From the Cave into the World ‒ Drawing Forms in Clinical Practice

Objectives and content of the entire continuing education program

The continuing education program “From the Cave into the World” teaches therapeutic drawing forms
as an independent, consciousness-forming approach within anthroposophic art therapy.
The focus is on working with point, line, plane, and movement and their effect on perception,
self-regulation, and psycho-physical processes.
The continuing education program includes theoretical and especially practical art therapy foundations
for differentiated clinical application. Starting from early pictorial origins and
archetypal principles of form, drawing forms is explored as a therapeutic process,
that is applied individually, indication-specifically, and relationship-oriented. Educational contexts
(including Waldorf education) are incorporated where they contribute to historical understanding,
but they are not the main focus.
A particular emphasis is placed on therapeutic application for different clinical conditions
as well as on developing participants’ own form exercises. Participants learn
to develop forms, justify them professionally, and apply them responsibly.
Target group
Artistic therapists with a successfully completed university degree, a comparable
qualification, or corresponding suitability based on professional experience. Interested participants from related
professional fields may also take part in individual modules.

Artistic therapists with a successfully completed university degree, a comparable
qualification, or corresponding suitability based on professional experience. Interested participants from related
professional fields may also take part in individual modules.

We would like to enable students of Alanus University to participate in continuing education programs with a 50% discount. An individual quota is available for each continuing education program. University certificates are excluded from discounting.

Content

This module introduces the anthropological and art-historical origins of drawing forms.
It covers early image forms such as cave painting, ornamental forms of order, and
archetypal line movements, as well as their significance for the development of consciousness. In addition,
the anthroposophic foundations of drawing forms (including in Rudolf Steiner’s work)
are contextualized in terms of their therapeutic relevance.

Objectives
Participants develop a deeper understanding of how form, movement, and consciousness
are interconnected and are able to place therapeutic drawing forms within a culturally historical and
professionally grounded context.

Content

The focus is on principles of form from nature: plants, trees, and natural processes of movement.
It teaches how rhythm, metamorphosis, polarity, and symmetry observed in nature
can be translated into therapeutically effective form exercises. The focus is on
grasing principles of form, not on naturalistic representation.

Objectives
Participants learn to use natural forms as a resource for therapeutic drawing forms and
to develop vivid, stabilizing, and regulating exercise approaches.

Content
This module is dedicated to the indication-specific application of drawing forms. Using selected
clinical conditions (differentiated exercise approaches for affective disorders, anxiety and
obsessive-compulsive disorders, trauma, exhaustion, geriatrics), suitable principles of form, exercise forms,
and therapeutic objectives are developed.

Objectives
Participants acquire the ability to use drawing forms in a differentiated way in the clinical context
and to align exercises with symptoms, constitution, and the therapeutic process.

Content

The final module focuses on the independent development of therapeutic form exercises.
It addresses criteria for selecting exercises, contexts of rationale, observation of effects,
as well as ethical aspects of therapeutic responsibility.

Objectives
Participants are enabled to design their own form exercises, reflect on their therapeutic intention,
and shape drawing forms as a dialogical, relationship-oriented therapeutic process.

To obtain the university certificate, a written assessment must be submitted in the form of a therapeutic
exercise or method development project in drawing forms.
The assessment consists of a text and image documentation of approximately 4–6 pages
(corresponding to around 2–3 pages each of text and image material). The work should arise from the content and impulses
of the continuing education program while also taking into account the possibilities and requirements of the participants’ individual
professional field of practice.
The focus is on the development, justification, and reflection of one or more therapeutic
form exercises. In doing so, both the theoretical foundations taught in the continuing education program
as well as the therapeutic objective, the target group, the clinical or therapeutic
context, and the practical applicability of the exercise(s) should be presented in a comprehensible manner.
A professionally justified presentation is expected that shows how therapeutic drawing forms
can be used in a situation-specific and process-oriented way. Reflection on the observed
or intended effect of the developed exercise(s) is part of the assessment.

Katja von den Benken
Art therapist (B.A.)
www.sozial-kunst-therapie.de

Head of the Institute for Continuing Education in Artistic Therapies:
Brigitta Jaroschek M.A. (research associate)

Further information, contact options, and our FAQ can be found here:

edu.Art – Institute for Continuing Education in Artistic Therapies | Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences