Towards the South: Empowerment Workshops for Art Teachers of Teenagers from High-Risk Families

The workshops were intended to enhance the pedagogical skills of front-line educators while increasing their cross-disciplinary understandings and highlighting the significance of mental health. 

Aware of the social complexities faced by adolescents and the resulting variety of issues front-line educators need to tackle, the Yinalang. Group invited Narumol (Kop) Thammapruksa to devise a workshop using the idea of masks. Though recycled from the cheap materials available in the everyday environment, the masks arguably can disclose a combination of qualities, attitude, and behavior of each participant. While encouraging front-line educators to adopt this method in activities designed for teenagers, Kop also shared with them her ambition to use art to respond to social issues, especially those related to young people. In another workshop in which art educators were asked to work with their colleagues coming from different expertises, a storytelling approach was used to help participants to express their own feelings and build a stronger bond.