The project aims to provide psychosocial support activity to reach children and caregivers affected by the explosion in Beirut, including children with disabilities. The project will target 156 persons in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for a period of 4 months. The project will help the most vulnerable children to cope with trauma, loss, feeling of helplessness and to become reconciled to everyday life. Promoting an exchange around inclusive art as mediator of social cohesion, and preventing distress and suffering developing into something more severe, the project will provide PSS sessions, group art therapies based on multi-sensory experiences, and trainings for caregivers. It will also develop intergenerational art activities between children and caregivers. Using support group and the healing power of art to express emotion accesses both visually stored memory and body memory. It assists the individual’s capacity to self-regulate affect and modulate the body’s reactions to traumatic experiences in the earliest stages and to set the stage for eventual trauma integration and recovery. The art will allow for a non-verbal telling, which can make them feel safer and more likely to share their experience; they will grow in confidence and self-esteem. Children, including those with a disability, will discover their own voice, explore different styles of self-expression, organize their thoughts and grow in confidence and self-esteem. With a well-defined and specialized team, the project will ensure services are tailored to best address the children’s strengths and needs and to identify the resources to meet those needs.
Healing through Art
