On June 4, 2025, in the dormitory of the Separate Structural Unit of the Poltava Oil and Gas Vocational College of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, a meaningful art therapy session was held by Lesia Klevaka, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, and Acting Head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy. The session, titled “Colours of the Heart: A Journey Within”, was organised explicitly for adult internally displaced persons and marked another important step in the psychological support and rehabilitation program.
The session aimed to help participants gain a deep understanding of their emotions, release internal tension, and harmonise their psycho-emotional state. The central element of the meeting was a powerful art therapy exercise called “Hands of Harmony”. Through this activity, participants were able to dive into their inner world using the contours of their own hands as a symbolic map for self-exploration. In art therapy, hands are a profound symbol – they embody action, interaction with the world, the ability to give and receive, and a sense of protection. By filling in the outlines of their hands with symbols and colours associated with strength, security, hope, and inner balance, participants engaged in the process of externalising and symbolising their inner experiences.
This technique enabled internally displaced persons to delicately and safely immerse themselves in emotional experiences often connected with traumatic events. The very act of drawing and imbuing the hands with meaning facilitated the recognition of accumulated resentment, anxiety, or sadness, and, most importantly, helped transform these emotions into positive experience and inner resource. Through creative expression, without the need to verbalise complex feelings, participants could reframe their internal state, discover sources of resilience, and visualise desired emotional conditions.
Participants also had the opportunity to reflect on parables that highlighted the importance of forgiveness, compassion, and inner freedom. The use of parables in art therapy is a form of narrative therapy, where metaphorical stories help individuals view their situations from a new perspective, uncover fresh meanings, and release emotional burdens.
Special attention was given to the impact of colour on a person's psychological and physiological state. Participants explored how individual colours can activate, soothe, or energise, and learned how to utilise colours to regulate their mood consciously. This is one of the fundamental aspects of art therapy, where colour serves as a powerful channel for emotional expression and influence on internal states.
The session concluded with warm tea in the company of like-minded individuals. The atmosphere of trust, mutual support, and sincerity that prevailed throughout the event contributed to more profound emotional relief and the strengthening of social connections among participants. These moments are crucial for forming a sense of community and belonging, which are essential to psychological well-being and recovery.
The session “Colours of the Heart: A Journey Within” once again confirmed that art therapy is an effective tool for working through the consequences of trauma. It helps people recognise their emotions, discover internal resources, and restore harmony in life through creative self-expression.
The meeting ended with warm tea shared among kindred spirits. The atmosphere of trust, support, and openness fostered emotional release and reinforced social ties among participants.
This session marked another meaningful step in the implementation of the Erasmus+ KA220-ADU TRUST project – Trauma of refugees in Europe: An approach through art therapy as a solidarity program for Ukraine war victims (Grant No. 2024-BE01-KA220-ADU-000257527). The project is co-funded by the EU and led by the Centre Neuro Psychiatrique St-Martin from Belgium, in partnership with the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” (Ukraine), Greek Carers Network EPIONI (Greece), Fondazione Don Luigi Di Liegro (Italy), Lekama Foundation (Luxembourg), EuroPlural Project (Portugal).
Additionally, Poltava Polytechnic is currently conducting a series of art therapy sessions as part of the TRUST project. These sessions have included symbolic activities such as designing personal coats of arms to represent inner values, sources of strength and hope; associative drawing exercises; the “Relationships” activity aimed at reflecting on personal connections with loved ones, community, and country; discussions around “What does mental health mean to me?”; neurographic drawing; and immersion in body-oriented therapy where movement, dance, and physical expression become key tools for emotional release and recovery, worked with metaphorical associative cards, practiced associative reflection of thoughts on paper and explored the symbolism of the elements of nature and their direct impact on the human psyche and emotional state, plunged into music and daram therapy and took part in a unique art therapy session on neurography titled “My Tree of Life”, worked with metaphorical cards and the Nossrat Pezeshkian psychotherapeutic model, сreated drawings depicting a personal “Tree of Power”, did the art therapy exercise “My superpower”, were given tools for deeper self-understanding by transforming pain into art, and art into a path to healing; helped children recognise and understand their emotions, learn self-soothing techniques, and restore their emotional resilience.
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