Initiatic_Art_Therapy

CERTIFICATE IN INITIATIC ART THERAPY

Queensland
2010 - 2012

Cornelia Elbrecht BA. MA. (Art Ed)
Art Therapist AATR

Course Outline

About Initiatic Art Therapy

Course Outline

The Initiatic Art Therapy Training Program comprises a series of 8 weekends for a limited number of interested professionals and students over the period of two years. The aim of the courses is to enable its participants to integrate art therapy approaches into the existing framework of their current practice, be it as counsellor, social worker, teacher, nurse, artist or psychologist.

The focus will be on the experience of ongoing group work with art therapy in an environment suitable for personal development. At the same time the approaches and techniques will be made transparent in order to make it possible to acquire profound techniques of working with visual arts in a therapeutic way. The 144 group hours will include experiential workshops, seminars, co-counselling and supervision.

The name ‘initiatic’ is derived from the term initiation. Initiatic Art Therapy has the potential to initiate an inner process that unfolds like a mystical journey leading towards healing and meaning. Guided Drawing represents the key approach of Initiatic Art Therapy. It provides an archetypal structure that applies the philosophy of Jungian Depth Psychology to universal, formal elements that appear virtually in all drawings, such as a line or a circle or a square.

The aim of the course is not so much to teach one particular approach such as Initiatic Art Therapy, but to understand it as a visual principle, an open concept that can be translated into a wide range of different contexts. While a lot of the focus of the training program will be on Initiatic Art Therapy, many other art therapy approaches will also be taken into account. The aim is to teach a variety of different tools suitable for a variety of different client groups and inner needs.

We will look at visual tools such as magazine pictures, photographs, Tarot cards, Angel Cards, toy figures…. How they can stimulate the inner process, and how they differ from or can be combined with the art making process.

The weekends will be structured as a mixture of seminars and experiential workshops. Individual self-expression, awareness, personal and transpersonal growth will be emphasized.

Usually half of the day will be devoted to a three-hour workshop. These sessions are designed for personal growth. There will be an initial period of art making, followed by group sharing, receiving and giving feedback. These sessions can assist to clarify biographical themes and enhance inner depth, grounding, creativity and contact with the Self.

Hence the step from a subjective, individual experience to a more objective understanding can be taken.

Co-counselling and supervision will be part of the training. Co-counselling will enable participants to experience the structure of one-to-one sessions, group members working with each other or with the instructor. This also means that knowledge about the different dynamics of group work and individual sessions can be gained.

The eight weekends should equip participants with fundamental skills to work with art making processes in a therapeutic way.

Participants are asked to commit themselves to all eight sessions. The maximum group size will be 16. All sessions will run from Friday 5.30pm to Sunday 5.00pm.

Total cost for the eight training sessions will be $2800, payable in two annual instalments of $700. A deposit of $350 is due on application. Should an applicant be not accepted the deposit will be returned in full. Course fee payments are due at the first, third, fifth and seventh weekend. The deposit will roll over and account as payment for the last module. Should someone be unable to attend one particular weekend, an effort will be made to find compensation on an individual basis to enable the person to catch up with the rest of the course material. In order to receive the training certificate at the end, the required hours must have been attended and all modules must have been paid for. The cost covers tuition fees including all course and art materials (venue fees not included).

Worldview Centre offers an accommodation package incl. all meals, or just meals only. For each weekend, it is $167 per person for accommodation and all meals (from dinner on Friday to afternoon tea on Sunday). For those staying offsite and not having breakfast or dinner, the rate is $103 (if you also want dinner, that’s $20 per meal). All rooms are twin share and one triple share. The accommodation is “farm stay style”, which means shared bathrooms (none of the rooms have private ensuites). The other option is to stay in a motel or B&B near by. If you wish to stay nearby, visit our Guest Information page for links and downloads. On that same page you can find directions by road and public transport.

Cornelia Elbrecht BA. MA. (Art Ed), ATR, has more than 30 years of experience as an art therapist. She has studied at the School for Initiatic Art Therapy in Germany, also Jungian and Gestalt therapy, Bioenergetics, Naturopathy, Shiatsu and Zen-meditation. She worked as founder, co-worker and trainer in 'Neuenzell', a centre for self-awareness and meditation in the Black Forest. She is founder and director of 'Claerwen Retreat' in Apollo Bay, Victoria. She has lectured in Art Therapy at RMIT and at the MA course in Art Therapy at Latrobe University. Cornelia is a registered professional member of ANZATA, the Australian and New Zealand Art Therapy Association. She has been ANZATA’s Regional Co-ordinator for Victoria and served the national body as president, vice-president and committee member for the past 14 years. Cornelia gives courses and individual sessions internationally, throughout Australia and in private practice in Apollo Bay and Melbourne.

Each unit represents one weekend of 18 group hours. The six units will not strictly focus on the course content lined out below, as the group’s needs and special interests will also be taken into account.

This weekend will examine art therapy principles that integrate well into the context of cognitive therapies. They include simple, though profound approaches that are suitable for a variety of different client groups. We will cover:

We will explore the symbolic language of dreams, visions, images and Active Imagination and learn how to communicate in a symbolic context with the inner world.

The following weekends will emphasize a more process-oriented approach. In this first one we will concentrate on the archetype of the Heroic Journey and the Twelve Phases of the Transformation-Journey. Emphasis will be put on how this journey translates into graphic symbols, and how the development of consciousness expresses itself as a visual process.

In the second part on Initiatic Art Therapy approaches we will explore the psychodynamic principles of the male and female archetypes, how they are pictured symbolically , experienced in myths and fairy tales and reflected in the body. We will look at negative and positive aspects of the father archetype (man-eating giant versus solar god) and the animus (Dionysus and Apollo); and experience the female as fertility symbols, earth mother, anima, priestess and as night-sea-journey…

The application of the fine arts in the therapeutic process requires intricate knowledge of:

The first day will focus on mask making as an expression of the inner face and the drama of the soul.

The following day will be devoted to Mandala Drawing as a healing exercise and as a means of crisis intervention.

Clay Field Therapy is a powerful tactile medium that can profoundly evoke, structure and transform our life story. All our past experiences, especially those that involve touching and being touched are stored in the memory of our hands. In the contact with the clay we can retrace how we learnt to “grasp” the world. And, if necessary, the process enables us to rewrite the script of our relationship with the world. Clay Field Therapy is widely used in Germany to assist, especially children, to deal with learning difficulties, disabilities and trauma. It is a registered trademark. Only authorized therapists are eligible to teach this method.

The second clay weekend will focus more on the understanding of the psychodynamic processes as they occur in the Clay Field and how these processes can be supported in therapeutic sessions.

Should you wish to enrol in the Initiatic Art Therapy Training Program Cornelia requests you to provide her with some information about your professional background.

Please download the questionnaire, fill it in and return it to Cornelia, together with a $350.00 deposit for a place in the upcoming training group (mailing address is on the form).

Cornelia reserves the right not to accept an application for the training program, in which case the deposit will be refunded in full. Otherwise the deposit will account as payment for the last weekend.