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from the film "The Hidden Face of Suicide"

produced and directed by Yehudit Silverman

Yehudit Silverman, MA, R-DMT, RDT

  • Department Chair, Creative Arts Therapies

Contact information

Biography

Seeds of Hope - an arts based approach to suicide and resiliency

Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - March 8 - April 2, 2017 

Under the direction of Yehudit Silverman, in collaboration with theEducation and Community Programs Department of the Montreal Museum of FineArts, this exhibition presents the work of many individuals who have been directly affected by suicide.  Using the mask, a form that suggests the stigma that frequently surrounds the issue of suicide, the participants courageously communicated their feelings around issues of suicide through the use of diverse mediums, structures, and creative processes.  

Media coverage 

http://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/cunews/main/stories/2017/03/01/hope-in-face-of-suicide-yehudit-silverman-exhibition-mmfa.html


http://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/27397b2e-068d-4f9d-a2a4-3d4ad4f8eec9%7C_0.html


http://globalnews.ca/video/3329418/seeds-of-hope-concordia-professor-addresses-suicide-in-art-exhibition


Award winning documentary filmmaker - SSHRC and FQRSC funded

The Hidden Face of Suicide  ©  2010

Produced, written, and directed by Yehudit Silverman (58 minutes)

Original music composed by Yehudit Silverman

English with French subtitles
Dubbed in Polish

“An outstanding example of how the arts have the power to transform, illuminate, and make connections otherwise not possible”Patricia Leavy, Author, Method Meets Art:Arts-Based Research Practice


Screened at 
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,
Cinema du parc
Curzon Cinema, London, UK
Montreal World Film Festival
over 30 Film Festivals, Conferences, Universities worldwide 

PBS Interview www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFAOnut9B-I


Website - www.yehuditsilverman.com 


rent or purchase online: https://www.reelhouse.org/yehuditsilverman/the-hidden-face-of-suicide





Award winning documentary filmmaker

The Hidden Face of Suicide  ©  2010

Produced, written, and directed by Yehudit Silverman (58 minutes)

Original music composed by Yehudit Silverman

English with French subtitles
Dubbed in Polish


The Story Within - myth and fairy tale in therapy ©  2004

 Produced and Directed by Yehudit Silverman (53 minutes)

 English with French subtitles translated into Turkish

Awarded a Raschkowan Grant for “Interfaith Arts Dialogue- documentary film project for peace.”

Bringing together young adults from Jewish, Christian, Muslim communities to work together through the arts. 

Awarded a Curriculum Innovation Fund Grant, for “Introduction to Creative Arts Therapies blended learning course”


Developed an online/classroom learning undergraduate course in Introduction to Creative Arts Therapies  course  

Research award

2009 - National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT)
View Yehudit Silverman's CV

Teaching activities

Awarded a Curriculum Innovation Fund Grant

For the Development of the first blended and online course in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies

                                   

 CATS 210 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE ARTS THERAPIES



 

CATS 210 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE ARTS THERAPIES Blended Learning Course

CATS 210 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE ARTS THERAPIES  Blended Classroom and online Learning Course

Offered Fall, 2017

CourseDescription:

 

Inthis blended learning course students will be introduced to the basic conceptsand practices of creative arts therapies - art therapy, drama therapy, musictherapy, and dance therapy.  Studentswill learn general theories and themes common to all of the creative artstherapies related to creative process, creative projection, meaning making,expression, therapeutic space, symbols, and witnessing.  These themes will be explored throughintegrating in class discussion and experiential activities, films, videoclips, interviews, readings, podcasts, blogs, and assigned field trips.  This course will give students theopportunity to gain an understanding of how the creative arts therapiesfunction, the range of professional practices, and give a wide overview of thefield.

 

CATS 638 CREATIVE PROCESS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

CATS 638 CREATIVE PROCESS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

May/June 2017

COURSE 

DESCRIPTION

 

In this class students willhave the opportunity to experience, document, and learn about the creativeprocess through the use of myth and story. Students will choose a character from a myth or story that reflects theirown personal journey.  In class they willexplore this character through the use of masks, movement, art, drama, andmusic.  Through readings, discussions andcreative exercises students will learn the documented stages of creativeprocess and how this can be a model for personal and clinical growth. 

 

Research activities

SEEDS OF HOPE - an arts based approach to suicide and resiliency

Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - March 8 - April 2, 2017 

Under the direction of Yehudit Silverman, in collaboration with theEducation and Community Programs Department of the Montreal Museum of FineArts, this exhibition presents the work of many individuals who have been directly affected by suicide.  Using the mask, a form that suggests the stigma that frequently surrounds the issue of suicide, the participants courageously communicated their feelings around issues of suicide through the use of diverse mediums, structures, and creative processes.  

Media coverage 

http://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/cunews/main/stories/2017/03/01/hope-in-face-of-suicide-yehudit-silverman-exhibition-mmfa.html


http://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/27397b2e-068d-4f9d-a2a4-3d4ad4f8eec9%7C_0.html


http://globalnews.ca/video/3329418/seeds-of-hope-concordia-professor-addresses-suicide-in-art-exhibition


Award winning documentary filmmaker - SSHRC and FQRSC funded

The Hidden Face of Suicide  ©  2010

Produced, written, and directed by Yehudit Silverman (58 minutes)

Original music composed by Yehudit Silverman

English with French subtitles
Dubbed in Polish

This film enters the world of survivors, thosewho have lost loved ones to suicide, and reveals their remarkable stories.Looking for the story behind the silence in her own family, Silverman sets outon a journey of understanding and transformation. Using masks, the survivorsfind a unique and creative way to express the unspeakable.  Their journey brings to light the danger ofsecrets and the terrible cost of silence    

