Art therapy in the Global South: Now and next
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Keywords
art therapy, south africa
Abstract
This article describes the development of art therapy education and practice in Botswana, Chile, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia, as discussed in a panel presentation, Art Therapy in the Global South, at the University of South Africa’s conference, Training Art Therapists for Social Justice. Panellists discussed the challenges and successes of varied educational paradigms, from paraprofessional training programmes to higher education courses and degree programmes. Among the panellists were citizens of the countries under discussion, as well as art therapy educators from the Global North, who worked as visiting professionals in these countries. The panellists touched on practices that have emerged from these trainings, ethical considerations for the development of Indigenous education and practice models, and questions of social justice related to the development of culturally relevant, context-specific art therapy. Included in the article are key questions identified by panellists prior to the conference, a summary of the conference presentation, and visual and written reflections from the panellists post-conference.
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Catherine Hyland Moon , School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Global Alliance for Africa’s Therapeutic Arts Program, United States of America, Kenya, Tanzania
Catherine Hyland Moon is Professor Emerit, Department of Art Therapy and Counselling, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of Studio Art Therapy: Cultivating the Artist Identity in the Art Therapist and contributing editor of Materials and Media in Art Therapy: Critical Understandings of Diverse Artistic Vocabularies. She has worked in varied settings, from a psychiatric hospital to home-based care. Her current art therapy practice is focused on co-leading cross-cultural therapeutic arts training programmes in East Africa through the Global Alliance for Africa and co-facilitating free community art studios in the United States aimed at cultivating community across social differences.
Dr Hayley Berman, University of Johannesburg; Lefika la Phodiso, South Africa (founding director); Woodford Children’s Homes, United Kingdom; Institute of Group Analysis, United Kingdom
Dr Hayley Berman is an Art Psychotherapist and Group Analyst. She had written 'Dreaming Revolutions, Group analysis beyond words - the Elaborative Matrix, and has been hosting Social Dreaming Matrices since 2006 predominantly within contexts of political and social trauma.
Nelly Adhiambo, Token of Mercy CBO, Kenya; programme officer Global Alliance for Africa
Nelly Adhiambo is a teacher and counsellor who has been in practice for 20 years. Her work includes working with children and young adults in school and mentoring programmes. She is a curriculum expert who has participated in forming educational and empowerment curriculums for both boys and girls at county and national levels. She is also the founder and director of Token of Mercy, a community-based organisation in slums in Nyalenda (Kenya), where she uses therapeutic art interventions to create awareness about sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence. Adhiambo is a poet and music lover who uses the same avenues to spread information about teenage pregnancy and early marriages and the need for economic empowerment among adolescent mothers and women. Her hobbies are writing poems, listening to gospel music, travelling, and crafting.
Pamela Reyes Herrara, Universidad Finis Terrae, Chile
Pamela Reyes (MD PhD) heads the MA program in Health and Art Therapy at Universidad Finis Terrae, Chile, with 16 years teaching art therapy and 12 years leading the first graduate Art Therapy program at the University of Chile. As director of the 2009 Latin American art therapy conference, she's a key member of the Latin American art therapy network. Reyes contributes to the research group on Artistic Education for Social Justice at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and collaborates in their Master of Art Therapy program. Her work explores art, community, and mental health, evident in her private practice and roles in community recovery projects post-natural disasters. A peer reviewer for Art Therapy Online (ATOL) and the Art Therapy journal, she investigates intersections between art education and community art therapy.
Isaac Lema, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science
Isaac S. Lema is a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania. He teaches, co-facilitates seminars, provides supportive supervision to students on various academic issues (including research and clinical supervision), and is also a co-investigator in various research in the department. He has skills in therapeutic art and is an expert on Art Therapy Open Studio, an intervention particularly effective in enhancing psychosocial support for individuals with distress, mental health problems, and mental disorders. He has facilitated various art therapy sessions for individuals and groups in areas including emotional regulation, anger management, trauma, and professional self-care. He is a chairperson of the Mental Health Association of Tanzania (MEHATA) and a National Trainer on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS).
Paola Luzzatto, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, Tanzania
Paola Luzzatto, a philosophy and comparative religions scholar with a doctorate, trained in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmith College, University of London. She further specialized in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Institute. Luzzatto worked for eight years with psychiatric patients in London and later established the art therapy service at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, earning the 2004 Clinical Award from the American Art Therapy Association. In Tanzania, she served as an honorary lecturer, developing innovative art therapy protocols for trauma and addiction. Luzzatto, an accomplished author, wrote books on art therapy, a biography, and three children's books.
Kestone Lyambai, University of Zambia School of Nursing; Zambia Therapeutic Arts
Lyambai Kestone, MSc in Mental Health and Psychiatry and BSc in Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing from the University of Zambia, is passionate about art therapy. As the Head of the Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry at the University's School of Nursing Sciences, he oversees academic development, research, and staff management. Kestone also directs Therapeutic Art Zambia, a non-profit promoting art therapy. With extensive clinical experience, he excels in patient care. Recognized for his commitment to professional growth, he engages in conferences, presentations, and consultancy work. Kestone's dedication to advancing mental health through art therapy is evident in his multifaceted roles.
Emma Mills, Southend City Council and MetalCulture, Changing Pathways Women’s Refuge, United Kingdom; Goldsmiths College, University of London UK; Stepping Stones International, Botswana
Emma Mills is a State-registered art psychotherapist, supervisor, and teacher with extensive experience in child and adolescent mental health in the United Kingdom National Health Service, Women's Aid (refuges and outreach centres), community projects, local authority teams, schools. She is also a private practitioner. She worked for ten years as an art teacher and counsellor at St Joseph’s College (Botswana) and lectures at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Mills is the co-author of a paper in the International Journal of Art Therapy on using group art therapy to address domestic violence and its effects on children regarding the shame and silencing surrounding children's experiences of witnessing domestic violence.
Prof. Mavis Osei, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Prof Mavis Osei is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where she also trained as an artist (Bachelor of Arts) and an art educator (Doctor of Arts). She had her art therapy training via a Fulbright scholarship at Long Island University (United States). Her experience in the creation and successful running of two art therapy programmes for about 30 mental health clients for over nine months was the basis for her additional training through a Diploma in Mental Health Studies. She has also worked with children for over ten years and facilitates a vacation art workshop for children. She is the author of West Africa’s first Art Therapy master’s programme, which started in September 2019 and has successfully graduated two students.
Joanna Pearce, Zambia Therapeutic Art
Joanna Pearce trained as an art therapist and did a master’s degree in Advanced Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths (United Kingdom). She worked for the National Health Service in Scotland for over 20 years in adult learning disabilities (forensic and mental health). As part of Zambia Therapeutic Art, she has developed and delivered training to health and social care professionals and trainees since 2014. Pearce trained in trauma treatment through art therapy (TT-AT). In 2022, she supported the piloting of the trauma protocol in Zambia.