Transplanting the Soul-Tree: An Analytical Perspective on how the Sesame Approach and Movement with Touch and Sound Became the Fertile Soil for the Psychological Support and Therapy for Refugee Women

Abstract

This case study explores how the Sesame approach and specifically Marian Lindkvist's ‘Movement with Touch and Sound’ (MTS) became the fertile soil for the psychological support and healing of refugee women in an innovative community centre in Athens. Expression through movement, ritual, imagination and play created the fine line of working obliquely yet deeply with severely traumatised women, most of whom were survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The archetypal image of the tree, which develops new roots after the so called ‘transplant shock’, is a guiding metaphor that emerged through the therapeutic process and held an enormous significance as a representative unconscious image of the women's inner and outer journey of transformation.