March 2016
„If you don’t know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don’t know the stories you may be lost in life.”
Siberian Elder
From 8 till 12 March 2016 the charming city of Sintra hosted the second International Seminar on Fairy-tale and Storytelling Therapy. It was another opportunity to bring together specialists, academics, therapists, storytellers and other enthusiasts of fairy-tales and storytelling, and their therapeutic and healing potential.
The Seminar aimed to delve deeper into this method by sharing experiences, new perspectives, approaches and results.
The Seminar had an institutional support and patronage of the Municipality of Sintra, the Institute for the Study and Tradition of Nova University of Lisbon and National Center of Culture.
Summary of the First Seminar on Fairy-tale Therapy is available here:
Adriana Jurczyk Duarte took her Master’s Degree in Philology at the University of Wrocław, Poland. For the last thirteen years she has spent her life on the Sunny Coast of Portugal with her husband, daughter and two dogs. She divides her life between Portugal, where she lives and Poland, which she misses. This nostalgia led her to discover and actually experience the fairy-tale therapy for herself, through writing a fairy-tale based in legends from her home village and mountains. Writing the story was her way to travel back to her home mountains, forests and rivers of beautiful southern Poland. Letting imagination run free, it made a bridge between childhood haven and her new homeland of Portugal and the magical, inspirational town of Sintra, which she fell in love with.
Creating her own fairy-tale became her therapy and helped shape her own place in Portugal, which is her cultural and touristic company ‘Moonluza’. One of Adriana’s first and dearest projects is the International Seminar on fairy-tale and Storytelling Therapy, based, of course, in Sintra….
Sintra Seminar 2016 – Speakers & Workshops
Rosie Strain, Arts Psychotherapist & Storyteller, UK
Boaz and Vered Zur, Expressive Arts Ireland
Susan McCullough, School Counsellor& Storyteller, Germany
Olga Lipadatova, Psychotherapist, Certified Teacher and Supervisor, Canada
Michał Malinowski, Museum of Tales and Stories, Poland
Shai Karta Schwartz, Group and Individual Therapist and Teacher, Baobab Center for Young Survivors in Exile in London, Israel
Jill McWilliam and Gill Morton, Educational Psychotherapists, London, UK
Jacqueline Silva, Play Therapist, Person Centred Counsellor, Trainer and Supervisor for Play and Creative Arts Therapies at LudoClínica, Portugal
Laura Simms, Storyteller, Writer, USA
Monica Carpendale, BFA, DVATI, RCAT, HLM, BCATR, Executive Director, Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, Canada
John L. Plews, PhD, Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada
SPEAKERS
Rosie Strain is an Arts Psychotherapist & Storyteller based in Bristol, UK and has been working therapeutically with stories and storytelling since 2006. Particular areas of focus have been Therapeutic Storymaking with children and adolescents with challenging behavior and adults in a mental health setting. Additionally, Rosie co-funded The Three Turtles, an Independent Performance Company, bringing stories to life through a therapeutic model of audience interaction. For further information go to Rosie Strain.
Workshop’s title: A Journey through the forest: Fairytales as Therapeutic Storymaking
Boaz Zur holds a Master’s Degree in Expressive Arts Therapy from the European Graduate School and Lesley University. He facilitates group work and individual sessions for therapy and professional development, using an intermodal approach. He holds a B.E.d in Special Education. He is a qualified Teacher of Special Education, with many years of experience. Boaz is a writer and storyteller, organizing storytelling events in Ireland and abroad. He integrates the art of storytelling in his work as an expressive arts therapist. He is currently completing his P.h.D. in Expressive Arts Therapy and is a member of I.A.C.A.T. More information: Expressive Arts Ireland
Vered Zur is qualified in Expressive Arts Coaching, Consulting and Education. She delivers, teaches and facilitates both professional and personal development workshops for groups and individuals. She holds a B.E.d in Education and Literature. Vered is an intermodal artist working with arts, nature and community. She is committed to building community by mirroring, building strengths, sharing creative experience and including difference. Currently Vered is completing her P.h.D., working with Eco Psychology/ Eco Therapy – using Expressive Arts and Eco-Therapy to deepen community engagement with the natural world. She is a member of I.E.A.T.A Executive Council in I.A.C.A.T. More information: Expressive Arts Ireland
Workshop’s title: Storytelling with the use of Expressive Arts Therapy
Susan McCullough began telling stories in 2001. With Master’s Degree in both Counselling and Education, she became skilled not only in telling stories for entertainment but also for using story and storytelling in her work as school counselor in both the counseling office for group and individual and in the classroom for character education and life skills lessons. She is in the final stretch of earning Master’s in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University.
