New Workshops!

Registration is now open for new workshops beginning after Pesach!

Self Exploration Thru Art

8-Week Intensive Workshop

 
In this hands-on workshop, you will:

·         Explore the topic of identity through art activities and focused discussion. 

·         Examine your core beliefs and create goals for self-growth.

·         Discover what is right and wonderful about you.

Group size is limited, fully confidential and no previous art experience necessary. Weekly 2-hour sessions. Open to new members and past participants.

Facilitator: Miriam Duskis, M.A., Art Therapist

Workshop begins after Pesach 2014 at The Place – The Jerusalem Centre for Emotional Wellbeing. Cost is 480 nis, all supplies included.

For more information and to register, please call Miriam at 052-711-5224 or email miriamduskis@gmail.com.

What is your earliest memory?

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

Most of us can recall something from age 3 1/2, although the exact age varies.  That’s roughly the age that the memory banks of the brain are mature enough to begin storing memories. For some, the earliest memory seems insignificant. For others, it is a recollection of an emotionally charged or traumatic experience.

What is your earliest memory?

How old were you?

Most people have a memory gap from infancy – age 3. We now know that despite lack of memory, these years are crucial to who we are and how we feel today.

If you were adopted as an infant, you surely don’t remember what that felt like. Nonetheless, experiences in infancy have a strong effect on personality and behavior. If you were adopted, and are experiencing emotional challenges, there might be a connection. 

Recently, there’s been a lot of media attention on an adoption case in Israel. Two years after an infant boy was placed for adoption, his maternal aunt requested a reversal of the adoption. Initially, the court agreed. Subsequently, the case went to the Supreme Court who ruled in favor of the adoptive parents.

This story is complicated, and reminds me of plant cuttings, a metaphor that I sometimes use to explain adoption challenges. Let me explain…   A cutting is a branch or stem that is cut off from an existing plant, placed in water or earth, and coached into growing new roots. This process of growing new roots from a cutting can take weeks or months and requires lots of care, in contrast to planting a regular seed.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, when someone is adopted, they have been cut off from their roots. Just like a cutting in nature, this child will require lots more care to grow and thrive.

In a survey of adult adoptees called “281 voices” (www.heartofthematterseminars.com), participants were asked “During childhood, how challenging was your sense of loss related to adoption?”

The responses were:

21% - Significantly challenging

18% - Moderately challenging

24% - Mildly challenging

37% - Not a challenge

In my private therapy practice in Jerusalem, I specialize in adoption issues for children and adults.

Art Therapy and PTSD

"Art can permeate the very deepest part of us, where no words exist." - Eileen Miller

Recent research has shown that art therapy effectively helps people suffering from trauma and can reduce the symptoms of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Here is a short neuroscientific explanation of why this is so.

Human experience is stored in memory banks located on both sides of the brain. The left hemisphere of the brain stores explicit memories, which are consciously remembered and can be described in words. An example of an explicit memory is the kind of sandwich that you ate for lunch. The right hemisphere of the brain stores implicit memories, which are unconscious, sensory, and automatic. Reading, typing, or playing music are examples of implicit memories. You don't have to think about how to type, or remember the letters on the keyboard. It's automatic.

Trauma occurs when a person is faced with a perceived or actual threat to their existance. Because this is so overwhelming and frightening, people disconnect their mind from the experience as it is occuring, in order to survive.

As a result of this disconnection, the left brain shuts down and the trauma memory is stored on the right side of the brain. This doesn't mean that the memory is necessarily unconscious. What is does mean is that when memories of the trauma pop up, often sparked by sensory triggers, they are re-experienced with the same intensity and with the same disconnection as during the trauma, causing many of the symptoms of PTSD.

 

In order to work on the trauma in therapy, the memory must be accessed in the right brain and engaged in the left brain. In contrast to verbal therapy, art therapy engages both sides of the brain at the same time. As a result, the trauma memory can be accessed in the right hemisphere without shutting down the verbal part of the brain, and it can be gently discussed and processed.

