Creative arts for children traumatised by war

25 staff, formal and informal educators, artists, teachers, psychologists and volunteers working at the Paola Biocca Rehabilitation Centre and refugee camps in Amman, Jordan, 12 traumatised child refugees participating in the workshop, relatives and members of the community.

The project involves art therapy training for Jordanian staff, formal and informal educators, artists, teachers, psychologists and volunteers working at the Paola Biocca Rehabilitation Centre, an orthopaedic rehabilitation centre dedicated to the memory of aid worker Paola Biocca, who died in 1999 during a humanitarian mission to Kosovo.

The Paola Biocca Rehabilitation Centre was launched in 2015 by YouAble in partnership with the Italian anti-landmine campaign and the Jordanian association LLCR- Life Line Consultancy and Rehabilitation to assist Jordanian citizens and refugees in need of prosthetic limbs, and particularly victims of landmines.

The number of children, particularly from Syria, receiving treatment has risen sharply in recent years. This has made it necessary to use non-verbal and art therapy tools during rehabilitation to allow the youngsters to express their feelings and enable their trauma to emerge and be treated.

The training in the use of art therapies involves an intensive seven-day course led by two Italian art therapists that includes theoretical training for the staff and a practical art-therapy workshop with child trauma victims. Following the mission, YouAble will promote the creation of a platform for the associations that have taken part in the training in Amman.

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