Art therapy (Accessories)

Life Foundation for Development and Community Integration works as a link between the prisoners and their society, where they can emulate it through various methods and activities. Among these activities are “handicrafts” which will benefit them by providing a financial source, so they will be productive in their society; also give them hope and optimism, and to remove the hopelessness that is often fatal to the majority of prisoners. Perhaps this step make us more capable of reform and rehabilitation, and makes the prisoner in a good psychological state, which contributes to the abolition of the idea that they are outcasts or undesirables, and this is what we seek to reach.

So, Rasha Al Saheely, art therapy specialist at Life Foundation, has worked on a treatment program based on the formation of “Accessories”, which consists of two workshops. This was the first workshop.

The workshop aimed to:

• Developing people’s creative ability.
• Increase the concentration ability that the individual can master.
• Learn social interaction by working within groups.
• Develop a sense of comfort and satisfaction.

It was by several strategies, including:

• The imagination.
• The foresight.
• Learning by trial and error.

The workshop resulted in:

• Experimentation and finding alternatives and new ideas where they unleashed their imaginations.
• Feeling relax as the workshop was a kind of entertainment.
• The attempting and repetition, the artwork was simple at first and then they improved themselves
• Their sense of confidence when they saw their achievements and their simple artworks was impressive.