Transforming Trauma through an Arts Festival: A Psychosocial Case Study

Jill Bennett; Gail Kenning; Lydia Gitau; Rebecca Moran; Marianne Wobcke

doi:10.3390/socsci12040249

Social Sciences (Apr 2023)

Transforming Trauma through an Arts Festival: A Psychosocial Case Study

Jill Bennett,
Gail Kenning,
Lydia Gitau,
Rebecca Moran,
Marianne Wobcke

Affiliations

Jill Bennett: Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Gail Kenning: Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Lydia Gitau: Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Rebecca Moran: Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Marianne Wobcke: Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12040249
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 4
p. 249

Abstract

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Through a psychosocial lens, informed by relational psychoanalysis, this article discusses the design, delivery, and impact of The Big Anxiety’s 2022 festival in Warwick, Queensland—an arts-based program that engages with lived experiences of trauma, distress, and suicide, and in this case with the devastating impact of youth suicide, disproportionately affecting First Nations communities. It describes the festival’s methods of creative engagement, examining how these create conditions for the transformation of trauma and for experiences of growth.

Published in Social Sciences

ISSN: 2076-0760 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Social Sciences
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci

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