the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. To these perspectives comes the dialogical self-theory initiated by the Dutch psychologist Hubert Hermans. It transcends the dichotomy of inner and outer and describes the mind as a territory with many locations the ‘I’ can enter. Arrogant as well as compassionate positions reside in our mind.The participants will call forth positions by drawing spontaneous portraits of one another. Each participant will get six-seven sketches into which he/she can project aspects of him-/herself. By way of the drawings, the participants will deal with the position of compassion and what kind of fear and sacrifice that can be related to including a foreign element.

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- Knut Omholt, PhD in political science, Diploma in Art Therapy, Member of the Art Therapy Association in Norway (MKTFN), Member of The Danish Association of Psychotherapists (MPF), Denmark.

Saturday before lunch, lectures

L#5: Saturday 12.00-12.45 Offering creation to replace harm – a description of art therapists’ experiences of treating persons with self-injurious behavior.Treating people who self-harm with compassion is the number one recommendation in the material created by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions on recommendations for services for those who self-harm. They also mention the importance of everyone who meet people who self-harm professionally getting specific training with this aim. To treat people who self-harm is often experienced as challenging for therapists, it tends to create strong emotions such as worry, frustration and helplessness. At the same time, research shows that the way the therapist views the self-harming behavior has a big impact on the experienced level of hope for the person in treatment.But so how do we do this in treatment? The qualitative study which will be presented here will include basic knowledge about self-harm as well as aspects that have been identified as important for treatment for those who self-harm and illuminates the experiences of art therapists of working with people who self-harm. The study describes the relationship between the person in therapy and the art, the relationship between the person in therapy and the art therapist, relating to the therapeutic framework and relating to general factors.The study shows how art gives a possibility of self-treatment. Art therapists need to balance an adaptive approach with a directive approach. They also need to balance formal requirements with the treatment process. Confidence in the method is required to work with art during critical periods. Colleagues and relatives can be important to relieve the art therapist but may also need to be limited in their insight into the process. It is a difficult work which art can help make easier.

- Nicole Wolpher, Art Therapist, Social worker, Sweden. *

L# 6: Saturday 13.00-13.45 Art Therapy in Icelandic Healthcare: What´s up?Icelandic art therapists have been actively seeking title protection for 20 years. We believe that title protection provides official status recognition as a health care profession. It should also ensure that therapists seek proper education and coaching. A lively discussion has taken place over the years regarding education and coaching, but more recently how the art therapy stands against related professions, such as psychologists, and the increasing pressure of providing evidence-based therapies in health care.Recently, an official report was published that summarized the current strata of mental health care in Iceland and the long-term vision for youth mental care. The report emphasizes the importance of finding role models for the Icelandic system, e.g in the other Nordic countries. Authorities have addressed our application negatively, not least based on the fact that the other Nordic countries have not issued title production for art therapy. How prominent are other Nordic art therapists in their health care and is the same battle ongoing as in Iceland?

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We have argued that because formal art therapy education is non-existent, the importance of title protection is obvious, as without one the regulation of therapists' proper background is difficult or even impossible. After a number of illicit attempts to thwart our application, the process is ongoing. The report emphasizes the importance of approaching youth mental care services on their own needs rather than the needs of the professions serving them. It also emphasizes the importance of providing resources and services based on evidence based preventive health care. How are Icelandic art therapists addressing these challenges? What is happening to the title protection application? What is our future vision?

- Iris Ingvarsdottir, Art Therapist, Iceland *

13.30-14.30 Lunch

 Saturday afternoon 14.30-15.15

Plenary presentation: Åse Minde, Norway* -all attendEkphrasis: the bridge between words and images.How do we talk about the Artwork created in the therapy room?I will in this lecture focus on the importance of how we talk about the visual work of art in therapy and how we move from images to words, to the poetic landscapes of our souls. Many of the clients I meet in therapy are struggling with who they are, and how they should relate to the world. Some have suffered traumas, sorrow and loss. “My soul is so weary and beaten down from all my misery” sings Melody Gardot. A descriptive text for many of those I encounter in therapy. Our language and how we as therapist formulate us and respond to the client’s artwork and their stories is important. What do we see and what do we hear? Respect, tolerance and compassion is key words in the interaction between client and therapist. I will give some examples from clients work on how the self can be transformed through the encounter with poetry and art. In the arts work we shape and transform in an ongoing quest to find the true self.

