MANDALA Therapy and Play Creative Arts Therapy for children who have suffered trauma and abuse.

Therapeutic art groups for children affected by domestic abuse

The body holds the memory

Why art? “Nonverbal, expressive therapies can be more effective than verbal therapies in work with severely maltreated children exhibiting attachment difficulties…Social learning and brief cognitive therapeutic interventions are unlikely to succeed with traumatised children.” (P.Gussie Klorer).

Why Groups? “Group work reduces isolation, promotes corrective emotional experiences, and enhances interpersonal skills….Art and play are the natural activities of childhood. Unfortunately, domestic violence often robs young survivors of a normal childhood, taking away the very experience of being a child. Purposeful art and play activities can help these children reconnect with these experiences and restore the sense of spontaneity through providing opportunities for creative self-expression and imagination” (C. Malchiodi).

“The brain of a child living in a home plagued by domestic abuse and whose primary care-giver is preoccupied and chaotically neglectful will create a template in which humans are unpredictable and a source of fear, chaos, pain and loss. Children carry these templates created by their initial care-givers into all future relational interactions.” (Perry, B in Gil (2010))

A Safe Space

“When a child feels that he is not alone, not only in his distress but also in his happiness, he then feels free and protected in all his expressions.” Dora Kalff.