59-05-032 Proceeding

309 Proceedings of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Congress CREATIVE ART THERAPY IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Nur Darwisyah Hannani Binti Abdullah Yong Universiti Brunei Darussalam Abstract :This article describes the efforts of the creative art therapies pioneers inBrunei Darussalam in order to exert the practices in counselling and helping profession at Schools. The pioneers have undergone basic introduction trainings from an expert and qualified creative arts therapist from Malaysia. Following series of training they have carried out their practices of creative arts therapies skills at secondary school students and few from primary schools. Efforts have been done to develop the Creative Art Therapy skill practices throughout the years of 2014, such as implementing the skills throughout counselling and guidance school activities and programs during orientation programs with the new students (transition fromprimary schools to secondary school), camping activities and some students’ development programs. In order to introduce the importance of Creative Art Therapy skills in the helping profession, initiatives were also made through professional sharing sessions amongst the counsellors inBrunei Darussalam. Collaborative work has also been done with the Malaysian Counselling Association Malacca where we (the pioneers) shared few techniques and skills inCreative ArtTherapy and in return, counterpart from the Malaysian Counselling Association of Malacca introduced NLP (Neuro Linguistic Program) in counselling and play therapy with us. As Creative Art Therapy is relatively new discipline in Brunei Darussalam, it would be crucial if the counsellors who are interested to explore this area to be sent for appropriate trainings in order to empower the helping profession and counselling services in Brunei Darussalam. Keywords : Creative Art Therapy skills, qualified art therapist, helping 1. Introduction Art therapy is a form of approach to help sort one’s personal issues and problems. Art therapy is also a form of expressive therapy that uses the creative process of making art to improve a person’s physical, mental and emotional well-being. The creative process itself involved in expressing one’s self artistic personality that could help people resolve issues, manage their behaviors, feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem as well as self awareness. According to Peter London (2005), art can be said to be - and can be used as - the externalized map of our interior self. According to Azizah binti Abdullah during the first Creative ArtsTherapy (CAT) training in 2013, the process in creating the art in an art therapy does not need to be beautiful and artistic like what professional artists do with their talent. However, the process of letting out their inner emotions, thoughts and feelings by using arts and creativity in art itself is a tool to self-express their issues and conflicts for healings. Hence, creative arts therapy is another approach that could be used as a tool to help people in the counseling and therapy field.