9/16/2012

Art therapy program

Hardly encouraged to express themselves and not really used to being congratulated for their actions, the children cared at the SDC often have low self-esteem, which may result in anger and violence. It is actually the usual reason why they are admitted at the center.
Following a long-term observation period, Virlanie-Bacolod's team has assessed the increasing need of the children to express themselves via artcrafts and leisure activities: drawing, painting, cutting, modeling, in a word, the need for CREATION. As a complement to the educational and training program implemented at the SDC, it is indeed necessary to focuse also on individual development, which is part of the rehabilitation process.

For a month now, Pastor Arthur Bailes, a local and active artist of Bacolod City who is running CANVAS Gallery, has been proposing his voluntary services at the SDC to hold art therapy sessions for the benefit of every interested child. This new activity has been very successful from the start as 30 children regularly attend the weekly sessions.

The objective of Pastor Arthur is to encourage the children to create and develop ideas of their own on various topics. The first sessions have been focusing on the family and the children were taught how to draw their own cartoon story. Each child was able to address this topic with his own emotions and creative abilities. The children had the final goal of presenting their cartoons to their families on the Family Day, to be held end of September at the SDC. In addition, our psychology interns from the University UNO-R will use this material to better understand the children's profiles in order to address their issues over the psychological support program to be started in November.

The following sessions will be organized around the Masskara Festival, happening in October in Bacolod City. This will be the opportunity to set-up a workshop to make masks out of clay to be decorated with bright and joyful colors. Afterward, Pastor Arthur will conduct mural painting sessions, which will allow the children to bring colors to their housing facilities right at the SDC!



No comments:

Post a Comment

Support program for vulnerable children and families in Bacolod City

The objective is to design and implement a development program supporting the disadvantaged members of the community of Bacolod City, Philippines. This approach is based on the observation of best practices identified in various projects implemented in Southeast Asia and in the rest of the world. The program aims at providing rehabilitation opportunities to isolated children and families in order to facilitate their successful integration into the local community. This includes dealing with social inclusion, socioeconomic development, public health, sustainable production and consumption, as well as green technologies.