Working with Boaz: An art therapist's reflections

“I had no expectations before I came to Boaz as I knew very little about the organisation. It was a blank canvas for me. I wanted to work with people seeking asylum though and envisaged working with a group. I thought perhaps that people would be new to the UK, perhaps male. They were my prejudices. I was also hoping that by being non-English myself I would connect with people. I hoped to understand from the people I would work with what might be their experiences, what they were ‘missing from home.’ I was surprised to meet older women. It was really nice because we shared more in common and that made the experience easier.

At first I was disappointed not to have a group to work with. In a group the dynamics can be powerful. You learn how to interact with people and share things you find difficult. It can be very vulnerable making, but you can also discover community and connection, and shared stories. Saying that, in a one-to-one setting there can be more safety and a person can perhaps unburden their story.

I have been thinking about what the women have shared and I now doubt that they would have shared difficult stories in a group. One client needed to tell their story, but to nobody else [except me]. It was very powerful how the story was told. There was this sense that she was becoming lighter and lighter through the telling.

Feeling listened to and accepted is important. They could say whatever they liked and it was okay. They were not being judged. In some ways the art therapy allowed them to be children and to play. For example, one woman really liked using clay and that was something I was not expecting. Perhaps it was liked because it is a sensory experience and takes people back to a memory of childhood and playing.

Before I began I had question marks about the practice. During the sessions you do not always see the difference that the therapy can make, but when they and I reflected back I realised that it works and that art really can open you. Without the art as the thing to focus on, I do not know that it would have worked. It all came in reflections, intertwined with conversations, while making art.

Making something and keeping busy while talking is less confrontational, and is especially useful when starting a therapeutic relationship. One woman told her story through the art. Another woman was trying everything, keeping busy, perhaps as a distraction. Then there came a shift and she became more expressive through the art materials.

In a way nothing changed but everything changed. Perhaps the change is internal. It was a way to feel seen in a society that you are invisible in. Being seen and heard in the therapy room – perhaps that was the biggest thing.

Before, I knew so little about people seeking asylum. How long they might wait for a decision, for example. You see so much of people’s potential [in sessions].

At times the language barrier could feel a lot and I worried about the depth of the therapeutic relationship. But then at other times it did not feel so apparent. Perhaps because I am not English I knew some of what to ask: questions about food, for example. It felt like a way in to understand where some of the pain comes from. As an immigrant myself, some things are universally felt and experienced.”