International Projects

In the autumn of 2022, Hajnal Korbai, Smile’s psychologist, attended the 4th Conference of the European Association of Dance Movement Therapy (EADMT) in Potsdam with the support of the foundation. The conference entitled How far is far? How close is close? Choreographing a new world focused on the new post-Covid world, where many aspects of human and therapeutic relationships have had to be reinterpreted. The conference focused on the topic of how colleagues with expertise in body awareness can work together in a supportive atmosphere to resolve the traumas of the past years. From the many colourful presentations and workshops, a Smile Blog (link) was also created in which we also dealt with the dance therapists’ own mental health in the hope that other therapeutic disciplines might also draw useful ideas from this summary.

In October 2015, Norway Grants organised a trip to Oslo to visit non-profit organisations and study social initiatives, and Helena Varga, our colleague who is responsible for therapeutic sessions, took part. During the study trip, she visited organisations working with similar methods, for example the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS). The main objective of NKVTS, which is associated with the University of Oslo, is to study the causes of violence and traumatic stress, and to find ways to reduce them in different target groups. One of the research centre’s partners was the Norwegian Institute of Expressive Arts and Communications (NIKUT), which provides training in art therapy for therapists. The main lesson for us was how knowledge from research and methods used in art therapy can be used to enrich ourselves to help young people cope with difficult life situations.

In the spring of 2015, Hajnal Korbai, the foundation’s psychologist, attended the Herbstakademie conference in Heidelberg. The event, entitled The Circularity of Mind and Body, looked at the integration of different theories and disciplines related to mind-body circularity during a very exciting programme. We had aimed to explore this field in more depth, since by applying such kind of theoretical models of mind-body and the connected body awareness techniques can enhance the effectiveness of a wide range of verbal and non-verbal therapeutic methods. Since then, the foundation’s programmes have focused on the possibilities of involving body awareness techniques into therapy and we have held professional meetings on the subject.

In the spring of 2014 and the following year, Danish university students visited us on a study trip organised by the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS). During the Positive Psychology course, they gained insights into Smile Foundation’s work with art therapy and the functioning of the health care system in Hungary. In addition to exploring the present situation, their aim was to study the history of Hungarian welfare measures over the past 130 years, from the flourishing cultural years of the 19th century, through the two world wars and communism, until the current post-communist state.

In 2013, we continued in this direction with a project called The Psychological Healing: Tale and Art Therapy for Seriously Ill Children in Hungarian Hospitals (Norway Grants). The project aimed to provide free-of-charge art and tale therapy services in two Hungarian hospitals for children facing chronic illness. Smile therapists worked in close cooperation with experts in the hospitals to ensure that medical treatments and psychological support reinforce one another. The project included a two-day workshop on tale therapy methods, which was also open to other organisations who support sick children. Due to its high-quality therapy services and training opportunities, the project contributed to the development of the culture of art and tale therapy in the Hungarian health care services.

In the summer of 2009, we launched our Tale Therapy in Hospitals (EEA and Norway Grants) project in cooperation with Hungarian and international experts. By the end of the project in 2010, we had produced two publications on the topic. The aim of the publications was to help professionals working with sick children who want to use stories and fairy tales in psychological rehabilitation. The first volume of the Smile therapy methodologies series was developed with the help of American professionals and based on our experiences in Norway. The Golden Squash publication was written for children who had experienced trauma. The book simultaneously provides on the one hand a psychological approach and on the other storytelling based on the tradition of folk tales. The therapeutic stories of the American psychologist Nancy Davis provided a comprehensive picture of the problems experienced by children who had suffered from trauma. The folktales originally collected by storyteller Laura Simms and her colleagues to support children affected by 9/11 are able to help children and adults living with trauma of all ages, from all parts of the world.

In the summer of 2009, eight Smile therapists visited England as part of the Art for Healing – Training Therapists in England project (LdV-HU-08-PLM-2016, Leonardo da Vinci, Mobility Programme). The UK had diverse and highly reputable art therapy programmes at that time, so it was a priority for us to strengthen our connections to institutions with a similar profile. One of our partners during the project was the Birmingham Centre for Art Therapies, which has been helping to deliver high quality art therapy programmes in the UK since 1993. One of the main goals of the organisation was the ongoing training of therapists and carers through seminars and the provision of a library of written and audio-visual materials. The centre itself also organised art, music, drama, dance and movement therapy sessions for children, which was visited by our professionals. In addition, the Smile therapists visited music therapy sessions in hospitals and institutions for young people with autism. Our professionals were able to learn several specific techniques and practices during the study trip which they could later apply in Smile therapy groups in Hungary.

In August 2008, ten Smile therapists travelled to Bergen to visit our partners at the Norwegian Regional Centres for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, within the framework of a project called How to help in the right way? The mutual training of art therapists in service of European children living with help (07/002/NA/N-157, Norway Grants). Our team spent a week there and participated in several lectures and art therapy sessions. There, we first encountered the storytelling technique and the therapeutic stories of Nancy Davis, and our tale therapy project was later inspired by this experience. Afterwards, the Norwegian delegation visited Hungary to learn about Smile art therapy sessions and to continue the exchange of best practices.

In 2005, Katalin Adorján, the head of the foundation, visited Barcelona within the framework of the Art Therapy in Barcelona (HU/04/PL/318, Leonardo da Vinci, Mobility Programme) project, in which the Teresa Florenza Centre partnered with Smile. During the two months she spent there, she was able to get a deeper understanding of new therapeutic tools and methods. The project allowed her to experience first-hand how an art therapy programme is structured and how the new methods can be applied in practice.

Also in 2005, we partnered with Barcelona Voluntaria from Spain in the 1000 years of the road to the European Union (HU-11-029-2005-R2, Youth 2000-2006) project. This youth exchange programme explored decisive historical periods in Hungary and Spain. The programme involved 12 young people from Hungary and 12 young people from Spain, who were all suffering from various illnesses or living in state care. In their workshops, they presented the cultural heritage of each country through experiential learning and different applied arts.

From 5 to 15 September 2004, we organised our first youth exchange programme within the framework of the European Cultures – Learning through Arts (HU-11-097-2004-R2, Youth 2000-2006) project. At that time, our foundation was also organising experiential therapy programmes for sick children and youngsters, and at such an event children were able to experience the power of arts for the first time in the history of Smile. Twelve young Hungarians took part in a trip and spent ten exciting days together with young Spaniards in Barcelona. They had the opportunity to learn about cultural differences through art workshops, to present the culture of their own countries and to see how young people live in the two European Union countries.