Please note that this section is under development.
The following Therapeutic Services are offered at Michael Oak:
Bridging Polarities Through Art
We live in a time of great change and uncertainty. Our children are exposed on a daily basis to a wide range of anxiety-provoking situations. Often they cannot verbalise their insecurities, yet behaviourally they may struggle, by acting out, withdrawing, having nightmares, becoming clingy, or being emotionally explosive.
Bridging Polarities through Art is a therapeutic technique created out of the Anthroposophical Art impulse, and is aligned with the Waldorf child development model. It is a powerful non-verbal therapy available to children at Michael Oak giving them the possibility to make meaning of, and integrate their experiences, through artistic mediums and therapeutic stories. The process of Bridging Polarities through Art, enlivens the entire sense system, giving the child renewed resources to meet the challenges in their life. Through trained observation of the way the child uses colour, clay, drawing, wet on wet painting, and chalk pastels, exercises are created that facilitate a process of integration, inner confidence and resilience.
This form of art facilitation places emphasis on what the child experiences through the artistic process, rather than the end product. Developmental and life challenges can be addressed in this gentle yet powerful modality. Colour speaks a universal language of the soul, accessing nonverbal areas in the child’s life as they learn to “breathe” in colour, in wet-on-wet painting, and chalk pastel work. The grounding element of clay, the observational skills in drawing, and the therapeutic aspect of the story provide many opportunities for children to process their internal world and find balance. The soul is stimulated through joy in the creative process, and new neural pathways are built in the brain – the brain being the mediating organ for the senses.
Children in Primary and High School can be taken through an age-appropriate process to assist them. This starts based on a referral from a teacher at school, or parents are also welcome to contact the facilitator to find out if the process would be appropriate for their child.
About the facilitator:
Ilana Rudolph has worked collaboratively over the past 30 years with a multi-disciplinary team of therapists, offering children, adolescents and adults, the possibility of transforming their circumstances using artistic processes. She has a B.A. from Wits, P.G.C.E. from the University of London and is a trained Waldorf teacher (remedial therapist) from Emerson College. Ilana is a founding co-ordinator of the Bridging Polarities impulse in South Africa and a trained Bridging Polarities facilitator. For more information, please see www.bridgingpolarities.co.za or contact Ilana on 076 396 7977.