Hello, everyone. I hope this finds you well wherever you are.
The Ukrainian War
The Russia’s invasion into Ukraine is horrifying and worrying. The great concern for the whole world is our safety. Is it in our control? The war has evoked my old childhood memories that I was in the crowd of a peace protest against the Gulf War at the Hiroshima Memorial Park. Wars are something that we learn from textbooks and imagine in movies, but this is real. I am again thrown into a place of feeling anxious and fearful. Just like two years ago, the whole world went into the pandemic, and we were forcibly put in an unknowing future. Have you been impacted by the news at your personal, and professional level? Is there something that has been triggered somehow somewhere in yourself, in your body right now? The images that come into my eyes everyday are disturbing and it feels to me that I am repeatedly traumatised. Needless to say, those who are at the war are psychologically traumatised now and this will pass onto the next generations.
As a psychotherapist, I am paying attention to the impact on me by the Ukrainian war – where do I feel in my body? What images am I seeing in my drawing? What would be possibly passed onto my clients unconsciously? I know I need to move and draw to respond to this situation. Creativity helps our mind and body more integrated – Moving the body and painting images helps us to understand what we are experiencing and feeling internally. Anna Freud says that creativity is the way to survive (Ogden, 2018). We again need to survive the uncertain world and our weapons are the body, painting brushes, colours and music.
Looking for Supervisees
I am now looking for supervisees (those who are already qualified as creative arts therapists, psychotherapists, counsellors, and other allied health professionals) who would like to do supervision with me from June 2022. As a trainee supervisor, I will offer low cost sessions until the end of this year. My approach is creative, psychodynamic and body based. If you are integrating body, movement awareness, and creativity into your clinical practice and seeking a safe practice, please get in touch with me. Please send me an expression of interest at https://forms.gle/v25doj58MZZ2xfan7
Offering Dance Movement Psychotherapy Sessions – F2F or Telehealth
If you may like to try dance movement psychotherapy sessions either face-to-face (in Adelaide) or telehealth, please get in touch with me. I welcome referrals too. Please find more information on dance movement psychotherapy here.
Upcoming Events
Move & Connect – A monthly moving space for all on 24th March 2022 7-8pm at Room 7, Mitcham Community Centre. The rest will be in April (TBC), 17th May, 14 June, 21 July and 18 Aug.
Peer Supervision – Online Platform for Practitioners on 20th March 2022 at 3-4:30pm (Sydney time).
Autumn Body Mapping Workshop on the 6th and 7th May 2022 in Adelaide – A nurturing personal creative journey. A body based, creative approach and self-exploration for practitioners. You can find more details at Body Mapping Workshop (Announcement) | Dance Movement Therapy (intertwinebodymind.com)
We continue to live in the uncertain world. I hope you too can find time and space to go creative and get in touch with your own creativity for your survival. Thank you for reading my newsletter.
Reference
Ogden, P. (2018). Play, Creativity, and Movement Vocabulary. Chapter 5 in Marks-Tarlow, T., Solomon, M. & Siegel, D. (2018). Play and Creativity in Psychotherapy. New York: W W Norton & Company