- Åse Minde, Art Psychoterapist at Oslo University Hospital. Norway.

15.15-16.00 Coffee and fruit

Saturday afternoon parallel lecture/workshops 2 hrs. 15.30-17.30 W/L# 6: Saturday 16.00-18.00 (Max 26) Inclusion with bipolar disorder – healing deep polarity with compassion in creative therapies.This seminar has two main parts. In the first part I will speak from my own experience of bipolar disorder. I will share my perspectives of how psychosis may be understood primarily as a situation of psychological/spiritual/emotional emergency. I will share my view of how art therapy has helped me along the way to integration of unheld manic and psychotic episodes. Having a multi-dimensional understanding, is helpful when dealing with the process of treating bipolar disorder, schizo-affective states,

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depression and trauma. The support that I have found in creative therapy has taught me how the creative mind by its nature is multi-dimensional and also intelligent. My symtoms where like the tip of an iceberg, concealing deeper layers within. When I was mirrored with compassionate understanding of the complexity of the creative mind and awareness of the importance of co-regulation, severe states of confusion could be integrated in a more balanced sense of Self. My perspectives are an invitation to widen the understanding of extreme psychological states of being, such as depression, manic episodes and psychosis - not primarily as a dysfunction or default, but as an opportunity to deepen into the wider wisdom of life.The practical part of the seminar will focus on embodiment through movement, breath, relating and painting. We will deepen the sense of our body as a container for an embodying journey through movement, relating and painting. We make a journey into places within, where words are not the language. Through interactive exercises we will explore how to hold compassionate space for each other, and how it feels to be seen and felt by one another. We will use movement, painting and verbal communication in the process of discovering more about the relation between nonverbal and verbal communication.

- Johanna Södermark, Massage Therapist, Art Therapist and Dalcroze-teacher (music/ movement), Sweden *.

 

W/L # 7: Saturday 16.00-18.00(MAX 30) Compassion and inclusion in inter cultural therapy. A meeting between the inner home and the environment.In Israel, many Arab Patients are seeking voluntarily counsel with Jewish therapists. This finding is intriguing in the light of continued political, social and cultural tensions (Baum, 2007).In therapy, there is an encounter between two individuals. But what is the nature of this encounter when those individuals come from different communities? The difference between Arab and Jewish is expressed in variety of aspects like traditions, beliefs, cultures and perceptions (Dwairy & Van Sickle, 1996).The question is how can the variance be contained? How to establish our trust and bridge these wide gaps? We find that art as the imagery language helps and creates a bridge with a unique language and form that allows imaginary space, transitions to be created (Winnicott, 2007). In the therapy, presented in the workshop, an Arab patient created metaphors for her emotions. One was her inner home.The concept of the home occupies a significant place in the mind of the patient and the therapist in the inter-cultural encounter. Winnicott (2007 [1971]) noticed that the place we live in is not outside, and not inside but in between - in the "intermediate space." Matry (2005) argues that we carry inside us an inner home, which is the product of internalizing initial experiences, including sensory and emotional dimensions. Manzo (2003) relates that the being-in-the-world is interwoven with the dimension of human existence, and therefore a place that is inseparable from our lives. The workshop will include an art experiment with the inner home, and an intercultural encounter with the participants. At the second section, there will be presentation of a treatment case in which containment and compassion have a considerable place in the relationship between the patient and the therapist. Featuring developmental processes of the inner home representations and conflicts created during this intercultural encounter.

