Children Draw and Tell: Projective Tools in Childhood Ego Development

Children are the most authentic people you will ever work with. Their honesty and openness to show and share their inner world through projective drawings allows the practitioner to gain valuable insights into their cognitive, emotional and physical development.

This introductory workshop focuses on the psychological assessment of children aged 4-11, exploring childhood psychological analysis through drawings. Participants will revisit the work pioneered by Elizabeth Koppitz and others, gaining valuable knowledge about the stages of ego identity and personality development across early and middle childhood.

What You Will Learn

• How to apply and analyse the Draw a Person Test (DPT), Draw a Tree (DT) and the Family Portrait amongst others
• How children express their inner world through projective drawings
• How to gain insight into a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development through artwork
• The stages of ego identity and personality development in early childhood and beyond
• How to explore family dynamics using the Family Portrait drawing

Projective tools when applied correctly as part of a wider psychological assessment will provide incredibly accurate and specific details about a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical identity as well as how they organise and see the world around them.

Join Victoria Karp as she shares 25 years of working as a psychologist and child and adolescent psychotherapist within mental health and private practice. You will look at the hundreds of drawings and the many insights Victoria has gained from her therapeutic application of the meaning behind the picture.

Presenter

Victoria Karp is an independent counselling psychologist and integrative child and adolescent psychotherapist. Her professional background is in child and adolescent psychiatry having worked for over 15 years as a CAMHS specialist mental health therapist in Hampshire, Surrey and London clinics, specialist schools, LD teams and private clinics.

Victoria was the community development manager for the CAMHS primary, mental health team in Guildford and Farnham winning the Mayor’s Award in 2014 for services to the community. She has mentored and taught psychology students, trainee therapists, social workers and psychiatric nurses and has taught on the nursing programme at University of Surrey, Guildford.

Victoria’s area of specialism is in attachment theory, psychological assessment of neurodivergences and creative methods of working with children. She runs a practice in Alton, Hampshire where she offers individual therapy and assessment to children, young people and their families.