Counseling and Art Therapy

M’Lop Tapang offers the services of a full-time counselor to all of the children and families with whom we work.

M’Lop Tapang continues to work closely with children who have been sexually abused and/or addicted to drugs. In a country where qualified local counselors are effectively non-existent, there are altogether too many instances in which a child does not receive the professional emotional support he or she needs.

Art therapy is a less intimidating form of counseling which gives a channel for children to identify and express issues. Using art forms is a much less traumatic form of expression emotions, and allows a child to have more control over his or her progress. Restoring self-respect and respect for others is a crucial component of recovery for children suffering psychological trauma as a result of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Several M’Lop Tapang staff members have been trained in the use of Healing Arts through the UK-based Ragamuffin Project, an organization that believes children need to be given a voice to tell their stories

Staff Mentor Program

M’Lop Tapang has recently initiated a staff mentorship program to ensure that all team members are receiving the emotional support they need. Staff are exposed to challenging and often traumatic experiences while working with the families whom we serve such as family violence and child sexual abuse.

Through ongoing training with the Ragamuffin Project, M’Lop Tapang staff members elected to create the ‘Lotus Flower Group’, a team of peer mentors designated to not only provide emotional support for fellow staff members, but also to share in the positive experiences they encounter on a daily basis. The team chose the name ‘lotus flower’ as it represents peace in Khmer culture.

Alcohol Support Group

Domestic violence is a challenging and very common problem in Cambodia, and from our research, we learned that most cases were associated with high levels of alcohol consumption. As such, we piloted an alcohol support group for parents in February 2008.

Our staff have received ongoing training since then and use specific assessment and implementation tools to help clients to work out the reasons they started drinking, identify triggers to consumption and offer alternatives to drinking. We offer tools that allow clients to identify what impacts their drinking has on other parts of their lives, such as relationships with their children and family, economic status, personal reputation.