Students from the Occupational Therapy study programme and lecturers from the Rehabilitation Department Milda Gintilienė, Emilija Strimaitytė, Aistė Pranskaitytė-Bielevičienė and the project coordinator Povilas Beseckas participated in the intensive course of the project “Empowering Puppetry” of the Nordplus programme on September 5-9, which took place at the Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) in Finland. This international project brings together teachers and students of various study fields from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

The main aim of the project was to provide creative and flexible support to immigrants with problems in communication skills, recognition and expression of emotions and integration into society. Project‘s participants deepened their knowledge by participating in creative activities where they learnt to work indirectly with mediators (puppets, various objects), to create a safe and comfortable environment for personal communication and to find ways to disclose their experiences.

Each day of the project started with a team-building exercise and a lecture. At the end of the project, the students teams prepared stories based on the methodologies and clients’ experiences.

Lots of laughter, busy days and evenings, first steps on the stage performing for the audience – these memories students are bringing back home after the course. And plan to meet soon for the next intensive, creative week.