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- Irit Belity & Yael Domany, The Graduate School of Creative Art Therapies University of Haifa, Israel. *

W/L# 8: Saturday 16.00-18.00 (MAX 18) Sensorimotor Art Therapy.Successful treatment of trauma requires inner compassion and the physiological process in healing trauma is neurological – synaptic – inclusion. Inclusion of sensory and emotional process. This workshop will present a trauma treatment method developed by australian Art Therapist Cornelia Elbrecht, called Sensorimotor Art Therapy. Cornelia Elbrecht is a leader in groundbreaking art therapy techniques with a particular focus on healing trauma. She holds a degree in fine arts from the School for Initiatic Arts Therapies in the Black Forest in Germany, along with extensive postgraduate training in Jungian and gestalt therapy, bioenergetics and somatic experiencing. She also holds a Masters in Art Education. Her method is based on “bottom up-process” as explained in the Expressive Therapies Continuum, starting on the kinesthetic-sensory level with simple motor expressions, usually scribble drawings with crayons. These art activities relate to Piagets early childhood sensorimotor stage and support learning through repetitive movements and through the senses. Clients draw with both hands and eyes closed as they focus on their felt sense. Physical pain, tension, and emotions are expressed without words through bilateral scribbles. Clients then find movements that soothe their pain, discharge inner tension and emotions in a massage-like way, and repair boundary breaches. Archetypical shapes allow therapists to safely structure the experience in a nonverbal way. The method is a self-empowering application of somatic experiencing – it is a body focused and trauma-informed approach – and assists clients who have experienced complex traumatic events to actively respond to overwhelming experiences until they feel less helpless and overwhelmed and are then able to repair their memories of the past. In this workshop participants will try some of Cornelia Elbrecht’s exercises and discuss experience from Art therapy with severely traumatized children, teenagers and adults.

- Mia Östlin, licensed occupational therapist/art therapist, licensed psychotherapist, certified Schema- and EMDR-therapist and Ragnhild Konstenius, counselor, art therapist, licensed psychotherapist. Sweden*.

Saturday afternoon lectures

L# 7: Saturday 16.00-16.45From fragmentation to integration through mourning and containing. Illustrated by Alice’ artwork This presentation takes as its starting point the artwork of one single patient, who was drawing and painting along with a therapy process for more than 30 years. We can call her Alice. She is now in her fifties and has been in therapy since her mid-twenties. From the beginning, she was drawing herself in a strongly fragmented way; with a distinct lack of integration of body parts, special those of a sexual and relational kind. She did often draw herself as composed by a mix of female and male

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body parts. Her face had always an inward expression, and it looked like she was thrown into the world without really participating. Her artwork did strongly correspond to her conscious strivings with identity integration and with relating to friends, potential boyfriends and activities in the world. Both vis-à-vis work and love she seemed to lack a kind of core in her personality. This bothered her deeply and her situation was painful and lonely. As the therapy process proceeds during the years, her artwork has changed in a distinct way. From circling around disintegration, the persons gradually emerge as whole human beings. They do relate to each other, although in a fragile way and with faces tainted with sorrow. This change corresponds to an increased ability to tolerate loneliness and frustration. I will show some of her pictures and interpret her process in light of Melanie Klein’s ideas of a transition from what she calls the paranoid schizoid position to the depressive position (Klein 1957). This transition takes years and implies an integration of earlier fragmented identity- and body parts. The result is an increased ability to find pleasure in relations and activities, as Alice herself expresses.

- Marit Aalen, Dr. of Psychology, Psychologist with authorization, Norway*.

