Trauma Healing At The Clay Field: A Sensorimotor Art Therapy Approach

Description

Using clay in therapy taps into the most fundamental of human experiences - touch. This book is a comprehensive step-by-step training manual that covers all aspects of 'Work at the Clay Field', a sensorimotor-based art therapy technique. The book discusses the setting and processes of the approach, provides an overview of the core stages of Gestalt Formation and the Nine Situations model within this context, and demonstrates how this unique focus on the sense of touch and the movement of the hands is particularly effective for trauma healing in adults and children. The intense tactile experience of working with clay allows the therapist to work through early attachment issues, developmental setbacks and traumatic events with the client in a primarily nonverbal way using a body-focused approach. The kinaesthetic motor action of the hands combined with sensory perception can lead to a profound sense of resolution with lasting therapeutic benefits. With photographs and informative case studies throughout, this book will be a valuable resource for art therapists and mental health professionals, and will also be of interest to complementary therapists and bodyworkers.

Author description

Cornelia Elbrecht graduated with an MA in Art Education in Germany in 1974. In the following decade she trained in Gestalt Therapy, Bioenergetics and in various arts therapies at the School for Initiatic Therapy in the Black Forest, Germany and underwent a 10 year Jungian Analysis. She has worked as a registered art therapist for the past 35 years in Germany and Australia. She is director of the School for Initiatic Art Therapy in Victoria, Australia, and teaches art therapy internationally.

Table of contents

Introduction.; Part I. Understanding the Hands.; 1. The Hands.; 2. The Language of our Hands.; Part II. Setting the Scene for Healing Trauma.; 3. The Setting of Work at the Clay Field.; 4. The Process of Work at the Clay Field.; 5. Trauma Healing.; Part III. Working with Adults.; 6. The Nines Situations.; 7. Your Story.; Part IV. Work at the Clay Field with Children.; 8. The Differences between Accompanying Children and Adults.; 9. Working with Traumatized Children.; References.; Acknowledgements.; Index.