Art Therapy The Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture
Elements:
Shared Values,Strategy
Year: 1996
25 Merton Street Toronto Ontario M4S 1A7 (416) 480-0489 (416) 480-1984
The Art Therapy program at The Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture offers individuals
suffering the effects of state torture an opportunity to heal psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually through the spontaneous use of art materials.
The art therapist sees survivors of torture whose needs are determined by an intake worker. Each client is seen individually for an hour a week, some three or four times and others for several months, depending on their need.
Once a relationship has been established and the survivor is settled in the art room, he is invited to use the art materials in any way he wishes. Spontaneous art frees the mind and, with no outside directive, uncensored images flow into the art. Once on paper, the survivor can usually talk about the picture often in the third person. When the session is over the paper and sometimes the images are left behind.
