Saturday 14th October 2023
This historic, first all-Ireland Arts Therapies convocation conference gathered Creative Arts Therapists and Arts Therapists together from Ireland and Northern Ireland for the purpose of showcasing best practice, contemporary research and the Arts Therapies in action. The atmosphere was memorably dynamic, colourful, passionate and open hearted.
A convocation is a celebratory gathering which honours achievement, dedication and the sharing of knowledge. In this context, this convocation heralded therapeutic innovations utilising the arts as beacons of communication, inspiration and vision across the therapeutics arts of the visual arts, music, drama, dance and movement. We explored the ‘Frontiers’ of relationship between our professions, our disciplines, our work and within ourselves invigorating and nurturing our community.
Frontiers was a co-produced by the Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists, the British Association of Art Therapists, Crawford College of Art and Design @ Munster Technological University and Belfast School of Art @ Ulster University. It was also supported by the British Association of Dramatherapists, the British Association of Music Therapy and iCommunity Shared Practice Hub.
The conference was generously supported by Technological University Dublin, School of Art and Design.
My presentation explored how we, as practitioners, can consciously sensitise ourselves to the fluctuations of degree and texture of our therapeutic presence. In this way then, we can track our presence and so, ground ourselves in real time in sessions with clients. I believe that the quality of our therapeutic presence is the most fundamental ingredient we bring to our work, as it allows us to attune deeply to those we work with. I believe also that there is a direct correlation between the quality of our presence and the capacity within the therapeutic relationship for healing.
