Art therapy for disease: Eurhythmy

DNA – Evolutions – Art therapy for disease: Eurhythmy – Daily News & Analysis

Art therapy for disease: Eurhythmy

UNI
Friday, January 19, 2007 15:42 I

HYDERABAD: Music, dance, sculpture, painting, speech and movement can supplement medical treatment in different diseases.

This system, called eurhythmy, is being discussed at an International Post-Graduate Meeting and training session going on at the ICRISAT from January 14 to January 21.

Giving details, expert Dr Michael Clocker told media the new system, called Anthroposophical Medicine in medical parlance, seeks to find a common language in addressing issues of health and illness from different medical perspectives.

Dr Clocker said the training programme was being organised by the Indian Branch of the Anthroposophical Society, begun with the aim of promoting the system based on the teachings of Austrian Scientist Rudolf Steiner.

The system also aimed at integrating Indian Medical Branches like Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Yoga.

Anthrosophical Medicines had made significant changes in cancer therapy, children with special needs and education.

Dr Clocker said trainers from all over the world including doctors, physochologists, therapists; teachers and special educators had come together to share experiences and to train hundreds of Indian doctors.

Dr Peter Glosby of Mount Baker Waldorf Shool, said the system aimed at treating the body as well as the mind, soul and spirit. Drugs were prepared from substances taken from minerals, plants and the animal kingdom.

Dr Srinivasa Rao, well-known homeopath said the system was slowly gaining popularity.

Art therapy helps kids deal with cancer fears

Art therapy helps kids deal with cancer fears : Local News : Anderson Independent Mail

Art therapy helps kids deal with cancer fears

Ten-year-old Mitch Mitchell spent time Saturday with other children who were dealing with the same types of issues — family members who battled or are battling cancer.

Mitch’s mother, Mikal Fletcher Mitchell, is a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2004 and finished her treatment in March 2005.

“I can see some of my friends that come here,” he said about the group that meets at the Cancer Association of Anderson office.

“I can express my feelings instead of just holding them in.”

Mitch said he likes talking to other children his age about what he went through. He said it’s better for him to talk about it than keep it balled up inside.

The group, Kaleidoscope Kidscape, which stands for Kids Sharing Creativity and Positive Experiences, is a free healing arts workshop series for children 5 to 12 and meets once a month. It’s led by Heather Kline Schaffer, who is a licensed professional counselor and a South Carolina artist.

Children who attended the workshops that have been offered for about three years can attend for as long as or as short a time as they want. All participants must pre-register as they are prescreened for the group to determine how they are currently coping.

Ms. Schaffer said the group discusses what it means to be diagnosed with cancer, what everyone is going through and ways to deal with their feelings.

“For these children it’s a time to process feelings, an opportunity to bond with others going through similar experiences and learn healthy coping skills,” she said.

The group also does an art project.

“We do an activity because it personalizes the experience and clinical studies have demonstrated healing arts projects reestablish a balancing of the emotions,” Ms. Schaffer said.

One of the first things the attendees did Saturday was make a list of their favorite things — things they can do to help themselves feel better. Dena Rhinehart, 13, of Anderson listed playing soccer, listening to music, hanging out with friends and going to church.

Dena, whose mother has breast cancer, said she enjoyed her first time attending a Kaleidoscope Kidscape workshop.

“It takes your mind off of things,” she said. “You can get it out.”

After making a list, participants turned colorful yarn into spheres they could use to comfort themselves by simply holding them or tossing them to another participant across the room.

By the end participants created several spheres, some of which they took home and some they shared with each other.

During other sessions, children have made collage and clay masks, scrapbooks, journals and kaleidoscopes.

Ms. Mitchell said she could tell her son benefited from attending the workshops.

“It’s sort of an outlet to be in a group where you don’t feel like you’re the only one going through it,” she said. “It gave him something to look forward to.”

Source: http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/jan/21/art-therapy-helps-kids-deal-cancer-fears/

Healing through the creation of art

SlipDontFall.jpg (Image JPEG, 799×619 pixels)
The Times Plus, Monroe Times, Monroe, Wisconsin, USA

Healing through the creation of art

 
Published Monday, January 22, 2007 10:17:33 AM Central Time

By Ellen Williams-Masson

MONROE – Jennifer Edge believes in the power of art. Jennifer Edge of the Primitive Soul Art Studio guides a home-school class of art students as they select images for an “I have a dream” collage in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Pictured, from left, are John Keizer, Vincent Carus, Calli Vestin and Spencer Vestin.
Times photo: Ellen Williams-Masson

Creating art can help reshape life experiences that may be too painful for words, providing an outlet for emotions that may be therapeutic in the hands of an experienced art therapist.

“Sometimes clients aren’t able to talk about what has happened to them, or maybe they have retold and retold their stories, but when you bring in the art something different happens, something can change,” Edge said.

Edge is an art therapist at the Primitive Soul Art Studio in Monroe.

“When we put those experiences into art, we can process them and get them out. We can put our anger into the art; we can break things and then make something new out of it. It’s almost like a mirror they can look into Š and sometimes there’s a moment of ‘aha.’”

Edge has a master’s degree in art therapy and is an outpatient and in-home art therapist for Oregon Mental Health Services. Edge also works as a teen specialist for the Parental Stress Center in Madison, which offers peer support to parents and families under stress.

Through serving as the Parent Stressline coordinator, Edge helps maintain a free and confidential resource for parents experiencing stress.

The third hat Edge wears is as owner of the Primitive Soul Art Studio, where she offers traditional art classes as well as individual and group art therapy. She said that it was important for her to make the studio a welcoming place for everyone, and having a mixture of traditional art classes with professional art therapy sessions helps protect client privacy.

“I wanted to make it a place where there’s no stigma about walking through the door,”

Edge said. “No one knows why anyone is coming in here. In a small community it’s really important that we have confidentiality.”

Edge will be presenting a talk, “In search of the primitive soul,” at the Monroe Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25. After using case studies to illustrate how art therapy can be used to complement other therapy methods, Edge will help attendees find their “primitive soul” through a 30-minute art making session.

“I define a primitive soul as a being that expresses whatever they feel, however they feel, through art, without holding back, without inhibitions,” Edge said. “A primitive soul creates because of their instinctual call to create.”

Edge said that people are born into the world with a primitive desire to create, but that innate passion can be lost as people become more inhibited about expressing themselves through art.

“As an art therapist, I believe it is my calling to help individuals uncover their primitive soul, finding the artist within and helping the individual bring their creative soul out into the world,” she said.

Edge lives in Oregon but decided to open the art studio in Monroe because she identified a need in the area. Through open studio times for families and a large home-school program during the day, she is reaching out to an increasing number of people in the community.

Her studio pioneered the Shakespeare Project, a drama workshop for youth that compares our modern culture with characters and topics in the works of William Shakespeare to combat themes of abuse and violence.

This year’s program will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays from March 8 until May 31, culminating in a performance by the kids at the Monroe Arts Center in May.

Participants will have the opportunity to work with actors from the American Players Theater on Friday, April 6 as well as attend a performance at the theater in Spring Green in June.

The Shakespeare Project has been supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board since its inception in 2005 and is open to children ages 10 to 18 years old. Applications are due by March 1 and more information is available at the Primitive Soul Art Studio, 325-5268, or at www.primitivesoulart.com.

Source:http://www.themonroetimes.com/m122part.htm