Training in Art Therapy & Trauma Support: Child Friendly Spaces
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"During the art activity, I felt like I was in another country."
Anonymous, Yazidi refugee, from Iraq, living and working in an IDP community in Shekhan, Kurdish Region of Iraq
This Training in Art Therapy & Trauma Support was provided to 15 young adult Yazidi refugees who were establishing Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) in the communities of internally displaced people (IDP) in Shekhan. In these CFS’s, the Yazidi children and adolescent refugees are offered different activities in which they learn to regulate their stress and regain inner security.
Goals
The goals of this Training in Art Therapy & Trauma Support were for the future CFS workers to understand more about trauma, for them to be able to give psychoeducation to others and to provide psychosocial support to traumatized children and adolescents through different art activities and group dynamics. Furthermore, an important goal was to help them take good care of themselves.
Methods
This Training offered psychoeducation with respect to Psychotraumatology and Neurobiology to the future CFS workers, who were also supervised while practicing psychoeducation themselves in small groups. Furthermore, they were offered various individual and group art activities and reflection within the group on these activities.