Project annotation: the project was proposed by the initiative group “Institute of Integrative Art Therapy” to minimize the traumatic experience of children and people of other age groups affected by the military invasion, using the methods of puppetry and play therapy. The developed project provides for the provision of art centers of Ukraine and rehabilitation centers in Europe, for work with refugees, a permanent room, until the end of hostilities, and in the performance of rehabilitation functions of the post-war state of the country.
To achieve this goal, play therapy rooms will be created, staying in and interacting with them will give the child the opportunity to reveal and express his experiences and feelings, even hidden ones (aggression, fear, resentment, etc.); to learn to independently solve their internal conflicts and problems through the relief provided by the game; to create such an atmosphere for the child that reflects all his feelings, in which he can accept responsibility for his actions.
The purpose of the project: the traumatic stress of the long war creates large-scale and unprecedented challenges for the psychologist-practitioner, which will require coordinated work and constant methodological improvement. Child psychologists, who are already holding the psychological front and will continue to support the future of Ukraine, should receive systematic help in the new conditions of life in the country.
The “toy therapy room” project aims to: promote the integrity of the child’s development, improve the quality of his life, maximize its realization in interpersonal and social spaces (while taking into account the child’s internal and external limitations by means of creative expression of problems).
The work will be carried out using the methods of integrative art therapy and play therapy. These are a number of art-therapeutic approaches, as a rule, aimed at restoring the integrity of the emotional, behavioral, cognitive, physiological levels of the child’s functioning and his emotional state. Such art therapy includes the recognition and acceptance of problematic or traumatic aspects, with the aim of integrating them into a single whole, establishing harmonious contacts with the environment and ecological communication with people, maintaining health and facilitating adaptation in war conditions.
Risks and conditions of project organization:
An important component of the implementation of the toy therapy room system is the safety of the life processes of children and psychological support staff during classes, therefore it will be necessary to have a shelter in the room where the room is provided;
Qualified support for victims of military operations on the territory of Ukraine will be the next condition for the organization of a therapeutic room, therefore, the financial support of employees is an integral condition for implementation;
The constant supply of therapeutic space with toys requires funding to allow for the creation of diversity and abundance of materials.
Expected results:
- Opening of a toy therapy room in every art therapy space of Ukraine and volunteer centers in Europe for work with refugees;
- The possibility of permanent art therapeutic support for children of Ukraine;
- Minimizing war injuries in children and adults;
- Creating a favorable social and psychological climate in art therapy centers;
- Preventing secondary traumatization of the participants of the therapeutic process by their actions or inaction and, if necessary, redirecting children and parents to other specialists (psychotherapist, neurologist, etc.);
- Application of intersectoral interaction and multidisciplinary approach to solving problems that arise;
- Involvement of highly qualified specialists, practical psychologists, art therapists in the provision of psychological assistance.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of project implementation will be determined using:
- Reporting documentation to be submitted every month by heads of centers;
- Keeping a log of visits to the center and the toy therapy room including;
- Distribution of informative publications (permitted by the Code of Ethics of a psychologist) in social networks, primarily on the pages of art centers;
- Conducting monitoring, which involves filling out questionnaires by parents and children who are participants in the project.
Project implementation plan:
- Search for premises, for each individual art center, to implement a therapeutic space;
- Supplying rooms with toy material and renewing it every month;
- Conducting supervision sessions for art therapists working in this direction.
- Permanent art therapy support for children by art therapists and psychologists who are participants in the “Toy Therapy Room” project.