Art and Om for XVII INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE - 'SPACE

XVII INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE SPACE OF ART THERAPY: CREATIVITY AS A LOOKING GLASS OF REALITY, February 28th, 2020, Kyiv, Ukraine

Lecturer - Eden Orfanos Shoro MA, HCPC, BAAT, and RYT

Eden will discuss the multi-modalities of Therapeutic Arts, holistic embodied practices and other disciplines of Psychotherapy and how they inform and influence her client work.

Eden has specialist training in Art Psychotherapy, MA, BAAT HCPC, Trauma Informed Expressive Arts, T-IJM, TIEA, Equine Lead Psychotherapy IFEAL, Photo-Therapy, and Trauma Sensitive Yoga TSY/RYT. Eden utilises these varied techniques and clinical skills with numerous client groups: working with co-morbid offenders in a specialised high security locked mental health facility in the NHS/UK, refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya, sex trafficked women in Mexico, South America and India, the homeless in Skid Row, Los Angeles, California, genocide survivors in Rwanda, Autistic Spectrum Disorder children in the UK, victims of domestic violence, survivors of war / political conflict, and victims of natural disaster (international), elders with severe dementia / Alzheimer’s disease in the UK, special needs / deaf / disabled children in Uganda, and in her international workshops and in her clinical private practice in London, UK.

She has researched and studied for many years and is passionate about the integration of diverse theoretical frameworks, holistic arts based and embodied practice. She had found that these non-verbal action therapies are integrative and encourage the unconscious process and mind-body connection. After many years of herself using the arts and Yogic practice as a grounding mechanism, as well as insight for self-analysis, Eden created a uniquely holistic interdisciplinary arts based and physical practice. Art and Om which merges the methodologies of Art Psychotherapy, Trauma Informed Expressive Arts, Trauma Sensitive Yoga, QiGong and Mindfull meditation. After years of working with a diversity of clients and facilitating international workshops, She has found these combined synergistic practices build resiliency and establish greater self-regulation; which is specifically beneficial for clients who suffer with symptoms of PTSD, anxiety disorders and complex mental heath disorders. This practice supports clients to move away from emotional dysregulation and negative visceral responses by offering strategies to feel safe, empowered and self contained. Arts based, embodied action therapies and Trauma Sensitive Yoga offer agency, non-verbal expression, mind-body integration, ‘Top-down / Bottom-up’ process and an opportunity for prosocial group connection and being witnessed. Dependant on the symptoms or somatic visceral responses, the combination of these practices, when client lead, offer a holistic approach for alleviating the effects of trauma, complex mental disturbances and physical challenges. These techniques of interiorization and projection delicately access the embodied trauma of pain and repressed memories and encourage the capacity to artistically articulate it. These practices also encourage interrelatedness, empathy and meaning which benefits social construct, collective consciousness and ultimately, being human.

Education and Training

Trauma Sensitive Yoga Teacher Training (TSY), The OMPowerment Project / Hala Kouri, London, UK, 2019

Neuro-psychoanalysis: Subjectivity and Consciousness, University of Cape Town / Open University, 2018

Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute and Learning Center, TIEAT, USA, 2018

Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy Certificate, IFEAL/EFP/L Practitioner Training Programme, E.S., UK, 2017

PhotoTherapy Techniques for Mental Health Professionals, Judy Weiser / Artiterapuetiche, Napoli, IT, 2016

Intensive Trauma Training (Refugee and Slavery), International Justice Mission/Talitha Arts, London, UK 2015

Masters MA Art Psychotherapy, Roehampton University - Department of Psychology, London, UK, 2014-17

Art Therapy Foundation Course Certification, British Association of Art Therapists - BAAT, London,UK, 2013

Foundations of Analytical Psychology (Jungian&Post-Jungian) Society of Analytical Psychology,London 2011

Yoga Teacher Training Certification - RYT 200, White Lotus Foundation, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 2008

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bachelor of Fine Arts, BA (Grant) Chicago, IL, USA, 1999-2002 Glassell School of Arts / MFAH, High School for Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX, USA 1996-1999