How It Started

In 2003, Xavier Verhoest, artist and former Médecins sans Frontières volunteer, discovered Body Mapping in South Africa through a Body Map exhibition which left him shaken and deeply moved.  He felt the urge to share this method with people living with HIV/Aids in Kenya where he is based.  In 2005, he followed a training course with Jonathan Morgan in Nairobi on various memory tools including Body Mapping and Hero Book (creative therapeutic tool for children). 

Later in 2005, he met Annette Schwalbe, a movement psychotherapist in Nairobi, and invited her to join him in facilitating the first Body Mapping workshop in the slum of Korogocho, Nairobi.

A few months later, Xavier and Annette formalised their collaboration and created Art2Be consultancy through which they offer Art and Creative Therapy Services to local and international organisations engaged in arts and social development.