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.

Visual Tools

We will cover a range of different art making approaches:

• Working with chalk crayons and oil pastels
• Finger paints, water-colours and acrylics
• Plasticine
• Clay
• Mask making
• Collage

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.

Therapeutic Tools

In addition I will use counselling techniques based on:

• Narrative Therapy
• Process Oriented Therapy
• Active Imagination
• Gestalt Therapy
• Myths and Fairytales
• Jungian Depth Psychology
• Transpersonal Psychology
• Bodywork
• Meditation
• Yoga

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.

Art Therapy Training

Within this context we will look increasingly at underlying structures,

• Patterns of conflict and resolution,
• Emerging psycho-dynamic patterns
• Processes of transformation and healing.

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.

Group supervision for those who work with clients will be available.

Seminars will include case histories and other references.

All these sessions are designed to:

• Train the awareness of the senses
• Learn to listen
• Learn to see
• Acquire cognitive, emotional and intuitive understanding of the visual language
• Perceive visual images as conscious and unconscious acts of communication
• Gain a wide range of personal experience with the imagery and dynamics of archetypes
• Perceive others drawing and to understand their non verbal messages
• Learn non-verbal intervention skills through
  • Use of varying art materials
  • Setting and timing of a process
  • Graphic means
• Perceive psycho-somatic patterns of communication
• Understand the relationship between body, mind and spirit.

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

Dates

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.

The year 2010 dates are July 30 – August 1 and November 5 - 7

Together we will work out suitable dates for 2011.

Costs

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).

Venue

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.

About Cornelia

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.

To contact Cornelia, phone: 03 5237 7064
email Cornelia
visit Cornelia's website

Course Structure

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.

1. FAMILY ART THERAPY: The Family of Origin

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:

• Art therapy as a non-verbal medium of communication
• Communication in groups with the assistance of art therapy
• Visualising the roles and dynamics of relationships within families and other groups
• Working with crayons and plasticine
• Collage as a means of “piecing myself together”
• Creating a ‘Self Box’

2. SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF ART THERAPY:

Part I: Animals, Plants and Landscapes

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.

• Ways how to inspire dreams, the imagination, a sense of an inner path and meaning
• Working with given objects to evoke imagination
• Workshops:
• Working with the Chakras and symbols
• Creating stories through telling, writing, drawing and painting
• Creating a totem, a sacred object of power
• Seminar:
• Symbolic meaning of animals, plants and landscapes in the Jungian and transpersonal context
• Gestalt therapy approach to dreams and images
• Intervention skills through the use of symbolic objects and images.

3. SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF INITIATIC ART THERAPY:

Part II: The Transformation-Journey

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.

• Cutting and Pasting as ‘male’ activities
• Workshop: The Heroic Quest
• Seminar: The Twelve Phases of the Transformation-Journey; development of consciousness expressed in the language of Guided Drawing
• Workshop with Guided Drawing using crayons.
• Workshop: Co-counselling with Guided Drawing

4. SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF INITIATIC ART THERAPY:

Part III: The Hero and the Great Mother

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...

• Workshop: Body-awareness, movement and Guided Drawing
• Seminar: Guided Drawing: The primary shapes with a male and a female connotation and their significance in the therapeutic process.
• Workshop: Guided Drawing using crayons and finger-paints.
• Co-counselling session with Guided Drawing

5. NON SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF INITIATIC ART THERAPY:

The Structure

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

• Line quality
• Use of space
• Application of colour
• Significance of rhythm
• Effects of different art materials
• Diagnostic categories
• Pathological indicators in art work
• Criteria of intervention
• Crisis intervention
• Only sound knowledge of these criteria allows responsible intervention.
• Workshop with Guided Drawing using crayons and finger-paints.
• Co-counselling session with Guided Drawing

6. MASK MAKING and MANDALA DRAWING

Part I: Mask Making

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

• Finding of an inner character
• Creating a mask
• Painting and decorating the mask
• Coming into play with the inner drama
• Coming into play with others in the group

Part II: Mandala Drawing

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

• Various approaches to Mandalas
• Group-Mandala
• Mandala-Meditations
• Creation of an Individual Mandala
• Seminar: Mari Mandala Assessment Scheme
• Seminar: Mandala as a tool for crisis intervention

7. THE CLAY FIELD ®

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.

• Workshop:
  • Individual art therapy sessions with the Clay Field
• Seminar:
  • Understanding the structure and dynamics of the field
  • Understanding the haptic language of the hands

8. THE CLAY FIELD ®

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.

• The Clay Field as a non-verbal medium of interaction for couples and small groups
• Co-counselling sessions with the Clay Field
• Working with children at the Clay Field
• Developmental stages of childrens work at the Clay Field
• Pathological indicators and their particular expression in the Clay Field
• Therapeutic dialogue, intervention and crisis intervention with the Clay Field
• Aspects of Trauma Healing with the Clay Field

You can download the full course outline for further study by clicking here.

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.

Privacy Policy- Order Policy- Site Map