مؤسسة حياه للتنمية والدمج المجتمعي Development and community integration
From our long work and experience with the marginalized and stigmatized category, we have found out that art is the best method to express and rebuild lives. Since art gives a meaning for existing and living, it also changes a lot of the psychological formation and aids the treatment and ability to fight back. As well as, being an effective and available tool that helps understand feelings and needs, and to appropriately deal with them
What Life Foundation for Development and Community Integration does through art therapy sessions, psychodrama and enunciation, revolves around increasing self conscious and treating psychological traumas through expressing yourself in a creative manner, to culminate a pilot project between Life Foundation and Art Agent Foundation, named “Illuminated Dreams” regarding social sculpting through dreams, enunciation and conversations
This is a women cultural project that aims to support women after their release from prison, and to dive into their dreams, as well as, to liberate them from the fear, pain and life pressures, in addition to encourage them to start a new life, thanks to a documentary and guide which portrays this whole experience
A workshop regarding dreams have been held over 3 days in both of the foundation’s headquarters in Al Zagazig and Alexandria. The workshop also included enunciation, painting and psychodrama
The following is a summarized report of the workshop’s first day activities
A meeting have been held with a number of cases and their families in the Alexandria branch, to have a discussion regarding their dreams whether they were lovely or terrifying dreams
Examples: One of them dreamt that one of her relatives was trying to throw her off a mountain while she resisted. Another had dreamt of snakes. Someone else dreamt of the night before an examination, and many more different dreams
This indicates that these dreams are based on daily events, the cultural adaptation and many types of feelings carried within a person. There was a great attendance in such moments and all the cases have been touched by it
Later on, they were offered a set of different colours and colored paper. The cases were asked to embody their dreams on paper whether through colours or by cutting the coloured paper and gluing it
(The art of Origami)
A number of beautiful and expressive paintings were produced and discussed
The workshop had the following results
The cases felt happy and had their moods uplifted
Gave them the opportunity to present their thoughts and experiences, then to share them which led to a sense of emotional relief
Felt safe to have people to share their dreams with
Passionate about attending the next day’s activities and to learn new things
Workshop’s second day activities
The session began with various gymnastics, breathing exercises and some jumping and group screaming, then the laughing got louder and an air of excitement has set in, later on, came the stage of psychodrama therapy, and then the workshop rules have been set which are
To feel safe and trusting
That what happens on the inside will not be shared outside, which meant protecting everyone’s privacy
To not judge each other
To not tell lies
Then they started discovering themselves by relieving their pain, as well as, helping others through group exercises that include gymnastics, breathing, meditation, role playing, acting and yoga
Later they talked about how everyone aims to achieve something, and that some may get there, others may stop then reach their goals, while there are several who permanently stop and never achieve anything. Determination is like muscles, it’s necessary to believe that you’re different and that you can achieve whatever you want. So why are there people who haven’t reached their dreams? and how is there people who have suffered all their lives, and struggled until they became international icon
The workshop’s effect on the participants
One of the participants said “The goal, hope, life and determination to not be helpless and to achieve our dreams no matter what, and that our inside is beautiful so we mustn’t let despair destroy us, since there many who have it worse psychologically and physically but we have to say AlhamduliAllah all the time
Another participant verifies “The workshop helped me discover sides in my personality that I didn’t know about, and I’m still learning and developing in every workshop I attend, as well as, the happiness that I feel is so great when I participate in making a person happy or relieving some of their pain
A case also added “The problem doesn’t lie in the determination but the problem is money
At the end of the day, a meeting have been held with many art therapists (painting, enunciation, psychodrama and theatre) to discuss the project, the category it’s targeted at, the benefits, the impact of the arts on them, and new suggestions to achieve a greater benefit
Workshop’s third day activities
This workshop was held in the foundation’s Zagazig headquarters, where it followed the same path as in Alexandria with different cases
And it became apparent that there are no differences in the cases’ dreams and mentality, they are all simple people and their dreams don’t get around their reality with it’s pain and culture
It’s worth noting that the team of art therapy specialists and life skills trainers in Life Foundation, consisted of Rasha Al Saheely, and Hagar Magdy, that have carried on the sessions and the organization of the art therapy sessions… As well as, the psychodrama specialist John Milad held a preliminary session to start a series of psychodrama sessions for the current and coming cases of Life Foundation
