International Art Therapy in Nica, Central America, Jan 2013

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Hello artsy friends! =)

I am reposting the reflection video I made after a group of us Art Therapists went to Nicaragua to do Art Therapy with a non-profit organization called Viva Nicaragua (now relocated/fleed to Costa Rica due to safety issues). I absolutely love the work they do.

In this video, I reflect on some of the Art Therapy work we did there. I worked with a girl’s group! We did yoga, art, and movement. We had an art show and it was so heartwarming walking through the community where the girls yelled out ¨The Strong Girls¨ as we all held hands and walked proudly.

There was also another group there from a school in NYC that was there to do a social activist project. They had decided to do a mural at a school nearby where they played soccer with the kids there. However, none of them had experience painting a mural while also involving the community. My professor told them that they had an Art Therapist (me!!!) who wrote her thesis on mural painting! I was so so thrilled to leave my original group during our free time to go and led this mural. It was the experience of a lifetime for me.

Often times Carrie (founder of the non-profit) and her coworker reflected how much I was glowing and told me jokingly (but kind of seriously haha!) that I should quit grad school and just travel and paint community murals like this one. I felt so seen in my purpose. Even though I finished grad school and am so happy to have my license, I cannot wait to have projects like these be a bigger part of the work I do as an Art Therapist!

I hope you enjoyed this video! It was so much fun to make and is such a precious keepsake for me!

Yours truly,

Rachel Howard, LMFT, ATR-BC, RYT