Arts Therapy Clinic-Children in Crisis-CAMBODIA

Since the beginning of June this year, we have been delivering a self-development therapeutic training programme to a group of thirty young vulnerable women. They range in age from fourteen to nineteen years old and they come from complex background and have who suffered from sexual abuse, domestic violence, HIV, abandonment by family, and social stigma. Some of them are currently living in residential care and some have already been reintegrated to live independently or with their relatives. This project aims to improve their emotional resiliency, develop their inner strength, discover positive resources, and build up their self-confident to enable them to improve their quality life. Part of the programme also enable them to support younger peers and siblings as they share what they have learnt to many more children and act as role models and mentors.

So far, the group have been doing very well with and have formed a community that has profound care, understanding and support for each other. They have begun the journey of self-discovery to reflect on key themes such as ‘who I am’, stress management, inner strengths, and self-care. During the process, the girls shared their experience of how this support group has helped them to feel accepted, nurtured, and loved from the other girls and the therapy team. For example, one girl have said "this is the first time in my life that I have felt that my heart is  listened to and heard”. Another said “this course and my friends here have made me feel respected no matter what happened to me in the past, I now know it doesn’t matter how I look, I feel acceptable as I am. I have never imagine I could have ever feel this way as I am an orphan who lives with HIV and I often feel I do not deserve love or belong to anyone life".  We are now together on a very important journey to help the girls to continue their self-discovery, and to empower them to activate and vibrate love within their lives and with each other. With such an inspirational group, this programme aims to ripple out into the lives of all those around them as we actively engage them in building supportive, empowering and care-giving communities. Thank you for all your support.