Saturday lecture 17:00-17.45 

L# 8: Group art therapy for inclusion: working with Romanian and Roma children from vulnerable families.The present research describes a group therapy process with primary school Romanian and Roma pupils from one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Bucharest, Romania. Eight children aged 7 to 11 years old participated to weekly therapy sessions for 6 months, in a public school. The group therapy program is called ”Drug abuse prevention” and it aims to support children from vulnerable and low-income families where substance abuse, domestic and street violence, poverty and lack of education are daily challenges. The main goal of this study was to help children develop empathy and sociability, learn to express and manage their emotions and to overall foster social inclusion using expressive therapeutic tools like drawing, painting, collage, modelling, play and open dialogue. In the present paper we will describe some of the most impactful sessions and the overall therapeutic process. The assessment instruments used before and after the group process to measure the potential impact of art therapy and play are EmQue (Empathy Questionnaire developed by C. Rieffe and validated on Romanian population in my PhD thesis). Goodenough–Harris Draw-a-Person test and observation method. Results showed that affective empathy (or emotional contagion) diminished, cognitive empathy (emotion understanding) and prosocial motivation (emotional support) augmented as well as sociability. Children became more involved in the process as their participation in the program became constant, which is another challenge for this particular group of children who experiment adverse childhood experiences. In conclusion, the present research demonstrated the effectiveness of art therapy combined with play and open dialogue in fostering social inclusion and wellbeing of vulnerable children.

- Flavia Dorelia Cardaș, PhD, Psychotherapist, Copenhagen

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18.00-19.00 poster viewing

19.30- Gala DINNER: Music and Dance to LOVÖ POJKARNA (THE BOYS FROM LOVÖ), A versatile and gifted group of musicians who will bring out the movement in us all! 

Sunday 14th of June 7.30-8.30 breakfast

Sunday morning 8.45-9.15 Movement and dance with Eva Tillberg, Sweden* Welcome to start the conference day by getting in touch with your body, mind - and each other. Movement and dance for everyone to enjoy!

Sunday morning 9.30-10.30 Key note speaker: VERA HELLER, Canada* -all attendKnowing Existential Migration through Art Therapy: Creating a World with Compassion The intimate place called home is associated with identity. Losing it deprives the individual of a sense of belonging based on shared values and beliefs (Serfati-Garzon, 2006) and results in self- mourning (Métraux, 2013) and nostalgia (Ritivoi, 2002). Having an acute awareness of the lack of solidity of conventional forms of life, the existential migrants experience feelings of homelessness even before undertaking the migratory journey, onto which they might transfer their need to belong (Madison, 2010). The researcher used art therapy as her main tool of inquiry. In addition to facilitating access to tacit knowledge otherwise unavailable (Barone 2012, Hervey 2000, McNiff 1998, 2013, Moustakas, 1990), art helped participants in balancing out the suffering due to acculturation and the psychological benefits of delving out of their comfort zone. Displacement appears to have increased their need for expression (Legault, 2000; Lippard, 2000) and mourning has enhanced their creativity (Anzieu, 1974; Milner, 2010). Creating together contributed in fostering a sense of compassion, inclusion and solidarity within the group thus highlighting the contribution of art therapy in creating a better world.The presentation draws a parallel between the migratory and the artistic processes from the perspective of the Archetypal Hero’s Myth. The concepts of identity, mourning, belonging and home nurtured the participants’ imagination and became starting points for their artistic process transforming the participants’ migratory narratives into inspiring Imaginal Journeys.

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- Vera Heller, Art Therapy Professor, University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Montreal, Canada.

 Sunday morning parallel workshops 1.5 hrs. 

 W# 5: Sunday 11.00-12.30 (MAX 30) The Family Shoe Project: A Creative ArtsTherapeutic Technique for Family Dynamics. “Shoes are a force for change, a means of shedding the past, and buying into the future… Psychologists have vigorously explored the hidden meaning of shoes from phallic symbols to secret vessels.” (O’Keefe, 1996, p.12)The Family Shoe Project: a creative arts therapeutic technique for family dynamics, is an opportunity for a family member(s) to identify and recreate their roles in the family through redesigning the creative object of the shoe. The safety and whimsy of the object ‘shoe,’ can allow for serious and thoughtful representation of non-verbal thoughts and feelings to be expressed. The “…nonverbal nonrational form of therapy that reaches a profound preverbal level of the psyche” (Weinrib, 1983. p.1) can occur here in the reworking of these aspects of the self, and thus self in family.In this workshop, shoes, family photos, and various materials are used to recreate and transform ‘the shoe’ to reflect aspects of family life. ‘Family’ is defined by the participant. Our compassion for others and our sense of inclusion or exclusion is held in family. These inner and outer aspects of family life made visible can be used to reinterpret relationships. The family as a psychological unit is reflected in the shoe, as a single entity where all are contained. There can be a relief in manipulating equivalents for the family of ‘old friends and enemies’.“What is important though is not only that early familial conflicts are relived but that they are relived correctly. Growth inhibiting relationships must not be permitted to freeze into the rigid, impenetrable system that characterizes many family structures.” (Yalom, 1970 p. 16) Seeing the family through the altered shoe may call for recognition of previously unknown psychological material. The shoe’s natural humour and playful nature can assist a deconstruction/reconstruction of first learned relationships.

