In today's world, the increasing exposure of children to negative and frightening information can cause them great anxiety. The COVID pandemic, possible ecological disasters, the war in Ukraine, and the discrepancies between virtual and real-world experiences are frightening millions of children worldwide. As a result, educators are exploring ways to create and implement health-improving lessons in schools. Our question is whether regular teachers can lead health improvement lessons. We believe the answer is yes. Art therapy, for instance, has been known to help children who have experienced psycho-trauma. Art therapy is an art that consciously uses psychological principles in its creation. The creative process can be used to express and explore feelings, thoughts, and it can help reduce stress, anxiety, fear, as well as improve self-esteem and self-awareness. At the same time, art therapy activities could improve the emotional intelligence of healthy children.
Leonardo da Vinci claimed: "Art is the queen of all sciences, communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world." This is where the intersection of education and the arts can be most evident. We propose a new way of teaching that applies the principles of art therapy to create a methodology that can help children who have experienced psycho-trauma, while also being suitable for healthy children. By avoiding the stigmatization of mentally healthy versus not so well, the lessons based on art therapy principles could be taught by a person who has no psychological education or drawing skills. We will present this approach during the workshop.

Authors:
Darius Radkevicius, Post Traumatica Sanitatem, Public Organisation, Lithuania
Oistein Kristiansen, Earthtree Media, Norway

About the Presenter(s)
Mr Darius Radkevicius is a Independent Scholar at Post traumatica sanitatem, public organisation in Lithuania

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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