Andrea Radisic

One of my main passions in life has always been art and how it has the ability to transform somebody and take them into a different state of mind. When creating a piece of work I feel as if I go into a meditative state of relaxation focusing wholly on that piece and ignoring the world around me. Ever since I started creating my own art pieces I've always noticed how it seems to take my stresses or problems away and I project all these feelings onto the canvas. I wanted to explore this idea further and how art has the ability to help or heal other people. To do this I decided I wanted to complete a degree in Creative Therapeutic Arts in the hopes of continuing on to complete a masters in Art Therapy and then becoming a consultant.

I believe that children with mental health disabilities can benefit greatly from the use of art therapy as it is such an expressive and free tool to use. I started working with children at the age of 16 where I volunteered for an organisation called ReachOut Plus. I worked with children with disabilities up to the age of 18 and went on fortnightly activities where we were responsible for the wellbeing of the child- participating in activites such as swimming or bowling. I also currently work for Noah's Ark Playscheme during the summer and easter. This charity organisation provides a holiday playscheme for children with a wide variety of different physical and mental disabilities. With the company I look after an individual child each day and I am responsible for them throughout that day - including their personal hygiene as well as making sure they are stimulated and having fun throughout the day.

My aim for the future is to open my own private practice for individual and group Art Therapy sessions, focusing particularly on children with mental health issues. However, once the establishment is in a stable situation I would like to explore further into working with other groups of people such as the elderly or people who have suffered a bereavement.