his workshop introduces Dr. Violet Oaklander ‘s pioneering relational arts approach to dialogic Gestalt therapy (www.vsof.org). Children often express feelings through image and metaphor; they use their contact skills as relational tools. Troubled children often struggle to make good contact with themselves and others, tending to restrict healthy expression of their emotions. Many also possess a poor sense of self. Arts-based approaches to therapy offer ‘experience near’ ways of exploring troublesome thoughts and feelings that many children find helpful. Participants will become familiar with the following expressive modalities: Therapeutic drawing and painting, working with clay and the sand tray, musical improvisation, haiku and creative writing, therapeutic games and structured exercises. The course helps participants: * Incorporate the arts into a gestalt experiential framework * Become familiar with exploring image and metaphor in a dialogue * Understand how the relational self emerges and develops uniquely in childhood * Consider the following: conducting an initial joint meeting with parents and children, assessment and treatment plans, reviews, breaks and endings. Course content Includes demonstrations, theory, experiential work ( small group/pairs), discussions. A folder of worksheets and a recommended reading list are supplied