- Arnell Etherington Reader, Ph.D., Art Psychotherapist, Practitioner Psychologist, UK*.

W# 6: Sunday 11.00-12.30 (MAX 20) Bilateral Scribbling.Many art therapists have used scribbling techniques and bilateral drawing with different intentions: to "release tension" before starting a creative process (Cane, 1951), to identify inner conflicts and polarities (Rhyne, 1973), and to manage stress experiences or process traumatic memories (McNamee, 2005; 2007; Tripp 2007; King, 2016; Elbrecht, 2017)Relaxed, performance-free play with crayons on large papers has a self-regulating effect, helps reduce stress and anxiety, and improves our overall level of functioning. Bilateral scribbling is a multidirectional process that activates both brain halves,

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engaging both the mind and body, thought and feeling. The rhythmic body movement can be compared to drumming, cycling, walking or swinging - activities that draw attention to motor and sensory experience, in the here and now. The movement of the crayons on paper can free body memories, release emotions and relieve pain. The intention is not necessarily to create a specific image, but merely to engage both hands in guided doodling with oil-/ pastel crayons or other easily controlled art materials.Today we know that experiences of severe stress and trauma are stored in the right hemisphere and that the body must be involved in the processing of traumatic memories. Making art involves stimulation of the senses, activation of the body and thus enables processing and integration of stressful experiences. Two-hand scribbles with large movements soothe the body while new connections between the two brain halves occur (King, 2016). In this workshop we use crayons, colored pencils, large papers and simple yoga movements in synchronicity with breathing. We will try out guided bilateral scribble techniques with stabilization and grounding as a purpose - a prerequisite for proceeding to art processing of trauma.

- Birgitta Englund, Lecturer and Course Coordinator of the Art Therapy program, Umeå university and Art therapist in private practice, Sweden*.

W# 7: Sunday 11.00-12.30 (MAX 24) Very Good, Very Good YAY! Laughing for the Health of it. Laughter is a Universal language that helps break down barriers between participants.  During this workshop we will celebrate Joy through music, dance, laughter and play. Participants learn to bring out their inner child while having compassion for others and themselves. Laughter is essential for finding your inner Joy and changing your brain Chemistry towards Joy. We will also focus on Gratitude and Positive Psychology! Laughter Yoga is a unique concept where anyone can laugh for no reason, without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. We initiate laughter as an exercise in a group, but with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter. The reason we call it Laughter Yoga is because it combines laughter exercises with yogic breathing. This brings more oxygen to the body and the brain which makes one feel more energetic and healthier. The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter if done with willingness. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits.You will get in depth knowledge about laughter and Laughter Yoga wisdom - how and why it works, as well as the immeasurable benefits it provides for body-mind wellness.Knowledge alone is not enough. You must actually do laughter to experience the benefits. Laughter Yoga methods will give you guidelines and practical skills to do laughter in a group and once your body gets the intelligence of laughing without a reason, you can even laugh all by yourself anytime, anywhere.Laughter diffuses stress and generates peace and harmony which leads to improved thinking and better creativity with a defined focus. Come on Everybody let’s laugh for the Health of it!!  

- Julie Plaut Warwick LMHCA, CLYT, Mental Health Counselor and Laughter Yoga Teacher, USA*.

