On July 2, 2025, the Contemporary Art Centre at Poltava Polytechnic hosted an art therapy session titled “A Message to Myself”, designed to process negative emotions, transform them into inner resources, and create a personal talisman that would remind participants of their strength and hope. This session invited attendees to visualise their fears and worries and then actively convert them into positive affirmations.
Participants were asked to create a double-sided “message”. On one side of the paper, they depicted what troubled or frightened them – specific fears, anxieties, painful memories, or vague feelings of discomfort. On the reverse, they crafted a positive message, affirmation, drawing, or symbol that evoked strength, hope, inner peace, or personal resources – perhaps an image of something joyful, an inspiring quote, or a protective emblem. The two-sided format represented the duality of human experience: from shadow to light, from problem to solution, from vulnerability to strength.
Sketching the fears helped participants externalise and control them, reducing anxiety simply through visual expression. Flipping the paper to create a positive message demonstrated the capacity to transform negative experiences and consciously refocus on one’s resources and hope – a vital lesson in active emotional work. The finished “Message to Myself” thus became a personal artefact or talisman to be kept at home or carried as a constant reminder of inner strength and resilience. When external circumstances feel overwhelming, actively managing the expression and transformation of emotions restores a sense of agency and control over one’s inner world. Moreover, this format of art therapy encouraged deep self-reflection, guiding participants to identify their genuine concerns and recognise which internal or external resources could support them in overcoming these challenges.
“A Message to Myself” session enabled participants to safely express and work through trauma‑related emotions in a visual medium; to symbolically transform pain into resource by crafting a positive reply to their fears; to regain a sense of control over their feelings and life narrative; and to strengthen community and mutual support through the open sharing of their messages.
Moderators:
Olena Ostrohlyad, Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts;
Olena Kryvenko, Assistant, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Practical Psychologist.
The event formed part of the international, large-scale EU-funded Erasmus+ KA220-ADU project “TRUST” – 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 title is decoded as follows:
TRUST
T – Trauma
R – Refugees
U – Ukraine
S – Solidarity
T – Therapy
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).
Media Centre of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
