By Cookie Balchar-Yellin
ORANIT, Israel — “The Story of Shimshi” is no ordinary children’s book. I wrote it with therapeutic objectives in mind for children at Ezer Mizion’s Oranit, a home for children with cancer who live there for the duration of their treatment together with their families.
The book has a “hero” – a likeable lion named Shimshi. But Shimshi is sick. He is hospitalized and needs to be hooked up to an IV and get chemotherapy. The book tells us all about what happens to Shimshi in the course of his treatment and how he uses his imagination in order to feel better.
The bottom line of the book is not the plot – it is the process that Shimshi goes through, with which sick children identify and from which they draw inspiration and strength.
Since 2004, I have been a rehabilitative art therapist at the Donald Berman Rehabilitation Center, a division of Ezer Mizion’s Oranit Guest Home for children with cancer. The book is used as an additional tool to facilitate therapy and is part of a broad scope of therapy options and support services for children with cancer, their siblings and parents, all provided by Ezer Mizion for free.
Speaking to the Lion
The child and I sit together, one on one. I read the story, asking questions as we go along. Generally, the children want to “speak” with the lion. They ask him questions, and then, in the designated place in the book, they draw a cancerous cell, and then draw how they picture the cell healthy.
I let them imagine things that are fun for them. Then I show them how to do breathing exercises which we practice together, while imagining that inside their little body, instead of the sick cells, there are all the pleasant things they drew.
Three years ago, I started working with children in the hospital. I bring them sculpting and art supplies – crayons, different types of paper, glue, sculpting material – and they create things, expressing through their artwork what they feel deep inside. I focus on positive thinking and work with them on “guided imagery”.
In the course of the therapy sessions at Ezer Mizion, I sought another approach, another tool with which to reach the children. I had the core idea of the story in my head, including the illustrations. I typed it up and let a few different people read it and offer their comments. I prepared a few copies of the pages, covering each page with plastic, both in order to protect the book from wear and so that the children can draw erasable pictures on it. I printed up six such books, producing them on my own, and I work with the children, using the book along with a stuffed lion doll that we can “speak with” and incorporate into the session.
The Concept Behind the Book
I chose a lion as the main character, because the lion is the king of the beasts. If he – the strong hero – can be sick, then anyone can, and if he can overcome his illness, then so can I.
I also animated the IV bag that children with cancer know all too well. I created a character that I call “Kol-or” – Voice of Light – a colorful little IV bag, with eyes and a mouth that children can play with, manipulating her facial expressions. Kol-or speaks with the lion, suggesting that he play with her, and Shimshi imagines to himself toys, flowers, animals and other nice, positive things, instead of the sick cells in his body.
At this point, I get the sick child actively involved and ask him to draw in the book whatever he sees in his imagination: Some draw toys, others draw candy, butterflies, all sorts of things they like.
I am a resident of Tzur-Yig’al, and came to art therapy in a very round-about way. In Argentina, the country from which I immigrated to Israel in 1990, I worked as a teacher, an actress, and ran a puppet theater for adults. I studied acting three years, puppet theater for another three, and also mask therapy. I went to study mask therapy because something inside me wanted to help people with this medium. I learned how to create masks from different materials and to give them a variety of expressions.
The mask is a three-dimensional metaphor, and through its use, a person can open up and speak about his feelings, dreams and emotional blocks – because when a person puts on a mask, he feels that he is no longer “himself.”
I did not get a chance to use the mask technique, because at that point, I moved to Israel: Here, I ran acting clubs and had a puppet theater in Ra’anana, but I knew that I needed to work in something with real contact, something closer and more intimate. Mask therapy is conducted on a group level, and I needed something “one on one.” So I went to Beit Berel to learn art therapy, and chose to focus on treatment of children, because children’s imagination is unbridled.
Measuring the Success of this Therapy Tool
We’re mainly talking about emotional rehabilitation. The objective here is not to bring the child to perfect health, but to help him feel good at whatever point he is at. The therapy strengthens him.
I work with the patients from their healthiest and strongest point. After a session at Ezer Mizion with the book, the child always leaves less angry, less frustrated. Some children need to drink a lot, so I tell them that Shimshi wants to play with them only while they drink, and I suggest to them that they also give Shimshi a drink. We act out scenes together with Shimshi and they share all their frustrations with him. They project their own situation on Shimshi, saying, for example that “Shimshi wants to go home.”
I worked with a three year old boy who didn’t want to get out of his stroller and wanted his mother to be near him all the time. When we played with Shimshi, he told his mother that she can go, and asked Shimshi to help him get out of the stroller. He took Shimshi’s hand, and I took his other hand, he got out of the stroller and started walking around the Ezer Mizion building.
Another incident was that of a girl who lost her hair as a result of the treatments and refused to take off her hat. After we played for a while with Shimshi, she took off the hat and forgot to put it back on. These are small victories that are really very big for young children in their fierce struggle with cancer.
Together with the many professionals at Ezer Mizion, our aim is to cure the delicate souls of children who have been traumatized by serious illness. For further information, please visit Ezer Mizion’s website at www.ezermizion.org or call 718 853 8400.
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Preceding provided by Ezer Mizion