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The following constitute either a combination
of focusing/meditation, a focusing-oriented arts therapy approach, and verbal
psychotherapy, or any of these approaches exclusively.
Art
Therapy: In art therapy one works with an art therapist trained to
use art to promote insight and change. There
is a spontaneous way of working with our clients and a more directed way as
well. An art therapist will
accompany the individuals as they bring their ideas, emotions, situations into
art expression. The art therapist
will facilitate this process and trust that what is presented in the art will
be an important part of the person's process towards emotional growth and
resolution of conflicts. At those
times when some direction by the therapist is warranted (to help the individual
get past a resistance or impasse of some sort), an art therapist will design
ways that can help the person take the next step towards recovery. In this way, the art therapy provides a tool to keep people
connected with their inner self and to help that self unfold in a natural and
healing way. Important also, is the fact that art therapy leaves a person with a
self-expressive tool that can be developed as a creative outlet, one that brings
relaxation, motivation, insights and satisfaction.
Relationships:
Being in Relationships: the focus on this instructional and experiential group work
is on how to feel more secure in forming meaningful relationships with others.
One is taught to listen to the others in one's life in an empathic and in
a mutually progressive way. The
ability to state your needs, to ask for these needs to be met by others close to
us, the ability to experience one's self as unique and maintain one's integrity
within relationships - all of these
are addressed. It is about communicating in an authentic manner to those to whom
we wish to become closer to or to whom we want to respect in a more distant
relationship. An interactive focusing model will be taught and practiced which
will help the individuals within the group connect with the other members and
which will carry over into their respective lives outside the group.
Eating
Disorders: People who have
eating disorders need to regain a connection with their bodies such that they
understand how they hold their worries, concerns, and their feelings in general.
They need to bring their body self and their thinking self together
harmoniously and respectfully instead of being in turmoil through a constant
battle with these two aspects of
their experience. They need to
acquire a gentle way of accepting themselves unconditionally.
Through a focusing-oriented approach, either through art therapy or
focusing/meditation these parts start to function more and more as one, a
bodymind. I like to teach people
who are dealing with any kind of eating problem a way of living from a greater
body awareness as well as a way of dealing with their perpetual critics, both
their internal ones and those to which they are subjected to from the outside.
Emotions:
Our emotions offer us an inroad to our self.
They are the self's truest expression.
We have been taught that emotions are not to be trusted, that they are
bad to show, and that we must learn to control them.
Once we develop a new understanding and appreciation of what the emotions
represent and how to be with them, we can develop a more empathic way of being
with ourselves. It gives us a
greater sense of control to know how to be with our emotions when they happen. The focusing process encourages this reconnection to one's
body and a respect for how our bodies can give us much information that will
shed new light on our lives and our possibilities.
Breast
Cancer: In
my work with women with breast cancer at the Marvelle Koffler Centre in the Mt.
Sinai Hospital, I have come to appreciate the value of helping people to see the
connections between their thoughts, their emotions, their body, their spirit,
their lives, their hopes, their resentments, and their dreams.
Once they are involved in the therapies I offer, they get a sense of how
much they can do for themselves to bring life into their bodies and spirits.
It gives them the power and hope to become what they have not yet
explored. It is very exciting to open them to their minds and hearts
and see what life is still available to them.
The art and focusing bring fresh air into their lives and with it hope, a
sense of wonder, aliveness, newness, and appreciation for who they are as an
individual and all that they have seen and experienced.
Dealing with a life-threatening disease proves to be a major catalyst
that gets them in touch with a higher vision of themselves.
The
Expressive Therapies: When I work with my clients I incorporate many of
the arts to accommodate people's specific ways of
expressing themselves. These
include: spontaneous and directive art tasks, role
playing, poetry and creative writing, authentic
movement, and occasionally music (with children, used as
an outlet of expression). It
is necessary when doing therapy to follow an impulse to
its deepest expression.
Often I might ask someone, for example, to show how their art might
express itself if they were to rhymically move their
body.
A poem could come out of a painting, and so on.
Self-discovery
Through Art, Dreams, and/or Poetry: Here is an
opportunity for you to have your spontaneously drawn art
or any dream you have had responded to by a registered
art therapist.
Barbara Merkur has been trained in art therapy and the expressive
therapies and is certified in focusing which is a
client-centred approach to therapy. She
is inviting you to explore the personal meaning of your
art, poem, or dream.
For the past 10 years she has provided this kind of feedback to her
students-in-training to do art therapy. She
gives them her analysis through comments and often
offers some inquiries to encourage further
self-discovery and personal growth of their clients.
Doing
spontaneous art is much like creating a dream in the here-and-now; its
implications are quite similar. She
invites, as well, your dreams or poems and she will encourage, from what she
sees or learns from your work, some further exploration, at times offering you a
directive for further art expression to help you gain meaning and a greater
sense of control over your life.
A
$40 cheque must accompany the mailing. Please
mail this along with any associations you make to your art.
This can be free association or just the context out of which it was
drawn or made. Any thoughts you may
have about it would be helpful. Also
something about yourself such as your family and work situation, or any
information that would help with the deciphering of your dream or art - up
to one page in length.
You
can take photographs or slides preferably of your sculptures or art or just send
the picture itself with a self
addressed stamped envelope for having it returned to you. The pictures will be
returned to you with a written sheet of comments and thought-provoking questions
about it for you to think about.
Please
note that confidentiality will be respected.
Also, note that this is not therapy.
This is merely well-educated speculations that are not stated as
definitively correct interpretations. It
is more geared towards offering you a stimulus for further self-exploration.
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