AMIRAH MUNAWWARAH BINTE IDILFITRI
AMIRAH MUNAWWARAH BINTE IDILFITRI
Art Psychotherapist
MAAT (Art Therapy), AThR (ANZACATA), AThR (ATAS), BA Psyc (Hons)
Languages: English
Profile
Amirah Munawwarah is a registered art psychotherapist with experience in public healthcare and with young adults and inmate artists.
Amirah graduated from LaSalle College of the Arts with an MA in Art Therapy and clinical attachments in a general hospital (SGH) and a local secondary school. After completing her training and MA, she practised as an art psychotherapist providing workshops and sessions for organizations including Singapore Prison Service, Lions Befrienders, PPIS, Woodlands Health Centre, and MENDAKI.
Amirah has a spectrum of experiences in providing art therapy and art as therapy sessions to individuals in 1-to-1 therapy sessions, group art therapy, open art studios for specific populations, and the general public. She has worked with depression, anxiety, autism, stress-related conditions, self-betterment, healing and trauma. As a practising art psychotherapist, Amirah works primarily with art materials and mediums that encourage clients to holistically create and express whilst building on their strengths and capacity for creative growth and explorations through the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), and El-Duende One Canvas Process Painting (EDPP).
Amirah was a recipient of MENDAKI Youth Promise Scholarship Award in 2019 (formerly known as the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award) and believes that art is subjectively unique as each individual can creatively express themselves.
Specialisations
- Depression and Anxiety
- Adolescents, young adults, and adults
- Stress-related conditions (work, academic, caregiver, and burnout)
- ADHD and ASD
- Identity-related
- Self-betterment and self-improvement
Certifications and Accreditations
- MA Art Therapy, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore
- AThR, Professional Member of Australia New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association
- AThR, Professional Member of Art Therapists Association Singapore
- BA Psychology (Hons), IIUM
In-depth
Amirah had been working in the field of mental health for 5 years, but her experiences in the field extended to 8 years. Prior to becoming an art psychotherapist, she was an educator and had students with ADHD and ASD. Since then, she had been extending her service to a wide variety of population and conditions including neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g Autism, ADHD, Global Developmental Delay), mood disorders (e.g anxiety, social anxiety, depression), stress-related conditions (e.g work and academic stress) and dementia.
Amirah’s therapeutic work is grounded in humanistic therapy, person-centred therapy, psychodynamic principles, narrative therapy, the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), El-Duende Process Painting (EDPP), and Yalom’s group curative factors. She focuses on meeting clients where they are in their personal journeys to be able to support their healing and recovery. She has been incorporating each session and client with her own therapeutic attunement and the triangular relationship between the art therapist, the client, and the artwork/art processes.
Amirah also provides public art as therapy workshops that focus on different themes not only to raise awareness and psychoeducation on art therapy as an emerging field in Singapore but to counter the myth that art therapy is only for the disabled and challenged individuals. By providing the workshops, she spreads awareness that art therapy is suitable for anyone and everyone regardless of art background and experience.
As an artist-art therapist, Amirah held exhibitions that sparked conversations and reflections, such as ‘Who Are YOUth?’ a collective art exhibition on identity in Singaporeans, and ‘FeatheRIhlah’ a 3m long walk-through installation made up of found and faux feathers that symbolize her MA Art Therapy journey. She was also featured on Berita Harian and LASALLE News for using art therapy to heal the mind and soul.
During her free time, Amirah engages in her personal art-making projects, connecting with nature through walks, creating eco-art mandalas, and riding horses.
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