About Mehdi Naïmi, Art and Play therapist

Mehdi Naïmi is an artist, an art teacher, and a registered Canadian art therapist.
In addition to his graduate studies in Art Therapy at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute, Mehdi has received training in Play Therapy, SandPlay Therapy and a variety of talk therapies. His clientele include Adult and child survivors of trauma and abuse Adults with personal, emotional, and relationship problems Children with emotional and/or behavioural problems Children and adults with developmental disorders	Vancouver Art Therapy Institute Play Therapy
... Art Therapists are trained in the psychology of mark making and symbolism, in non-verbal communication, psychotherapeutic understanding of child development and family dynamics, and the importance of boundaries. They recognise that image making is an extremely potent activity and aim to use their visual and psychotherapeutic literacy to enable change with those with whom they work. The ways in which they do this vary according to the client/patient group or individual, the context, and the therapist. There is, however, always an emphasis on creativity and the therapeutic relationship. Quoted from British Association of Art Therapists web site.	Born and raised in Iran, Mehdi is sensitive to cross-cultural and minority issues, as well as alternative lifestyle choices. Mehdi emphasizes the function of art as meditation, as a way to knowledge. When we draw we come to know what we draw in ways that cannot be described with words. Through art-making we draw out what we know deeply about ourselves and about the subject, but of which we were not aware before. This is the strength of art therapy.

	Mehdi Naïmi graduated with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from the Université du Québèc à Montréal in 1990. He lives and works on Vancouver Island. He has exhibited his art in solo and group shows in Quebec, British Columbia, and abroad. Although not active as an exhibiting artist in the recent years, Mehdi remains strongly dedicated to the process of creativity and to the promotion of the visual arts expecially for the benefit of young people.

Mehdi has taught drawing and clay sculpture since 1991. In teaching and in art therapy Mehdi has always encouraged the person's sense of self-esteem and intuition.	Student's "Before and After" Drawings

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tel: (250) 240-1221
info@arttherapyworks.com
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