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 Sunday morning, 45-minute lecture 11.30-12.15

 L# 9: Sunday 11.30-12.15 Resonances of The Music Therapists Self in Compassionate Intersubjective Relationships: The Significance of a Music Therapists Lived Experience of Adoption Whilst Working with Adoptive Families.The music therapist’s subjectivity rooted in compassion arising within resonant intersubjective relating with clients is seldom examined yet plays a “significant role in the co-construction of any therapeutic trajectory” (Kuchuck 2014). If resonating relationships are vital for providing intersubjective “fit” we must “examine ontological theories of both clients and therapist’s states within the therapeutic encounter”. (Driver 2013).The author of this paper has “lived experience” of adoption community. Professionals working within this community are in fact desired and even required to have “lived experience” of adoption, and the author has been an adoption service user/therapist/adoption panel member/researcher and author. (‘Lived experience’ is a qualitative research term for the representation of a subject’s human experiences). In this paper however she challenges assumptions that any lived experience is valuable/useful. Music therapists undergo therapy ourselves to become self-aware of potentially unhelpful resonances with clients because clients with similar emotional wounds might arouse “personal identification during intersubjectivity which carry potential for un-self-aware enactments” (Driver 2013). Therapeutic resonances must be explored to safeguard against this. We need to direct compassion towards ourselves in our work in order to extend it towards clients.Music provides “empathic unconscious emotional resonances” (De Waal 2012) existing at neurobiological, social and cultural levels. These can provide potential for fertile, creative change, or become dangerous places of enmeshment. This paper considers how to avoid “pitfalls of enactment” (Marks-Tarlow 2008), capitalizing instead on strengths of resonant dynamics. It draws on the authors PhD exploring micro-moments of attunement with adoptees, and how relational resonance experienced in music therapies embodied empathic interactions can become part of a process of “shared communicative compassionate musical attunement”. (Norcross 2011). This paper will also provide a framework for a chapter on the therapist’s compassionate resonance in intersubjective relating within my text on music therapy and adoption to be published with Jessica Kingsely publishers 2019/20.

- Joy Gravestock, Music Therapist, UK*.

Closing ceremony 12.45-13.15

Lunch 13.15- 14.30

Safe trip home😊

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POSTER PRESENTATIONS

1) Offering creation to replace harm – a description of art therapists’ experiences of treating persons with self-injurous behavior.

Treating people who self-harm with compassion is the number one recommendation in the material created by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions on recommendations for services for those who self-harm. They also mention the importance of everyone who meet people who self-harm professionally getting specific training with this aim. To treat people who self-harm is often experienced as challenging for therapists, it tends to create strong emotions such as worry, frustration and helplessness. At the same time, research shows that the way the therapist views the self-harming behavior has a big impact on the experienced level of hope for the person in treatment.But so how do we do this in treatment? The qualitative study which will be presented here will include basic knowledge about self-harm as well as aspects that have been identified as important for treatment for those who self-harm and illuminates the experiences of art therapists of working with people who self-harm. The study describes the relationship between the person in therapy and the art, the relationship between the person in therapy and the art therapist, relating to the therapeutic framework and relating to general factors.

- Nicole Wolpher, Art Therapist, Social worker, Sweden. *

2) Art Therapy in Group and Borderline Personalities.The present survey explores the movement, localization and boundary phenomena in the case of Borderline personality disorder (BPD). Due to high impulsiveness and affective instability, those affected fluctuate intensely between the opposite poles of idealization and devaluation, which severely impairs their interpersonal relationships. BPD patients move in a border area between interior and exterior reality, and have their own time-space experiences. The research is interested in body movement in conjunction with the creative act in art therapy (AT), and takes in consideration the external real movements in space as well as the internal, which are the result of imagination or dissociation. The project was conducted with 16 clinical patients diagnosed with BPD from the Danuvius Klinik in Pfaffenhofen, Germany. The results demonstrate that working with artistic media facilitates the disclosure of invisible phenomena such as movement and the presence of space and boundaries in the therapeutic process. Art therapy in a group supports the emergence of a common “nutrient medium” and sense of belonging that can promote the individual processes of self-localization and self-demarcation, as well as patients’ emotional self-regulation.Keywords: Borderline personality disorder, Projective identification, Container, Movement, Localization, Social interaction.

