Context & objectives
The forced migration situation for people arriving in Europe, often in dangerous and risky ways, is not a new phenomenon. The search for safety, in the face of persecution and conflict, or the search for economic security, has resulted in many people deciding to move to Europe through the Spanish border due to port closing policies of other European countries and the obstacles to rescue ships from the central Mediterranean.
Asylum seekers very often present severe psychological and psychosocial effects due to events and conditions in their place of origin and due to the migratory and adaptation process. There is a greater impact on children and unaccompanied minors who have to cope with a situation that is not appropriate to their stage of development and because they are in a determining evolutionary period for the development of their identity and personality.
Various studies as well as our own experience and this of our partners show that asylum seekers have a need to work on emotional regulation and coping strategies to skills to adjust to a migratory process taking in mind all the losses they have to deal with and a need for the creation of a social support network.
The objectives of the programme are
- To help asylum seekers build resilience, re-gain self-esteem and integrate into the community.
- To leave lasting impact by training local care providers (Arts-based capacity building and Training) who are exposed to fatigue and secondary trauma through their work and enable them to implement basic art therapy techniques into their own practice.
- To conduct research to study how art therapy can address migratory grief and build resililence.
Impact
Thanks to the ongoing support of our partners, about 400 beneficiaries have received the benefits of art therapy sessions, and 40 members of staff have taken part in the training.
Hear from our beneficiaries, in this evaluation video, on how art therapy has helped them :
We have carried out a preliminary analysis in 2021 on migratory bereavement and a study on the mechanisms of change in art therapy in 2023.
Partners
Our gratitude goes to Alta Mane for its ongoing support and to our partners, the Red Cross, the SAMU foundation and CEAR, for their trust.
