Buvenasvari Pragasam

Managing Director, Registered Art Psychotherapist
Registered MOE Instructor

MA Art Therapy, BA Psychology

Specialisation: Youth and Adults with Complex Trauma

Buvenasvari Pragasam specialises in providing trauma-informed art psychotherapy sessions to youths and adults with complex trauma experiences. Both her professional and personal art psychotherapy journey began in 2017. 

Buvenasvari underwent a tremendous transformation through her art and music psychotherapy journey which unravelled her past bitter experience and aided her in her recovery journey.

She was sexually abused by her relative when she was young and had no memories of it till she was 19. This experience of ‘not remembering’ the trauma for years felt strange and uncomfortable initially.

However, understanding how trauma impacts the brain and the body in her later stage of life informed her of her personal experience and strengthened her professional practice. 

The experience of rediscovering who she is in her mid 30’s was surprising. How can a grown adult in her 30’s rediscover who she truly was? This, coupled with other questions and her personal revelations made her steer towards understanding trauma further.

While undergoing personal transformation through personal, trauma-informed, art and music psychotherapy sessions, Buvenasvari was drawing parallels with her clients, female adolescents with complex trauma in a residential setting under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

Working with the youths under MSF laid out the strong foundation of her trauma-informed art psychotherapy practice.

Buvenasvari’s personal experiences and the challenges faced when working with the youths under MSF influenced her to adopt and develop her own framework that aids her clients in processing their past difficult experiences in a safe and protected manner.

She also conducts internal and external training to professionals in the mental health field to share her resources, knowledge, and experiences in order to encourage other mental health professionals to adopt a trauma-informed approach towards their clients.

Her interactions with mental health professionals revealed a general lack of experience and knowledge about trauma and art psychotherapy. This inspired her to embark on a mission of advocacy on trauma and art psychotherapy.

She founded Solace Art Psychotherapy at the end of 2017 and began her journey of providing trauma-informed art psychotherapy services to youths and adults with complex trauma.

Little did she know that a year full of surprising and challenging experiences will lead her path to fulfil her life purpose.

Buvenasvari is a firm believer that addressing and processing past difficult traumatic experiences can lead to rediscovering their healthy inner self which is crucial in leading a quality life. Her clients’ progress further affirms her belief after every session.

Buvenasvari also has a flair for aiding people in processing their past trauma which makes her passionate about her job. Hence, she is on a mission to grow Solace Art Psychotherapy into an organisation that provides quality, trauma-informed art psychotherapy services to everyone who wishes to rediscover themselves beyond their trauma and to improve their quality of life.

Buvenasvari was also privileged to be directly trained via workshops and webinars by the experts in the field of art psychotherapy and trauma:

• NICABM’s Treating Trauma Master Series featuring Dr Bessel van der Kolk, Dr Daniel Siegel, Dr Pat Ogden, Dr Peter Levine,  Dr Allan Schore and etc
  May 2021 
• Jungian Platform’s Summit: Become Who You Truly Are
  May 2020
• Dr. Lisa Hinz’s Expanding the Lens of Art Therapy: The Expressive Therapies Continuum as a Path to Life Enrichment and Optimal Health
  Feb 2018
• Dr. Abbe Miller’s El Duende Process Painting: A Path to Transformation
  Jan 2018
• Dr. Shaun. McNiff’s The Movement Basis of Artistic Expression
  May 2017
• Caroline Essame’s Developmental Art Therapy, Mark-Making, Attachment and Autism
  Mar 2017
• Dr. Cathy Malchiodi’s seminar on Creative Arts & Trauma-Informed Practices I
  Feb 2017
• Dr. Marian Liebmann OBE Anger Management
  Sep 2016