THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is a pin-drop silence at the St Teresa’s College auditorium, which is usually abuzz with chirpy chit-chat and unconcealed laughter. Some of the girls start crying, as they let their emotions get the better of them. There is a song by Australian artist Lissa Gerard being played in the background. By the end of a five-hour long session, the young girls come out as better human beings, refreshed and removed of all mental blocks.
This is a scene from the three-day art therapy session organised by the final-year Communicative English students.
“It was so cleansing for the soul. I felt like a river of emotions had opened up and I could hear my inner voice. The session was powerful,” says Aishwarya Francis, a second-year student.
Some of the students described it differently. “I felt confused, nervous, but ecstatic. I didn’t want the session to end,” said another. Saraswathi Binoj, a student, felt that it was an evolving process.
According to Soumya John, a faculty with the Communicative English department, the session is helping youngsters explore themselves. “[Spanish Art Therapist] Edmundo Dos Santos, who we have associated with, for the art therapy session, is working individually with the students. There were some, who were very depressed, and Edmundo was able to work with them on a personal basis,” she added.
The workshops included sessions in the performing and visual arts where the students could use their creative processes to provoke and cultivate postive change, within themselves, and in their relations with the outside world.
The proceeds from the session will be utilised to help the children of the ‘Navajeevan School for Children with Special Needs’. The students have been associated with the children as part of their Public Relations Campaign.As part of the programme, an Ottanthullal performance by Maruthorvattom Kanna was also held.