Art Therapy Program for Refugee Children

Art Therapy is a non-threatening, non-intrusive vehicle that helps traumatized refugee children to symbolically fulfill their impulses, and to externalize the difficult and overwhelming feelings that they are forced to deal with. By recreating in drawings what they have seen, children project their trauma into their artwork, and gain control over it while maintaining a comfortable distance. It is this creative process that relaxes their defenses, and provides a direct access to what they have been suppressing. Through the Art Therapy Program offered at COSTI's Ralph Chiodo Family Immigrant Reception Centre, these traumatized children are provided with a lifeline – the opportunity to work through their pain and fear, and get a second chance at childhood.

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