Art Refuge UK with Art Therapy Initiative ran a four-day Art Therapy workshop held at Staff College, Jawalakhel.  The training was for professionals working in a variety of roles within the contexts of refugees, trafficking and community mental health. Its aim was to enable them to use art more confidently and safely within the boundaries of their own professional experience. These were experiential workshops where much of the learning was through doing.  There was also theoretical input from experienced art therapists, Bobby Lloyd, Deborah Kalmanowitz and Jayne McConkey who were leading the training.  There were also opportunities for questions and discussions which was very interesting and useful for all. The group engaged very well and feedback was very positive with everyone rating it very good or excellent.  Almost all of the group would also like to participate in follow up in an art peer support group.

Participants came from a broad range of organisations: UMN, Nepal Mental Health Network (NMHN), Trans-cultural Psycho-social Organisation (TPO), Kathmandu Community Centre (KCC), The Relief Trust (TRT), Snow Lion Foundation, Art Refuge UK, Higher Ground Counselling Programme, Namlo Nepal, Autism Care Amrita Foundation Nepal, UNHCR, Sober Recovery, The Himalayan Innovative Society (THIS) and Mountain Child.