Presentation&Collaborative component’s title: Prevention Counseling and Wellness with Children & Teenagers: Life Skills and Character Education using Traditional Tales
Olga Lipadatova is a Certified Supervisor and Teaching Member of Canadian Association of Sandplay Therapy and the International Society of Sandplay Therapy. Olga holds Master’s Degree in Ancient History from Moscow Sate University and Master’s Degree in Creative Arts Therapies, Arts Therapy, from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. She is the recipient of a Federal research grant for her P.h.D. research at Concordia University focused on Sandplay Therapy. She worked with six immigrant participants who told her their stories through the Sandplay Therapy process. Since 2003, Olga worked in Mental Health and community organizations, and in private practice as a psychotherapist, art therapist, and a counselor. For a number of years she was a board member of the Arts Therapy Association in Quebec. After that she served as a Board member, and presently, as a president of the Canadian Association of Sandplay Therapy. Olga is a teacher and supervisor in Art Therapy and Sandplay Therapy in Canada and Russia. Since 2014, Olga works as a psychotherapist in private practice in Guelph, Ontario. Olga is an advocate of the storytelling through art and sandplay expression as a method of helping to make individual and social change in life. More information: http://www.arttherapyolipa.com
Presentation and Experimental Component’s title: Storytelling through Sandplay Therapy: a Life-changing experience
Michał Malinowski is a storyteller, writer and computer graphic artist. He is the creator and director of the Storyteller Museum MuBaBaO in Poland; guest speaker at storytelling festivals in England, Spain, France, Italy, Burkina Faso, Canada, Syria and Iran. Since 2004 he has been collaborating with National In-Service Teacher Training Center and the Institute of Modern Education. In 2006 awarded a special price by the Polish Minister of Culture for his contribution to the preservation and development of culture. He is a co-author of the book ‘Polish Folktales and Folklore’ (USA). In 2007, Michał received a UNESCO grant for his Museum. His storytelling ‘Tężnia Marzeń 2009′ received 3 awards as the Best Cultural Event of the Year in Warsaw Area. In 2014 appointed a member of Intangible Heritage Council of Polish Ministry of Culture. More information: MuBaBaO
Presentation and Workshop’s title: Touch Story Therapy: Healing with the Multisensory Narrative Experiences
Shai Karta Schwartz is a group and individual therapist originating from 30 years of professional theater and storytelling. Shai studied group facilitation, education, and the various art and performance art therapies (drama therapy, story therapy and art therapy), psychodrama, ‘Focusing’ and Gestalt and began integrating storytelling and role play in models of intervention in dialogue and therapy. For the last 18 years beside his practice in Israel, he has been cooperating with Sheila Melzak from the ‘Baobab Center for Young Survivals in Exile’ in London in therapeutic work with young asylum seekers in London. In Israel besides his private practice he works in group therapy with HIV Positive Ethiopians and teaches a course in ‘Storytelling, Drama and Puppets as Tools in Therapy and Education,’ and runs personal development courses.
Experimental Workshop’s title: The Fairytale and its Secrets: Healing, Teaching and Nourishing Our Lives
Gill Morton is an Educational Psychotherapist who has specialized in running Therapeutic Story Groups in mainstream schools and in providing training and Supervision to others in this work. She has moved through a number of different work settings, working as: a peripatetic teacher for Inner London Authority School Psychological Service; an Educational Therapist in a Child & Family Consultation Service; a teacher of small class groups at the Tavistock Day Unit; a member of the team working with families in the Education Unit of the Marlborough Family Service. In exploring the different demands of the work in these varied contexts, she became increasingly interested in how children make use of the therapeutic story groups, particularly within mainstream school settings. She teaches on Caspari Foundation courses, including MA course of training in Educational Psychotherapy for which she has also supervised trainees and in the Master’s course in Educational Therapy at the University of Trondheim, Norway.
Jill McWilliam has a background in teaching and Advisory work on Inclusion and Ethnic Minority Achievement schools in multi cultural settings. Where she developed a particular area of interest in multi-agency training in the fields of assessment in the overlaps of EAL and additional learning needs and on the impact of social emotional factors in raising the achievement children and young people. As a qualified Educational Psychotherapist Jill had seen the value of using metaphors in art and stories in helping children rediscover resilience and learning potential. Between 2004 and 2011 she co-ordinated a successful innovative project working with multi-agency teams and school based staff to develop a framework of materials with an integral evaluation, training and supervision to create safe spaces for the embedding of Gill Morton’s model of Therapeutic Story Groups in schools. Children and facilitators were using stories to increase motivation, confidence and engagement with learning in classrooms and to become more resilient socially and as learners. Jill now continues her own work through Metaphors having completed a three year project successfully rolling out the framework in a Big lottery Funded project for London based Educational Psychotherapy charity.
