Community art counselling is the cornerstone on which Lefika La Phodiso is built. Art -making is instinctive, it is not prescriptive and overcomes language barriers. “Creativity involves the depth of a mind, and many, many depths of unconsciousness”, wrote neurologist Oliver Sacks. Lefika La Phodiso’s therapeutic arts environment creates an atmosphere where repressed trauma can be accessed and processed, and ultimately healed. Open Studio operates every weekday, as well as during school holidays.
Lefika La Phodiso is a registered NPC with 27 years of community-based experience. The organisation seeks to use the arts in a therapeutic way to build connection, foster empathy and support the community by providing accessible arts-based individual and group counselling, thereby increasing access to mental health services.
The Lefika team decided to sit down and have a conversation about where they find themselves as a team and organisation. In this 4-part series, the team discusses the things that they miss, how they are adapting, how they are feeling and what they are grateful for.
Some of the children who attend our programmes tell us why they come to Lefika.
"Lefika is the only place I feel safe."
"Lefika is my home."
In this session, we learn a weaving technique using our plastic yarn which we made in our previous video, on a square shaped base. Weaving is a great technique to learn and use to practice mindfulness and share stories.Thank you to Mary Oppenheimer & Daughters Foundation, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Business & Arts South Africa (BASA) for supporting this initiative.Please check out 'Online Open Studio 21' to learn how to make plastic yarn.