On the 23rd of September I had the pleasure to be one of the panel of speakers at a forum titled "Healing through Arts" organized by Causeway Exchange, based in Singapore. The forum was held in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), Malaysia.
We had three Malaysians - Me (Vanitha Chandrasegaram) - Dramatherapist; Lim Kar Gee - Music Therapist; Preet Kalsi (based in Kota Kinabalu) - Music Therapist; and three Singaporeans- Deborah - Art Therapist; Alex - Art Therapist, Music Therapist - Music Therapist and Ronald Lay - the moderator of the forum and also the Programme Leader for the MA in Art Therapy at La Salle College, Singapore.
The Deputy Director of Medicine of the Ministry of Health Malaysia, Datuk Dr. Jeyandran Sinnadurai was among the VIPs present at the event. Many of the audience included medical professionals as well as patients and guardians/parents of patients.
It was such a pleasure to connect with other Creative Arts Therapists and to have met and participated at the forum with my fellow Creative Arts therapists.
From the question and answer sessions during the forum, there seem to be an awareness among the audience of the healing effects of the arts.
However there is still a need to educate the general majority of the difference between an Artist/Musician/Dramatist/Dancer and a Creative Arts Therapist (Art therapist/Music Therapist/ Drama Therapist/ Dance Therapist in conducting the sessions.
An artist may come to realize that the art has a healing effect. This seem to have caused many to wrongly identify their work as therapy. A Creative Arts Therapist is also professionally trained to use the arts which they specialize in (they are also artists themselves) in psychotherapy. The work they do has an objectives, expected outcome, structure and psychotherapeutic theories to support the work, which is backed by research.
A person calling themselves a Creative Arts Therapist/Arts Therapist, has to have that particular qualification. Often it is a Master's level qualification in that particular field of specialization, ie. Dramatherapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Dance &a Movement Therapy. An arts therapist would have to have gone through working with mental health or learning disabilities, in places such as an mental health institution, hospital, prison or patients day centre as part of their placement during their training.
I have been working as a Dramatherapist in Malaysia for the past 13 years. As much as it is encouranging to see that there is positive response to the role of the arts in healing. It is my hope that Malaysian will be more aware of the difference between (Creative)Arts Therapists and Artists.
By engaging in creating art, one is able to express themselves. In some cases that's all a person needs. But a person who is dealing with a life crisis, often will need to seek a solution to their problems where they need a professional to help them. That's the job of a Creative Arts Therapist.
It seems like it will probably take another 10 years, hopefully less, for the general public in Malaysia to know of the existence of the Creative Arts Therapies. Probably a lesser time , if there is more support in the health care system (including insurance claims for health care) and government jobs for Creative Arts Therapy professionals. It will be a real shame if it does not happen soon as these forms of therapies have the potential to transform lives in a positive manner in lesser time(number of sessions) than many conventional forms of psychotherapy, as the method and process used in the Creative Arts Therapies have the ability to access the unconscious, which means it reveals the heart of the matter almost immediately.
After the forum, we had several break out sessions. There was a art therapy workshop, a group music session and a Dramatherapy workshop, which I had facilitated.
These are some of the pictures taken during the Dramatherapy breakout session.
We had three Malaysians - Me (Vanitha Chandrasegaram) - Dramatherapist; Lim Kar Gee - Music Therapist; Preet Kalsi (based in Kota Kinabalu) - Music Therapist; and three Singaporeans- Deborah - Art Therapist; Alex - Art Therapist, Music Therapist - Music Therapist and Ronald Lay - the moderator of the forum and also the Programme Leader for the MA in Art Therapy at La Salle College, Singapore.
The Deputy Director of Medicine of the Ministry of Health Malaysia, Datuk Dr. Jeyandran Sinnadurai was among the VIPs present at the event. Many of the audience included medical professionals as well as patients and guardians/parents of patients.
It was such a pleasure to connect with other Creative Arts Therapists and to have met and participated at the forum with my fellow Creative Arts therapists.
From the question and answer sessions during the forum, there seem to be an awareness among the audience of the healing effects of the arts.
However there is still a need to educate the general majority of the difference between an Artist/Musician/Dramatist/Dancer and a Creative Arts Therapist (Art therapist/Music Therapist/ Drama Therapist/ Dance Therapist in conducting the sessions.
An artist may come to realize that the art has a healing effect. This seem to have caused many to wrongly identify their work as therapy. A Creative Arts Therapist is also professionally trained to use the arts which they specialize in (they are also artists themselves) in psychotherapy. The work they do has an objectives, expected outcome, structure and psychotherapeutic theories to support the work, which is backed by research.
A person calling themselves a Creative Arts Therapist/Arts Therapist, has to have that particular qualification. Often it is a Master's level qualification in that particular field of specialization, ie. Dramatherapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Dance &a Movement Therapy. An arts therapist would have to have gone through working with mental health or learning disabilities, in places such as an mental health institution, hospital, prison or patients day centre as part of their placement during their training.
By engaging in creating art, one is able to express themselves. In some cases that's all a person needs. But a person who is dealing with a life crisis, often will need to seek a solution to their problems where they need a professional to help them. That's the job of a Creative Arts Therapist.
It seems like it will probably take another 10 years, hopefully less, for the general public in Malaysia to know of the existence of the Creative Arts Therapies. Probably a lesser time , if there is more support in the health care system (including insurance claims for health care) and government jobs for Creative Arts Therapy professionals. It will be a real shame if it does not happen soon as these forms of therapies have the potential to transform lives in a positive manner in lesser time(number of sessions) than many conventional forms of psychotherapy, as the method and process used in the Creative Arts Therapies have the ability to access the unconscious, which means it reveals the heart of the matter almost immediately.
After the forum, we had several break out sessions. There was a art therapy workshop, a group music session and a Dramatherapy workshop, which I had facilitated.
These are some of the pictures taken during the Dramatherapy breakout session.
The breakout session was only about one hour. There was a question and answer session allocated after the session. It was good to have many questions about how Dramatherapy works.
Some of the feedback includes how it was fun and that it was easy to get into the the creativity. Another feedback from a participant who is already involved in using drama in her work with patients, is about how she felt that she had learn a lot from participating in the workshop.
I would like to thank Shawn Loudsamy and Phan Ming Yen who are the Project Directors of Causway Exchange, Singapore for the opportunity in participating in this event.