- Avgustina Stanoeva, Art Therapist, M.A., Bulgaria/Germany.

3) What art therapists consider to be patients´ inner change and how it may appear during art therapy.

The aim of this study was to explore what art therapists consider to be patients’ inner change and how it may appear during art therapy. Thirty-eight trained art therapists with experience of using art therapy as a treatment were included in the study. They

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were asked to describe how they perceived their patients’ inner change and a situation during art therapy when they observed such change. An inductive thematic analysis resulted in five themes; Therapeutic alliance, describing trust to the therapist and believe to the method, Creating, which concerns the work in the therapeutic process, while Affect consciousness, Self-awareness, and Ego-strength are part of the therapy outcome. In addition to themes and codes, the result showed an interaction between the different themes and that the patients ‘change occurs through the whole art therapeutic process. The participating art therapists formed a very heterogeneous group, resulting in an unexpected consistency.

- Gärd Holmqvist, PhD, MSc in Art Therapy, Authorized Art Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Sweden

4) Modalities of Ethical Inclusion in Arts Therapies.How might the arts therapies’ practice contribute to solve current important and difficult issues concerning moral values, tolerance, acceptance and inclusion of “the different one(s)”?If we wish - and try - to foster an ethical way of living for the human being and the society, we have to support the new vision of the world/life on our planet - emerging with the new generations of humans who do not anymore accept the dictate of the economical/financial aspects in our individual and social life.The arts therapies modalities that I practiced as an art therapist– painting, drawing, puppets playing… - proved their utility in all the situations were non-verbal communication as well as a playful setting were needed. This was especially true in my work with mentally disabled children and adults, as well as with groups of recent migrants with many different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.This poster aims to explain and illustrate some methods and results showing the progressive inclusion of very isolated participants in group workshops. In spite of severe disorders in the autistic spectrum and/or cognitive difficulties with associated troubles for the mentally disabled, in spite of severe depression and anxiety in migrants with post-traumatic syndrome, inclusion was possible as far as myself as an art therapist I did maintain a position of authentically respectful relationship - not only in my attitude but also in the area of my own creative process and participation in the group. This is a basic ethical and therapeutic issue required for a successful art therapy practice.

- Irina KATZ-MAZILU, Artist, art therapist, France.

5) The Empowering Effect of Integrated Dance- and Music TherapyMusic and movement have long been known to affect psychological states of humans. When facing challenges or difficult situations, our mindset is an important variable for success or to avoid mishaps. In the present study, the effect of music and movement on participants‘ self-esteem and self-efficacy was investigated. We aimed to empower university students through an integrated session of dance- and music therapy. Loop-singing and echoing were used as music therapy methods, and mirroring, leading a group in movement, and power-posing were used as dance therapy methods. Twenty-one students were assessed before and after a single session with various mirroring- and leadership exercises, and a control group of 21 students were assessed before and after a regular university class. Empowerment was defined as self-efficacy and self-

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esteem. Self-esteem and self-efficacy were measured with standardized instruments before and after therapy or class, and the aesthetic experience was measured after therapy or class. Self-esteem increased significantly after the therapy session, self-efficacy also increased but not significantly. The rise in self-esteem was mediated by the aesthetic experience. Aesthetic experience was on average felt more often after the integrated dance- and music therapy intervention than after class. To confidently come to the conclusion that dance- and music therapy empowers participants, a larger sample size is needed, as well as further repetitions, trained therapists and no or less biased participant-observers. However, these results suggest that the aesthetic experience in the arts therapies, can and should be more valued for the sake of empowering and building a sense of self-esteem in adults.

- Anna Dúa Kristjánsdóttir*, Rebecca Hames, Buse Kadıoğlu, Maša Banićević, Cristina Garzón Castro, Dr. Douglas R. Keith, Ph.D., & Sabine C. Koch, Ph.D. SRH University Heidelberg, Faculty of Therapeutic Sciences

 

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