Context & objectives
In response to the devastating earthquakes that shook South-east and North-east Turkey on 6th February 2023, The Red Pencil partnered with the Turkish Psychological Association to carry out an ACBT project for 20 volunteer psychologists based in Ankara, who were committed to bring psychological support to the survivors.
The earthquakes caused a death toll of more than 50 000 people (and over 44 000 in the country itself). It destroyed habitats and public infrastructures all around the region. The main focus of this training was to give therapists some arts-based tools in order to :
- Integrate them in their interventions with earthquakes victims
- Use them to enhance their own resilience and psychological well-being.
The ACBT programme consisted of 2 parts:
- Theoretical and experiential training: 10 weekly group sessions of 2 hours each.
- On-the-job coaching: 5 sessions of 2 hours each in order to give participants support from the project art therapist when applying the art-based tools for their self-care and within their interventions for victims of the earthquake.
The project team consisted of an art therapist (AT), assisted in the preparation, delivery and evaluation of the training sessions by an art therapy student and an AT Supervisor. At the end of the training, psychologists also received a handout developed within the project by the Red Pencil. The handout summarizes theory and practice learnt during the training and makes the project’s results sustainable.
Impact
At the end of the training, participants increased their knowledge, understanding and practice of some art-based tools to:
- Strengthening self-awareness and resourcing (internal & external)
- Building safety and self-expression
- Using visual language
- Processing of intense emotions.
Below we report some of the results of the participants’self-evaluation of the impact that the training had on their skills and knowledge.
What the participants said (testimonials from the anonymous evaluation survey)
“Thanks to this training, I was introduced to art therapy. While I normally had very limited knowledge and was a bit prejudiced, I learned how important it is to use art therapy techniques in psychotherapy sessions. Clients may not always be good at expressing themselves with words, or words may be inadequate in the face of intense emotions. Transferring these words to an image or drawing and depicting them in a concrete way not only allows clients to express themselves better, but also makes it easier for the invisible to emerge. Therefore, I will continue to use the techniques and improve myself in this field”
“Art media have a healing aspect, and studying this with valuable art therapists is a completely different experience. Thank you very much for giving this opportunity” “It was an incredible and curative experience which helped me have a better understanding of myself »
Partners
Our gratitude goes to Capita Group and the Communauté Française of Belgium for their support and to our partner Turkish Psychological Association