Workshop’s title: Stories – a safe passage to a troubled place: Educational Psychotherapy approaches to a child’s emotional difficulties with learning
Jacqueline Silva is a Play Therapist, Person Centred Counsellor, Trainer and Supervisor for Play and Creative Arts Therapies. She also holds a degree in Education, Graphology and an MBA. After running her owns successful training company in South Africa for 10 years, she moved out of the corporate arena and it was as a Lifeline volunteer that she decided to qualify and persue a career as a Counsellor and Play Therapist. Jacqueline has been practicing Play Therapy with children and adults, in the Algarve, at LudoClinica since 2011 and will be launching Portugal’s first ‘Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills’ in 2016 with Play Therapy Portugal.
Presentation’s title: A Box of Delights: How Therapeutic stories are used in play Therapy
Laura Simms is an award winning performer, writer and and educator advocating storytelling as compassionate action for personal and community transformation. She performs worldwide combining ancient myth and true life story for adult and family audiences. She is the Artistic Director of the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center in New York and the founder of the Center of Engaged Storytelling. She is a member of the Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan. Laura received the Brimstone Award for Engaged Storytelling, CHOICE award for best story collection and Sesame Street’s SUNNY DAYS award for work with children worldwide. In 2011 she received a Life Time Achievement Award from the National Storytelling Network. Her most recent book is ‘Our Secret Territory: The essence of Storytelling’. She is completing a new book: ‘The Sanctuary of a story’. More information: Laura Simms
Workshop’s title: The Fairytale and the Storyteller: A Therapeutic process of working with a Fairytale as a prompt for deep personal transformation. How the story in process of engagement has meaning and effect
Monica Carpendale is founder and executive director of the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, has over 30 years experience in education, art therapy and supervision. Monica has written a number of journal articles for the Canadian Art Therapy Journal and is the author of Essence and Praxis in the Art Therapy Studio (2009) and A Traveler’s Guide to Art Therapy Supervision (2011). She edited A Forest of Ideas: Ramblings in Interpretive Frameworks (2014) by Blake Parker, as well as his book Laughter at My Window: A Collection of Songs and Song Poems (2011). She has also produced documentary films in art therapy, and co-designed 9 therapeutic communication games. More info: Kutenai Art Therapy Institute
John L. Plews teaches German language and culture and second language education. John is co-editor of Translation and Translating in German Studies (2016), Traditions and Transitions: Curricula fro German Studies (2013), Interkulturelle Kompetenzen im Fremdsprachenunterricht (2007), German Matters in Popular Culture (2000) and Queering the Canon (1998), and has authored or co-authored over 20 scholarly articles and book chapters on second language curriculum and teaching, language learner identities, study abroad, and German literature and culture.
Workshop’s title: Wonder, Magic and Metaphor: Creating Fairy Tales in Art Therapy and Art-based Research
Gallery:
‘I want to thank you for a wonderful week of storytelling workshops. I really enjoyed it and made some wonderful connections. You did an amazing job coordinating everything and it all ran so smoothly. I hope to be able to come back next year.’
Susan, Germany/US
‘Many thanks for the fantastic seminar! Thanks for the experience! Thanks for experienced lecturers! Thanks for the evening sessions! THANK YOU! Everything was very interesting and very well organized!’.
Antra, Latvia
‘We would like to say BIG Thank You for your wonderful week filled with inspiration, friendship and magic.’
Vered&Boaz, Ireland
‘I really enjoyed the Seminar, especially to meet new people, their work, to share beautiful moments and to hear these fantastic stories.’
Macarena, Portugal
‘The seminar was managed to such a high professional standard. Your content, coordination, time keeping and most especially – your easy command and your hospitality is inspirational!’
Martina, Ireland
‘It was for me a fairy-tale. Thanks for all your great work! You made a beautiful canvas for many stories to unfold and develop in, out and around the seminar.’
Eleni Konidari, Greece/UK
‘Thank you for these extraordinary days you provided by organizing the Seminar. These were for me unforgettable days, which I miss. The therapeutic effect of stories in our lives is really fantastic.’
Margarida, Portugal
‘What a wonderful place Sintra proved to be. The Conference you organised also created a special place for us all. I found the time to be very valuable. A great place of learning and being and sharing together. Unique in its combining of difference and perspective all around the wonder of story and metaphor.’
Jill, UK