“An outstanding example of how the arts have the power to transform, illuminate, and make connections otherwise not possible”Patricia Leavy, Author, Method Meets Art:Arts-Based Research Practice


“...goes behind theveil of silence... and concludes that healing demands an end to silence.. JohnGriffin, The Gazette


Screened at 
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,
Cinema du parc
Curzon Cinema, London, UK
Montreal World Film Festival
over 30 Film Festivals, Conferences, Universities worldwide 

PBS Interview www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFAOnut9B-I


Website - www.yehuditsilverman.com 


rent or purchase online: https://www.reelhouse.org/yehuditsilverman/the-hidden-face-of-suicide


Interfaith Arts Dialogue- funded by University Seed grant - Raschkowan Foundation - private donor

Interfaith Arts Dialogue

http://www.yehuditsilverman.com/yehudits-current-film-project/


When we have an opportunity to witness heartfelt creative work from those who are different, we can develop empathy and our attitudes can change.When given the chance to work collaboratively through the arts, our perceived differences can disappear.”

   YehuditSilverman, professor and chair, Department of Creative Arts Therapies,director, Interfaith Arts Dialogue

  

   Interfaith Arts Dialogue is a documentary film currently in the early stages of production that explores an innovative arts-based process to building solidarity between people of different groups. So far the initiative has brought together young adults and community leaders from Jewish, Christian and
 Muslim communities to take part in collaborative
 arts activities that shift their attitudes towards one another in profound ways.

Documentary Film - The Story Within- myth and fairy tale in therapy

The Story Within - myth and fairy tale intherapy-©2004

 Produced and Directed by Yehudit Silverman (53 minutes)

In English – translated in French and Turkishsubtitles

 

Six people embark on journeys of profoundself-discovery by immersing themselves as characters in self-selected andpersonally meaningful myths or fairytales. This film takes us through the stages of an original and dynamicapproach to the Creative Arts Therapies and is a moving testament to thepower of creativity and myth in clinical practice.


“A thought provoking and incredible evocationof the richness to be found within the interplay between the narratives thatare handled between us over generations and the immediacy and power unleashedby exploration of myths and fairy tales for personal exploration...an essentialfilm for anyone interested in the arts, narratives and therapy” Phil Jones, Professor, UniversityCollege London, author, Drama as Therapy


 Screened internationally at over 40 conferences, Universities, and on 
A&E television network show Breakfastwith the arts



participants mask

The Hidden Face of Suicide by Yehudit Silverman

Interfaith Arts Dialogue participants

Publications

Publications- myth and fairy ale in therapy

Silverman, Y. (2004). The story within - myth and fairy tale in therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy. Vol31/3 pp. 127-135

Silverman, Y. (2005). Drama therapy -theoretical approaches. In Brooke, S. Creative arts therapies modalities a guide to the history, theoretical approaches, assessment, and work with special populations of art, play, dance, music, drama, and poetry therapies New York: Charles C Thomas

Silverman, Y. (2007). Drama therapy with adolescent survivors of sexual abuse: the use of myth, metaphor and fairytale.In Brooke, S. 
The use of the creative therapies with sexual abuse survivors. New York: Charles C Thomas

 

Publications - Suicide


Silverman, Y., Smith, F., Burns, M. (2013). Coming Together in Pain and Joy: A Multicultural and Arts-Based Suicide Awareness Project. The Arts in 

Psychotherapy. Vol 40 pp. 216 - 223


Silverman, Y. (2013).   We need to talk more not less about suicide, Opinion piece, Montreal Gazette,May 7, 2013   

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFAOnut9B-I

PBS Television Interview Uploaded by Mountain Lake PBS


enfrançais  LaPresse

http://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/27397b2e-068d-4f9d-a2a4-3d4ad4f8eec9%7C_0.html

 

Global News

http://globalnews.ca/video/3329418/seeds-of-hope-concordia-professor-addresses-suicide-in-art-exhibition

 

MAtv billboard

http://matv.ca/montreal/mes-emissions/montreal-billboard/videos/5363003321001

 

Concordia News http://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/cunews/main/stories/2017/03/01/hope-in-face-of-suicide-yehudit-silverman-exhibition-mmfa.html

 

 

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Documentary films

The Hidden Face of Suicide (2010)
Produced, written, and directed by Yehudit Silverman (58 minutes) Original music composed by Yehudit Silverman.     

Winner - Award of Excellence in Filmmaking, Canada International Film Festival, Best Documentary North America under 60 minutes, Heart of England International Film Festival, official selection at eight international film festivals including the Montreal World Film Festival, featured at the Curzon Cinema, London, England as part of their Docdays series, Open access- available at 20 Universities and Public Libraries.

The Story Within - myth and fairy tale in therapy  (2004)
Produced and Directed by Yehudit Silverman (53 minutes) documentation of Silverman's original approach using myth and fairy tale in therapy  

Featured at the Arts and Therapy Seminar, Istanbul, Turkey, presented in Conferences and Universities in Canada, the United States, Japan, the UK, and Australia, Segments  shown on A&E television network show Breakfast with the arts, Used in the curriculum of many Creative Arts Therapies programs.

Grants - received a four year federal SSHRC grant, and a four year provincial FQRSC grant, for her studies and documentary film on suicide - received a Concordia  Seed Funding Grant, and Concordia CASA Special Projects Grant - for creating the concept and organizing and leading two multi-cultural arts based symposiums on suicide awareness  Research Interests- arts based, social issues, myth, masks, film, trauma

Community Projects- Multi-cultural Created two symposiums bringing together members of the Inuit, Mohawk, Jewish, Christian, East Asian, Baha'i, Senior, Adolescents, and LGBTQ communities around the issue of suicide. Community fund HFOS (Hidden Face of Suicide) Donation Fund.   
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