Evaluation of a sandplay program for preschoolers in a multiethnic neighborhood.

Background: This evaluative study assesses the efficacy of a school-based secondary prevention program consisting of creative expression workshops for immigrant and refugee preschoolers in a predominantly South Asian multiethnic neighborhood. Coincidentally, the program began in the wake of the tsunami.

Method: Pretest and posttest data were collected from the parents and teachers of 105 preschoolers in 10 classes randomly assigned to an experimental or control status.

Creative expression workshops in school: prevention programs for immigrant and refugee children.

Introduction: Immigrant and refugee families underutilize mental health services and schools are in a good position to develop prevention programs to help children adapt to their new environment.

Method: The transcultural psychiatry team at the Montreal Children's Hospital, in partnership with schools, has implemented creative expression workshops for kindergarten, elementary schools, and high school to help the children bridge the gap between past and present, culture of origin and host society.

Results: The workshops provide a safe space for expression, acknowledge and value diversity, allow the establishment of continuity, and facilitate the transformation of adversity.

[Playing with identities, transforming shared realities: school theatre workshop for immigrant and refugee adolescents].

Migration during adolescence represents a challenge for the youth who need to simultaneously work through the multiple losses associated with the migratory journey and adapt to a young adult status. The drama workshop program described here was designed to facilitate the adjustment of newly arrived immigrant teens. The aim of the program is to make it easier for adolescents to adjust to their new environment through creative group work around identity issues.

Classroom drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents: a pilot study.

This evaluative study assesses the effects of a school drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents designed to prevent emotional and behavioral problems and to enhance school performance. The 9-week program involved 136 newcomers, aged 12 to 18, attending integration classes in a multiethnic school. Pretest and posttest data were collected from the students and their teachers.

Evaluation of a classroom program of creative expression workshops for refugee and immigrant children.

Objective: This evaluative study assessed the effect of a creative expression program designed to prevent emotional and behavioral problems and to enhance self-esteem in immigrant and refugee children attending multiethnic schools.

Method: The 12-week program involved 138 children, aged 7 to 13, registered in both integration classes designed for immigrant children and regular classes at two elementary schools. Pretest and posttest data were collected from the children themselves and from their teacher.

Between innovation and tradition: the paradoxical relationship between eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and altered states of consciousness.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new form of psychotherapy to emerge in the West. Using both a case analysis and literature review we situate EMDR within the use of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) in psychological healing practices across times and cultures. We discuss EMDR's unique predicament as a therapy that draws upon techniques common to most therapeutic ASCs, while at the same time distancing itself from this tradition through its pseudoscientific language and technologic aesthetic.