Art Blog

Introduction to Visual Art Therapy and Social Action course at the University of Johannesburg

The Department of Visual Art, University of Johannesburg, in association with Lefika La Phodiso Johannesburg, offers a continuous education programme entitled: Introduction to Visual Art Therapy and Social Action.

Lefika la Phodiso is a registered Art Therapy Centre, which, over the past 21 years, has offered community art counselling training for community workers. Lefika la Phodiso uses psychoanalytically informed training methods which focus on creative group work and psychodynamic thinking as these principles relate to community and counselling work.

The continuous education programme (CEP) on Visual Art Therapy and Social Action uses the Lefika training model, which includes input from Visual Art lecturers and a range of registered Art Therapists working in various social contexts in Johannesburg.

This CEP offers an introduction to community-based Art Therapy. It provides a valuable opportunity for insight and regeneration through a psychoanalytic approach to work with materials and the psyche, enhancing self-development and personal growth as well as group interaction and interpretation. The CEP highlights the effectiveness of Visual Art Therapy as a powerful therapeutic tool and empowers trainees with new insight and skills in this arena.

The CEP allows access to the expressive potential of art making in the course of the trainees own emotional journey and contact with the people they work with. The skills gained by trainees can be adapted to and incorporated in many spheres of work.

The course will run from 11-29 July 2016.

For more information, visit www.uj.ac.za.