MASTERS ART PROJECT: HE(ART) CARDS

THE MIECAT INSTITUTE

As part of my final-year Master’s practicum, I facilitated an art therapy program at St Kilda and Balaclava Kindergarten. Over the course of a year, twenty very enthusiastic children aged three to five participated in one-on-one and small group art therapy sessions using paint, clay, drawing, and loose parts.

From this work, a set of thirteen postcards was created, drawing on the images and words of the children, alongside the experiences that emerged in the intersubjective space between us. Each postcard explored a theme commonly arising in early childhood mental health contexts and invited reflection on the question:

What is therapeutic?

What emerged within the space was as unique as each child. At times, what was therapeutic meant feeling safe enough to share what was happening at home. At other times, it was something much quieter — the gentle care of someone placing a feather in their hair.

Across all experiences, it was connection that proved to be the most consistently therapeutic. Art-making moved fluidly in and out of the space between child and companion, not as an intervention to fix or direct, but as a shared language supporting safety, presence, and relationship.