Art Therapy Project with Steve Suissa

Since the massacre carried out by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel, and the escalation of Hezbollah’s shelling along the Lebanese border in the north, nearly 500,000 Israelis have been internally displaced.

All of southern Israel, including every locality near the Gaza Strip, has been evacuated. In the north, 20 communities near the Lebanese border have also been evacuated. In total, 105 localities in the south and north have received evacuation orders.

In this context, FSJU Israel has chosen to invest in an art therapy project with the Association « מ ». Through theatrical activities, this initiative supports displaced populations who have lost their bearings, far from their homes and loved ones.

The Program

As early as October 2023, the various theater courses were transformed into art therapy and coaching. Depending on the needs, they are provided via Zoom or in person in hotels, kibbutzim, centers where these populations, especially young people, have been placed and during the holiday camps organized for them and subsidized by FSJU Israel.

Since then, exchanges with various local stakeholders have highlighted:

That traditional psychological treatments are not sufficient to heal the wounds and traumas from these massacres that occurred on October 7, and from the war triggered by these acts.

Many witnesses encountered, survivors from kibbutzim in the war zone, bordering Gaza, and the Nova festival, the uprooted and “displaced” from the North and South of the country—these individuals of all ages, with whom we have been in contact for almost two years—explain to us that “no doctor has been trained to treat October 7,” and the consequences of this war, which has lasted for almost two years.

The needs for assistance encompass various activities that professionals offer them, such as sports, animal-assisted therapy, and art therapy in all its forms.

We tested this on some of our projects, particularly on the “holiday camps for displaced children” project, and the experience was conclusive.

The method: the workshops will be led by Steve Suissa, a French actor, director, stage director, screenwriter, and producer, himself a graduate of Cours Florent, and Cécile Bens, an accomplished artist.

➢ Audience: Young adolescents (12-18 years old), and displaced adults from Southern and Northern Israel

➢ Frequency: 16 Art Therapy workshops per month

➢ Location: Sderot (Cultural and Community Center, school)

Objectives

To use theater as a tool for care, therapy, and social integration, serving as both a place of culture and self-reconstruction, following the Cours Florent method: personalized and individual work adapted to each child and each person.
To introduce children to artistic creation through performing arts: improvisation work, writing, costume and set design, sound, lighting, acting, singing, dancing, and staging.
To reduce the risks of suicide or attempts, psychiatric hospitalization, depression, regression in children, recurrent violence and aggression in adolescents and adults, nightmares, states of discouragement, etc.
To foster resilience, the acceptance of self, a return to normal life, and the desire to move forward.