November 2009 Vol. 1, Issue 10 (PDF - 16.2Mb) - Department of ...

News Bites Xxxx
Shine 51
NEWS BITES
Art therapy helps to
heal troubled teens
In conjunction with Mental Health Week
(October 4 to October 10), an art exhibition
was held recently at the Travancore School,
Banksia Inpatient Unit. Art therapists and
teachers Elle Assoulin and Luisa Marianni,
as well as art therapy student Frances Allen,
coordinated the exhibition, which put on
show the work of adolescent clients from
the Royal Children’s Hospital Mental
Health Service.
The exhibition aimed to promote
understanding about the role of art therapy
in helping adolescents with a mental illness.
“Creating artwork can help young people
give shape to underlying emotions that they
might find difficult to express in words,”
said art therapist Luisa Marianni. “Artwork
can help our clients to start articulating
their feelings and to get help.
“Inpatients at Banksia unit suffer from a
broad range of psychiatric conditions – from
schizophrenia to anorexia nervosa – and are
therefore amongst the most disadvantaged
in society. Adolescence should be a time
of promise; a time of looking forward to
expanding opportunities in life. The aim of
the art therapy program to balance out an
adolescent’s perspective of their own life
– particularly when they are facing serious
mental health issues – and to give hope.”
Visit www.travancoresch.vic.edu.au