Abstract Body

The unexpected 2015 Sabah earthquake struck the town of Ranau, Sabah and some of the fatalities included children who were on the trail of Mount Kinabalu. As a foundation for natural disaster response, the Child Psychiatry & Mental Health team of Sabah alongside welfare agencies adopted a trauma-informed approach that focused on healing and resilience for the children. We prioritised responding to the emotional and physical well-being of children whose families and homes were affected. As time was limited, our team focused on a brief but effective intervention that would address and support their healing and help them access their resilience.

Expressive art therapy presented a way for the children to become active participants in their own healing process and to see themselves as "survivors," rather than "victims". It was a professional privilege to be a part of this experiential journey with the children, validating and acknowledging their experience with no judgement or criticism. The collaborative approach taken through the expressive arts therapy had the capacity to reach the children quickly and more completely than words could. This lead to the anchorage of re-establishing the sense of safety and inner calm. Van der Kolk (2014) supported the concept of play (expressive art) in healing: “when we play together, we feel physically attuned and experience a sense of connection and joy”.