BuildaBridge Community Programs

Written by Julia A. Crawford Lead Therapeutic Movement Instructor, Bhutanese Teaching in tough places sometimes means teaching 50 women who speak various dialects of Swahili (and you don’t) without a translator in the middle of a forest in a war zone. And sometimes it means teaching in South Philadelphia with no electricity. The thing of it is, if the electrical outlets were working that day, it never would have happened. I was bringing the Bhutanese group to a close with our closing ritual. The same ritual that we have done together since September, but the outlets weren’t working. I improvised, “Come to a circle. Everyone stomp your feet, we need to make a rhythm because the music won’t play. Add any rhythm to it you would like!” The children immediately held the steady beat in their feet and added flourish with unique half time, double time, and some off time clapping. I entered the circle with my two scarves as I always do each week. I danced. I passed the scarves to a child, who t...

“Going with the flow is like a river because it keeps flowing through different obstacles.”   Therapists used this metaphor in Sunday’s art therapy group to transition children from one lesson to the next.  The last few groups children learned how to turn mistakes on their artwork into something new; the same way one can make a mistake in life and turn it into a new opportunity.  Children understood this lesson as evidenced by their responses, “You can work through it” or “You can change it into something else” and also by their artwork when they weren’t allowed a second piece of paper; rather, asked to use their current piece with mistakes and make it into a new drawing.  Building on this lesson of helping children adapt to the changes in their lives, the therapist introduced the phrase, “Going with the flow” which is like a river that keeps going despite the curves, bumps and hills.    Art therapist Christine Byma leads a discussion with children abo...

Children who have experienced trauma and are in tranistion often lack control of their actions, impulsivity and words.  The activities developed for the Bhutanese art therapy groups are all designed to help children gain confidence in their decisions and find focus through those activities.  The therapist's consistent positive regard and encouragement to be independent in addition the safe place for artistic exploration allows children to develop better impulse control.  Julia Crawford, lead therapeutic movement instructor for Bhutanese groups, provides the evidence that the BuildaBridge art therapy groups are truly making a difference in the lives of individual children.  During the most recent group, March 10th, Julia analyzes one child's behavior: "P. is developing greatly in impulse control and is becoming a leader in the class. He lights up when he is asked to lead. He patiently waits his turn to read the lines of the motto and rules because he knows his tu...

Julia Crawford assisting a child with his art project Sunday's art therapy group with the Bhutanese children taught them a valuable life lesson...even if we make mistakes, we can turn them into other opportunities and better choices for the future.  The lesson began the group prior when a child accidentally smeared black paint on his paper.  The child asked for another piece to re-start his project.  Julia Crawford, lead therapeutic movement instructor, gave the child another paper, yet in the moment, recognized an opportunity to share a life lesson.  "Maybe we could make something out of this mistake. Sometimes the best pieces of art come out of mistakes that we make into something new.”   Sunday's group aimed to continue this lesson by asking children to repeat a similar visual art activity only this time using textured materials on paper instead of paint.  The decrease in structure surrounding this activity allowed children's creativity to flow more fre...

by Danielle Dembrosky-Bossert Bhutanese children sing this welcome song at the beginning of each art therapy group held in South Philadelphia twice a month. The song originates from Dr. Vivian Nix-Early's (COO) work as music therapist and is used in many BuildaBridge art therapy groups as a welcome song or ritual. BuildaBridge Art therapist Celeste Wade in addition to two other BuildaBridge Artists-On-Call, conduct culturally specific art therapy groups designed to address the mental health needs of refugees living in Philadelphia. Ms. Wade focuses on helping children access and express their individual thoughts through movement and visual art activities. The ‘Safety Dance’ is a prime example of this goal. One at a time, the children create a movement of their choosing and then movements are linked together to create a cohesive, repeatable dance. The completed dance requires special awareness, impulse control, and flexibility.  At the start of these groups in August, there was very...

By Julia Crawford (right) Just before the start of the Bhutanese refugee therapeutic movement and visual art session, the mother of a young boy who attends our sessions regularly began to tell me that her son had been hit by a car since our last session. As she told the story, her 7-year-old son buzzed around the room, whistling and dancing, exploring and touching every interesting thing in the room. He seemed to keep an ear open to hearing what his mother shared and he became particularly intrigued when his 10-year-old sister came over to contribute to the story. Her eyes welled up as she explained what it was like to see her brother in the hospital. Upon seeing this, he quickly came over to tease her for caring about him. Both children have already experienced a great deal in their short years. Their family is from Bhutan, but their parents became refugees before they were born. They were born in Nepal and their father passed away some time after. They were relocated to South Philade...