Greece, 2019

Home Project

The HOME Project is a non-profit organisation which helps refugee and child migrants, who arrive in Greece alone. The project moves children from the streets, camps, police stations and detention centres and brings them to the safety of one of their HOMES. They provide children with support, protection, education and social integration services.

The HOME project currently has 11 shelters with a capacity of 220 children. There are 10 shelters in central Athens, with one in Kallithea, southwest of Athens. The project focuses on caring for the children within the city, not away from it. This helps children integrate and feel included in the community around them and gives them access to more educational services and athletic facilities.

In The News

‘Tomorrow we make it better’: an art therapist’s reflection on a community mural in a refugee camp in Greece.

While the HOME Project provide care and support for the children staying in their homes, there was no mental health support available, so we were asked to set up art therapy sessions to the 11 shelters in Greece.

This year we have recruited two art psychotherapists from Greece, who are currently delivering daily art therapy groups at the shelters and creating projects across the city for the young people to learn more about their new homes. These have so far included:

-Mapping Athens and street photography
-Visits to museums, galleries and art studios
-Recording sounds in their neighbourhood to create an audio mixed media installation
-Video filming and editing for a documentary
-Planting and visiting outdoor spaces
-Creating a group mural

The group art therapy sessions offered consistency and promoted a sense of security amongst feelings of external and internal chaos. In the unpredictable climate of a refugee camp we provided a safe and empathic environment.

Through art, participants shared stories of their anger, fear, hopelessness and sadness at their past experiences and their current situations. We were their witnesses and used the artwork to reflect on the emotional content of their stories and how they were feeling each day.

We encouraged dialogue between the images and within the group, allowing for a shared experience and an opportunity for making meaning of their circumstances.

The mural provided an opportunity for us to work alongside the residents and allowed them to lead on a project that would make a small change to their environment. It became a symbol of self-worth, self-esteem, hope and resilience to the individuals who worked on it.

Home Project

Greece, 2016-2018

Ritsona Refugee Camp

We visited the Ritsona camp in Greece in 2016 and saw a vast gap in mental health services for the 750 refugees living there.

People in the camp had travelled from areas of Syria, the former Kurdistan, South Sudan and other areas of political conflict. As the EU borders closed, the refugees were stuck waiting in limbo, separated from family members and unsure of their futures.

Having experienced unimaginable losses of loved ones, livelihoods, education, and a place to call home, they were at great risk of developing mental health issues.

After visiting the camp in 2016, we applied to run a 6-week pilot project with the help of four qualified art psychotherapists and a translator.

We were kindly given use of an abandoned building to carry out our sessions and to turn it into a usable community space. We were also given permission to work on a mural on the exterior walls. Once we had this in place we established twice daily group art therapy sessions for the men, women and children in the camp.

Our aim was to facilitate a creative, safe and therapeutic space for children, adolescents and their families.

During our 6-week project we saw symptoms of PTSD and mental ill health among the adults and young people. We witnessed the distress, low self-esteem and toxic stress that many children displayed within the camp.

After assessing the pilot project, we saw a great need for our service and returned in January 2017 to set up an art therapy studio. Our main aim was to provide early intervention for the people living in the camp, so they could cope with their present situation.

We encouraged dialogue between the images and within the group, allowing for a shared experience and an opportunity for making meaning of their circumstances.

100% of participants felt supported, respected and listened to by the group
75% felt better after attending the group
80% enjoyed being able to talk about their thoughts, feelings and experiences
100% felt the group encouraged them to learn new skills and techniques
75% said the group helped them to feel more confident, relaxed and able to express themselves

“I feel better because I have a new friend”

“I feel happy in the groups”

“When I came to Ritsona, I didn’t know anyone, and I was worried about communicating with people. Having psychological support has made me adapt faster.”

“I feel calm and relaxed with the help from Flourish Foundation”

“I feel relaxed and less stressed out”