Art Facilitation.Women’s

Refuge.

Facilitation with an external group using art as a medium on the October 2014, to help

complete my Honour degree in Applied Social Studies in Social

Care.

The External Group:

Women’s Refuge Provides emergency accommodation

to women and their children who are out of home due to domestic abuse.

Operate on a 24hour basis – 365 days a year.

Provides safe emergency accommodation for up to 19 women and their children.

Mission Statement of the organisation:

Aim to provide residents with a safe, homely and caring environment.

Aim to empower each person to live in freedom and safety from domestic abuse.

To be an informed organisation responsive to the needs of women and children experiencing domestic violence.

Participants:

Children in the refuge during that time. Included four children aged 3-10 years. Children were from two separate

families. Parental consent was obtained for the

children involved in the activity and for the pictures to be taken.

I explained to the parents what the activity involved, and invited them to observe if they wished.

Aim of the Activity

To enhance child development.

Giving the children time for themselves.

To encourage self-esteem.

Preparation for facilitation

When looking for permission to carry out the facilitation, I introduced myself to participants and their parents and explained why I would be carrying out the facilitation.

I asked their ages to help choose an appropriate activity.

I decided on the Halloween theme due to the timing.

My facilitation

The activity involved making Halloween masks and lanterns.

3 of the children made the masks. The youngest girl(3yrs) made a princess

crown. A time frame of 1 hour was given. I explained to participants what the

activity involved and showed them the example pictures.

Their mothers decided not to observe, they choose to wait to see the end results.

Materials used

Paint and paint brushes Paint pots Design your own masks Design your own crown Glitter Glue Jam jars Tea lights

Activity 1: Masks explained

I gave the participants the masks.

They started off by picking the design they wanted from samples I had.

They choose a skeleton, cat and tiger.

They used their fine motor skills and creativity to design the masks.

Using paint and glitter to create their design.

Skeleton mask

Tiger mask

Cat mask

Lantern making.

The participants picked the colour they wanted their lanterns.

Using paint they covered the jars and then added a face when the paint was dry.

They added the tea light candles at the end.

Princess crown making.

The youngest participant designed her crown using paint, glitter and art accessories.

I assisted her when she needed to use the glue.

She used her creativity to design a sparkly colourful crown.

The finished work.

Learning points from the facilitation.

I observed how therapeutic the art activity was for the children.

The activity promoted social interaction.

Evaluation.

The art facilitation was a success, it gave them a sense of control over the activity.

They fully participated in the activity. They felt comfortable to ask for help. As they chatted to each other and I, it

became apparent they were enjoying the social interaction also.

The aim to enhance child development by providing a fun way for the group to explore art, giving them control and time for themselves and encouraging self-esteem I believe were met.

Thank you.