Creative Healing Strategies for Victims of Natural Disasters

When the earthquake shook an area the size of Portugal in southeast Turkey and northern Syria, at least 56 thousand people died, 126 000 suffered non-fatal injuries and at least 2.6 million people were displaced. I was asked by the Psychology Department of Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul to speak about trauma-informed strategies to support large groups affected by a natural disaster. An event such as this earthquake is overwhelming for all involved, even the news were overwhelming to watch. And while the world by now has turned elsewhere, the aftershocks for those millions directly affected will last for years, if not a lifetime…

Recently I stumbled on a collection of studies by Dr Jess Bone, a Research Fellow in Statistics/Epidemiology in the Department of Behavioural Science and Health (UCL) and a member of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health. Bone has conducted extensive research with colleagues on the arts and well-being.

These studies include all the arts and not necessarily arts as therapy…

Neuroception at the Clay Field

Students all over the world learn theory in large, anonymous lecture halls, but then need to practice in small group tutorials. No junior doctor would be allowed to treat patients without the hands-on experience gained in practice sessions. The extensive use of PowerPoint presentations tends to dominate all conferences as a way of managing large groups, and it is the preferred teaching medium online. Zoom has made it possible to facilitate international tutorials over the past 18 months in ways unimaginable not long ago.

Much theory can be communicated in this way; however, our emotional brain craves the connection with others, and our brainstem needs the action patterns of practical application in order to integrate insights. Emotional connection, sensory awareness and the practice of new action patterns all benefit from small group learning.

Embodied Learning - Clay Field Therapy, Guided Drawing and Sensorimotor Integration

Students all over the world learn theory in large, anonymous lecture halls, but then need to practice in small group tutorials. No junior doctor would be allowed to treat patients without the hands-on experience gained in practice sessions. The extensive use of PowerPoint presentations tends to dominate all conferences as a way of managing large groups, and it is the preferred teaching medium online. Zoom has made it possible to facilitate international tutorials over the past 18 months in ways unimaginable not long ago.

Much theory can be communicated in this way; however, our emotional brain craves the connection with others, and our brainstem needs the action patterns of practical application in order to integrate insights. Emotional connection, sensory awareness and the practice of new action patterns all benefit from small group learning.

The Psychophysiology of Touch: Haptic Perception

Haptic perception is the perception through touch. Our hands are superbly fine-tuned perceptual instruments. They play a far more important role for art therapy than has been acknowledged so far…

We Need Touch to Regulate Our Anxiety

Another COVID lockdown, quarantine requirements, back to working remotely and the ensuing social isolation have again highlighted the profoundly human need for embodied contact and touch to regulate our nervous system.
In a London hotel room a few years ago I came across an essay by filmmaker Sebastian Junger where he discusses his experiences as a journalist in an outpost in Korengal Valley in Afghanistan in 2007. He describes war from a neurological perspective stating that while no one wants war, the majority of veterans long to go back because combat gives soldiers an intense experience of connection…

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