The art therapeutic technique «Emotional Universe»: experience of use with children of kharkiv region suffered from the bombing

Abstract

Professional assistance in emotional stabilization and further processing of emotional state of children and adults in conditions of collective war trauma are extremely important. Working with emotional states is done using mandalas. Plasticine is an adequate material for art therapy of emotional state of children and adults. The art therapy technique for working out the emotional state of children and adults is built on the basis of the author’s technique of Yulia Skibytska «My reliable emotional container». The creative product has the appearance of spherical circles, is an analogue of a mandala, which allowed our method of processing emotional state to be called «Emotional Universe». The tasks, organizational conditions, and content of the two-week recovery programs for women and children of the Kharkiv Region in the summer periods of 2022 and 2023 determine the general context of art therapy interventions. The use of the proposed method requires the availability of mental and physical resources of clients to process their own emotional state. The technique should be offered very carefully in a state of acute emotional disorders. The key points at individual stages of the proposed algorithm for conducting the «Emotional Universe» methodology require special attention of the specialist. Several cases of working with emotional state of children of different ages from 7 to 15 years from the experience of carrying out the methodology for children and teenagers who suffered of Russian military aggression illustrate the effectiveness of its application. Analysis of the differences in creative products of children of different ages, creative works of boys and girls is showed. The connection between individual details of children’s personal stories and the characteristics of children’s work is observed. The «Emotional Universe» methodology is a reference point for the further efforts of specialists in auxiliary professions to restore the mental health of Ukrainians.