This short video is one of our “12 Reels of TGR” campaign, summarizing the eventful year of 2023. This shows the concepts and values we are aligned with:

• A Comprehensive Definition of Health

• A Client-Centered Approach

• A Systemic Approach

• A Conviction in the Fundamental Right to Artistic Freedom of Expression

1. A Comprehensive Definition of Health:

The World Health Organisation defines health in this way:

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest co-operation of individuals and governments.”

2. A Client-Centered Approach

A Client-Centered Approach means that we always respect the client as the leading authority on his or her personal situation. They are the experts of their story, we are the assistants. We will never push clients to engage in anything that they are not drawn to. 

“The kind of caring that the client-centered therapist desires to achieve is a full, almost gullible, kind of care, in which clients are accepted as they say they are, not with a lurking suspicion in the therapist's mind that they may, in fact, be otherwise. This attitude is not stupidity on the therapist's part; it is the kind of attitude that is most likely to lead to trust...”

― Carl R. Rogers

3. A Systemic Approach

A systemic approach means we engage holistically. We approach problems by looking at the various contexts in which the individual engages. We don’t spend much time applying labels (I.e. depressive, damaged, pathologic) but instead work on the environments and conditions in which a person engages. If a suffering person has better environmental and working conditions, many times the labels (depressive, pathological, etc.) become irrelevant. 

Labeling makes the invisible visible, but it’s limiting. Categories are the enemy of connecting. Link, don’t rank. 

Gloria Steinem

4. A Conviction in the Fundamental Right to Artistic Freedom of Expression

According to UNESCO, artistic freedom embodies the following bundle of rights protected under international law:

• the right to create without censorship or intimidation

• the right to have artistic work supported, distributed, remunerated

• the right to freedom of movement

• the right to freedom of association

• the right to protection of social and economic rights

• the right to participate in cultural life

“The rights of artists to express themselves freely are under threat worldwide.

Art has the extraordinary capacity to express resistance and rebellion, protest and hope. It injects a vital contribution to any flourishing democracy.”

DEEYAH KHAN

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Artistic Freedom and Creativity

“Artistic expression is not a luxury, it is a necessity – a defining element of our

humanity and a fundamental human right enabling everyone to develop and express their humanity.”

FARIDA SHAHEED

UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

These are the values held by us in TGR The Green Room.