Healing Through Art – Taiwan

Background:
Lai,10 years old ,grade 4. Owing to the ‘kleptomania problem’ (partnered with his elder sister), he transferred to our school (his fourth school). He showed no interest in learning and sleeping a lot in class. He was always late to school without eating breakfast and often skipped the school days by calling sick. Before being reported by his home room teacher to the school Counseling Office ,I already heard of him because of stealing problems. One day, the Director Of Counseling came to me and asked for help with this boy, as no one wanted to be his counselor at school. Well, that’s how our fun journey started. 🙂

Healing through art:
It was October 2011,when I met this unique and unforgettable boy, Lai. The school counseling course ended in June 2012. His situation was quite challenging compared to all other kids that I had ever counseled. Smiley, acting cautious and very very polite (way too polite). In the beginning,to be honest, I was a bit concerned about his pinching habit and it also raised my own issue of trust.

He came to my classroom every Thursday at lunch break. Through observing his behaviors and reading his family drawings, a lot of secrets at his home revealed. It also exposed the reasons why he needed to partner with his sister for stealing. Brought extra breakfast for him while walking pass his classroom became my new daily routine for quite some time. The trust between him and me built up gradually. With time, he showed his appetite in learning and his academic study improved a lot. One stealing incident was reported, rare skipping school days and graduated in 2013.

I couldn’t imagine what he had been through while growing up in such unbelievable complicated family. What a brave soul! I hope he can realize his life purpose and find proper ways to heal himself in the future. Hopefully,what I did  at school would leave him some good memory when he was little.