School
of Creative
Industries
Vaishnavi Bhaskar Dinakar
Vaishnavi is a credentialed art psychotherapist who is experienced in working with individuals in mandated rehabilitative settings in a trauma-informed practice. Her clinical experience includes supporting youths and adults who struggle with addiction (drugs, alcohol, shoplifting), depression, PTSD, DID, complex traumatic experiences and adverse childhood experiences. She has a keen interest in somatic experiences and aims to further develop her art therapy practice by training in techniques that aid clients in developing a sense of safety and resolving trauma through one’s body.
Work
Self-liberation Through Emotional Purging
Video production 2020 (Screenshots from the video)
Thesis abstract
The impact of trauma-informed art therapy on adolescent girls in mandated residential rehabilitation: a qualitative study
This thesis discusses the impact of trauma-informed art therapy on adolescent females in mandated residential rehabilitation. Adolescents that become part of the child welfare system have most likely experienced some form of trauma. Due to the lack of treatment and proper intervention, they may present maladaptive behaviours which eventually cause them to come into conflict with the law. The literature review therefore explores the conceptualisation of trauma from a global and Singaporean context and its impact on an adolescent from a neurobiological, developmental and relational aspect. This study is a qualitative practitioner-based research that collects data from a multiple-case vignette. The art therapist trainee conducts a transformative review by adapting the Audio Image Recording (AIR) research tool to be used within her clinical practice with the aim of promoting internalisation. A thematic analysis was conducted on the data collected and the findings show that the formation of a therapeutic alliance and the manifestation of a visual voice allowed the residents to experience an improved sense of safety, autonomy and witness the emergence of the self.