 

Positive Life Events and Loss

“Every great loss demands that we choose life again. We need to grieve in order to do this. The pain we have not grieved over will always stand between us and life.” Rachel Naomi Remen

We usually associate loss with negative events. Did you know that it’s possible to feel loss with positive life events as well?

Sarah had been married for a few months when she scheduled a meeting with her therapist to figure out why she was feeling sad and upset. After a little introspection she realized that she was missing the total independence she had experienced while single. Sarah was able to articulate how important this aspect of her life had been, despite her happiness at being married to her husband. She now had the tools to mourn what she was leaving behind and embrace her new identity as a married woman.

Every loss involves change. Most people are familiar with the loss inherent in death, divorce, or illness. But in reality, loss happens any time that change occurs, even “good” changes. Whatever is left behind in the change of life circumstances is experienced as a loss and may be accompanied by feelings of sadness, pain, or anger. However, because this is a result of a positive life event, the feelings of loss are often not acknowledged due to guilt or social pressure.

What happens when loss is felt but not acknowledged? These feelings that have been pushed away lie low in our psyche, waiting for the opportunity to burst out, sort of like a closed jack-in-the-box. Chances are that the feelings will break loose again, either after another loss, or when it becomes too difficult to hold them in. Our feelings are a channel for the energy within us. Blocking our feelings from being experienced blocks our energy and holds us back from moving forward.

Self Esteem

“No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Self esteem… you’ve heard of it before. Some of us throw around the term carelessly, others wonder what it is. In psychology, the term self-esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of self-worth or personal value.

Imagine for a moment that you are cradling a newborn in your arms. She sleeps peacefully, soft, innocent, pure. Is it possible to set a value for this child? No. We would all agree that this infant has immeasurable value.

No one can ruin that. The child will grow and change, but her value remains too great to measure. You too were that infant. The precious part inside of you that directs your mission on earth, your soul, neshama, has a value that is immeasurable. Value yourself for your internal worth as a human being, just for being, and find self esteem.

The topic of self esteem is infinitely more complex than this small example, but the bottom line is that having self esteem is important for you to function optimally. Are you wondering, or maybe worrying, “Do I have self esteem?”

Try this: Click on the link below to take an online version of the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale:

 http://personality-testing.info/tests/RSE.php

Why Choose Art Therapy?

“How can art therapy help me?”
"How does it work?"

Some people mistakenly assume that art therapy is only for children. While art therapy can be a great choice for your child, it can also help adults, teenagers, and many special needs populations with a variety of challenges and experiences.

Art therapists are trained in counseling plus the use of art to promote self-expression and healing. I use art as a tool to achieve the same goals as traditional therapy, and we use a lot of talk therapy too. Here are some unique advantages that art adds to the therapy:
1. The creative process engages the whole brain which enhances focus
2. Doing art can provide an immediate physical and emotional release
3. Exploring your artwork with an art therapist can give you a new perspective
4. Art connects to the unconscious and assists in the expression of non-verbal experiences
5. Learning to do art can be a creative coping tool

One client commented on her process below:

"Coming to art therapy gives me a chance to organize my thoughts and get much more clarity. As I start working on an art project, usually related to the challenges in my life, my mind focuses on the task, and I start to make decisions about how I want the project to look. As I do that, it's like a parallel part of my brain is thinking about my life, based on my art project. A lot of the time I'm surprised at where the art takes me.

Let me give you an example. One day I was feeling like a terrible mother. I started building a sculpture of my home out of clay, and I made a room in the back for my oldest son, who has severe anger outbursts that threaten the entire family. I put a thick door on the room and a lock from the outside. In my mind I locked the door and felt a strong sense of relief. Now that his door was locked, I could focus on my other children, something I hadn't been able to do, and figure out what they needed from me. This was a huge breakthrought for me." - Evelyn, 43 (names and details have been changed to protect privacy)

This anecdote shows how Evelyn used art to focus on what was happening in her life. Working with the art materials and observing her creation helped her be more objective. The artwork that she did provided an important emotional release and gave her the ability to move forward in her therapy goals.

 

My commission is finished!

 

Here is the finished product - 70 x 100 cm, acrylic on canvas. I love it. If you'd like to commission one for yourself, just message me!