objectives

• Community: to provide and foster a community for students who are interested in the use of arts for healing and wellness.

• Service: to offer accessible, nonverbal, and universal tools to local homeless agencies by maximizing the transformative value of the arts through a focus on the process of creative expression.
   

strategies

• Experiential education in the use of the arts as a process of self-discovery and the deepening of oneself and others. Through experiential workshops, symposiums, and service-learning, CMP provides students with opportunities to interact with experts and professionals in the fields of art therapy, drama therapy, dance/movement therapy, drumming facilitation, music therapy, expressive poetry/writing, and academic research. We also help students hone their skills in leadership, teamwork, event planning, interviewing (and more).

• On-going program evaluation

• Networking with UCLA peers, health care professionals, creative arts therapists/interns, educators, community workers, and visual/performing artists.

• Partnerships with community-based healing arts organizations, like-minded UCLA student groups, and UCLA Academic departments. Current partnerships: UCLArts and Healing, Step Up on Second, Daniel’s Place, Students fot Integrative Medicine (SIM) student group at UCLA, The Painted Brain, UCLA Center for Community Learning, and Visual and Performing Arts Program (VAPAE) of UCLA Arts and Architecture Dept., The Mind Well Pod of the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative.
   

philosophy

• Sessions bring self-reflection and discussion for promoting emotional awareness, empathy, and development of community.

• What is said in the group stays in the group, as long as everyone respects each other and themselves. Under any circumstances, if a participant mentions harming his/herself or others, the facilitator must refer the participant to a pre-approved mental health professional qualified to address these issues.

• There is no audience. Everyone is part of the experience of creative expression – and they define their own personal level of engagement.

• Spontaneity is key: be flexible, open, and in the moment