Started my course yesterday and feel really good about being there even if I’m a little anxious about the work ahead. Monday marked the start of our induction week, an opportunity to familiarise our self with the department of Psychology, meet course leaders and students and to learn more about the MA course framework. Evidently one thing that was mentioned frequently yesterday was the importance of confidentiality amongst students in group work. One of the rules which particularly stuck in my head was that each person is responsible for their own disclosures and risk taking. Upon hearing this I felt a little worried as I wondered whether these issues might have implications on this blog seeing as its publicly accessible. Subsequently I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardise my place on the course though if I am to continue to blog it would be in my best interest to be selective in what I write and display so as not to implicate others. It may even be worth re-evaluating the functions of the blog and what it is used for as issues of confidentiality are bound to crop up through work undertaken as part of personal therapy and clinical placement. Maybe I could share these concerns with my programme leader so that I have some form of accountability if there’s anything I’m uncertain about.
One thing I can say; referring to myself, is that I really got a lot out of the experience of being able to work in a communal studio environment again and having the opportunity to experience art therapy firsthand. One activity required us to express a journey; either real or imagined, that was personally meaningful. As a response I started to think about myself and systematically trying to retrace the steps that lead to me wanting to study art therapy in the first place. I started by drawing around my shoes and using these shapes as templates to cut out a number of foot steps. In each ‘foot step’ I wrote a brief sentence detailing a significant event that related to art therapy (ordering them chronologically). I then arranged the footsteps into a circle as it struck me that in spite of the varying professional and academic detours I’d taken I’d ultimately ended up back where I started 10 years ago; still deliberating over whether or not I could be an art therapist. I found this to be profoundly amusing and began to think about how this notion of walking in circles might form the premise for new artworks given my own creative preoccupations with journeys and transition.
In addition I’ve also been working on a video for the upcoming Kiss the Future exhibition at Schwartz Gallery in Hackney Wick. The aptly titled Wherever I Go, There I am, should be completed in the next few weeks although I’m still hoping to visit the space prior to submitting my application.
