First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you, Jane. Thank you for the appointment that you have arranged on Tuesday, it provided me with a wonderful opportunity to have a clinical experience. It was extremely fulfilling and inspiring!
At 8 am, we had a “Before class activity” for those children who came earlier, we were making a playdoh together. It was just a very small period of fun, but I could see that the tutor was paying close attention to suggestions of children. For example, during the time I spent there, the girl suggested adding red and blue pigment to make a purple playdoh. The tutor asked her how she knew that. Although she did not sound confident, she replied that it is really important to go to school, there you can learn a lot.
After that, we had a one-hour group art therapy session. What an exciting part it was! The session included sensory, cognitive and symbol activities that allowed children to express themselves. During the process, we could observe many things, including verbal and nonverbal expression. We were patiently examining children’s activities and afterwards we were giving a feedback. This was amazing! This experience once again stimulated my thirst for being an art therapist.
In the afternoon, we had an art workshop for the staff and outreach with a boy who quit school, but will return the next term. In order to ensure safety, they arrange more than one treater for every outreach.
Sandra is a very professional art therapist, I am so excited that I could learn from her. I had a chance to observe how she was coping with her work and I noticed few useful things. She is scrupulous, always attentive to details, has well developed observation skills that help her to notice everything. Moreover, she is very patient and possesses good time management skills. She reminds me that in order to be a good therapist, we always need to be on the alert, stay patient, keep a cool head, and have a mild but firm word. Last but not least, we need to listen respectfully and have a keen eye for every detail.
I feel that I cannot list all the things that I have learnt, all the emotions that I have felt, but I had a wonderful experience that will help me to improve my skills and become a good therapist.
