‘‘The Art and Healing workshop took place at Goethe-Institut between May and June of 2022. The First week was dedicated to basic mental health and abstract base painting sessions. From then, the workshop moved on to self-care and portrait sessions during. The third week was devoted to psychological trauma and automatic writing, followed by Empathic communication and group talk. For the final week, we gave more time to self-portrait and improvised play. The workshop was designed to give relief to the people who were caught between the two crises, and as an introduction to basic mental health -- with a focus on taking better care of one's self and one's community. More importantly, we wanted to integrate art into daily life and to use art for wellbeing practice.’’
Dr. Aung Min
‘‘After 2020 people in Yangon were overwhelmed with double crises. People suffered damages and despair. People were traumatized and there was an urgent need to address the trauma and grow resiliency against long term stress. The art and healing sessions from the program of care at Goethe-Institut focused on creative education and art practices focusing on trauma and encompassed awareness of care and resource development for the community. The art and healing sessions from "Program of Care" covered a number of Talk sessions focusing on awareness about traumatic stress manifestations and resiliency development. They also introduced us to creative education and art for working with trauma victims. Freedom of expression, Individual speaking up in groups, emotional responses and interaction dialogue, drawing, writing, group conversation and improvised theater performances were conducted. The certificate workshop concentrates on introducing capacity and resource building for the youth participants in trauma resiliency, so that they can then initiate supporting others on their own. The results of the workshop were reflected in the strength and happiness of the participants.’’
Dr. San San Oo
