FEATURED PROGRAM FOR
MAY 2003

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Migration and Refugee Services
Expressive Arts Program

Administering Organization
Catholic Charities Health and Human Services/Migration and Refugee Services

Program Objectives and Unique Needs Addressed
The Expressive Arts Program seeks to

• help refugees adjust to a new culture and new way of life
• help refugees express feelings related to trauma experienced in their country of origin or the refugee camp, or current trauma due to transition
• provide a non-threatening atmosphere and environment for refugees to express feelings
• bridge cultural barriers in understanding the need for mental health services
• improve the self-esteem of refugee women and children
• address mental health needs in order for refugees to be able to attain and retain employment
• offer refugees with limited English skills the opportunity to express feelings through art, music, and dance therapies

Program Description
The Expressive Arts therapy program meets for three hours every Wednesday. One hour is devoted to individual therapy with a refugee in need of one to one attention (individuals change as need dictates). The second hour is reserved for a women's group where refugee women can "talk" about transitions and life issues pertinent to them, as well as participate in Expressive Therapies such as a women's sewing circle, making music, bringing food, or making art together, to mention a few. The third hour focuses on refugee children (currently age 3-18). The children can express feelings related to making friends, attending new schools, and adjusting to American youth culture. The children, like the women, "talk" by creating art, such as "safe boxes," sculptures, and greeting cards, or by sewing.

Examples of the greeting cards can be found in the BRYCS minigallery.

Groups Served by Program
As of April 2003, the program works with two groups: Afghan and Iranian women, and Afghan and Iranian children. The children's group is further divided into two levels: youth 6-12 years old, and pre-teens 12-15.

In summer 2003 the program will again work with multi-ethnic women's and children's groups (Afghan, Iranian and Roma in both groups). Children's group will again be divided by age, as above.

Program Funding
The program relies on sustainable funding by a variety of federal grants, and donations from the Diocese of Cleveland.

Program Staffing and Required Staff Training
Marjean Perhot: administration
Katherine Jackson, M.A., A.T.R.: MRS Mental Health Consultant and Expressive Arts Coordinator/Therapist

Graduate level interns assist the therapist
- Expressive Arts Graduate Student Intern
- Summer 2003 Program Intern and Consultant

MRS resettlement staff help transport women and children to Expressive Arts program.

The therapist conducting the Expressive Arts group must hold an M.A. or Ph.D. and have experience working with refugees and multicultural groups.

Interns must be graduate school level, with an emphasis on either Art or Expressive Art therapies, psychology, or sociology.

MRS Resettlement staff meet monthly with the therapist to gain knowledge of refugee mental health issues and traditional Western mental health concepts, discuss refugee cases with mental health issues, and discuss issues relating to staff burn-out. These "mental health consults" help staff understand the importance of the Expressive Arts group for refugees.

Defining Program Success
MRS resettlement staff and the therapist routinely discuss the effectiveness of the groups and individual therapy. The Expressive Arts Therapy program evaluates its success based on the refugees' willingness to return weekly to the group, on direct feedback from all participants, and clinical indicators of the participating refugee women and children by the therapist.

Program Outcomes
MRS resettlement staff and the therapist routinely discuss the effectiveness of the groups and individual therapy.

REFUGEES' WILLINGNESS TO RETURN--"looking forward to Wednesdays"
Program staff believe the refugees' willingness to attend the groups is the best measure of success. For example, all of the refugee women now travel on their own to the group by public transportation, and the women show up on time for group--a very big success for someone adjusting to a new life here. Children are ready when the caseworker arrives to pick them up, and the children run into the building to see the therapist and begin their group.

DIRECT FEEDBACK
Program staff ask the women and children whether they enjoy the group, and how to improve on what the program is doing; women and children indicate they feel better, have less difficulty making friends, and feel empowered. Feedback like this can be linked to observable signs of empowerment; for example, after group, two women went together to apply for employment at a nursing facility across the street from program offices.

CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS
A majority of the women and children show fewer signs of depression, appear more energetic, and utilize the group to work out feelings instead of only complaining about the difficulties they face in daily life. For example, usually, when the women first enter the program, they only complain about their situation, or services received (for example, they do not like their apartments, they do not like their jobs, everything is too expensive, and so on). As the group progresses, women realize the importance of coming together to work out feelings, slowly begin to understand the realities of resettlement, and feel more empowered to make own choices and decisions.

Based on these, program staff believe the program is successful. MRS/Cleveland will continue to utilize Expressive Arts as a way for refugees to more effectively communicate trauma and feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Expressive Arts Program judges success by the happy faces of the women and children, through practical measures such as employment retention, and finally, by hearing from the women and children that they like the groups and want to continue.

Other Key Elements
The program also relies on transportation support, on support from Catholic Charities Health and Human Services/MRS, including space and materials, and on having ready access to culturally sensitive psychiatrists and physicians for refugee participants who need medications.

For the future, the program would like to build on its success to add extra groups for children, a men's group, and a seniors' group (age 60+).

Program Contact
Marjean A. Perhot or Katherine Jackson
7800 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44102
216-281-7005

Program Dates
The program began in April 2001, and is still operating.

Learn about the Catholic Charities Health and Human Services/Migration and Refugee Services and its other programs.

You can find more programs and information about this and other organizations by searching the BRYCS Clearinghouse.