Delivering a visual narrative arts-based program to promote resilience in Queensland’s Central Highlands communities: An exploratory pilot study

José van den Akker

Abstract 

This paper reports on the impact of a local government-funded art therapy-based pilot project that aimed to promote the resilience of people living in rural communities of the Central Highlands in Queensland, Australia. The introduction will talk about the theoretical position taken. The remainder of the article will discuss the geographical context of the workshops, methodology, how participants were recruited, the demographic of participants, the tools and approach used in a series of workshops, and the findings including the impact on participants’ resilience scores that indicated the sessions had a very positive impact. Participants both recognised their own abilities for resilience and learnt skills to promote and enhance these skills for themselves and others. 

Introduction

This paper reports on the impact of a local government-funded art therapy-based pilot project that aimed to promote the resilience of people living in rural communities of the Central Highlands in Queensland, Australia. It assumes a socio-ecological and posthumanist perspective; the latter because it acknowledges the agency of things, materialities and spaces, the force which these more-than-human agencies have, and the way they act relationally with humans – something arts therapists have long understood and have recently begun to incorporate into the theoretical foundations of practice (Fenner, 2017; Thomson & Linnell, 2020). The former because it considers that human and environmental systems cannot be separated from each other; people, organisations, the political and the natural environment are entangled and their resilience impacts on each other, an important consideration for all of us working in the domain of arts and health (Neville & Varney, 2014). The socio-ecological resilience approach (Folke, 2006) fits especially well with our theoretical position, because it “emphasizes non-linear dynamics, thresholds, uncertainty and surprise, how periods of gradual change interplay with periods of rapid change and how such dynamics interact across temporal and spatial scales” (p.253) and “the idea of adaptation, learning and self-organisation in addition to the general ability to persist disturbance” (p.259). Folke (2006) argues that the literature tends to define resilience as a boundary object in linear terms from a positivist, steady-state, single-equilibrium viewpoint, framing resilience as “the capacity to absorb shocks and still maintain function” (p.253). It defines social resilience “as the ability of human communities to withstand external shocks to their social infrastructure” (p.259). But non-linear dynamics also apply; a creative “capacity for renewal, re-organisation and development” (p.253). Human communities and individual people are creative and self-organising, and have the capacity to transform. Resilience is “a dynamic interplay between sustaining and developing with change. Too much of either will ultimately lead to collapse” (p.259). 

This paper strongly advocates use of the creative power of metaphor in art therapy (Moon, 2007), particularly when it comes to defining the term ‘resilience’. An intellectual definition does not help people to make a felt connection with the term ‘resilience’. An intellectual definition lacks the power of metaphor. Metaphors help people to make sense and meaning of terms that have an intention. People appreciate metaphoric language, which powerfully impacts on other aspects of cognition (Lai et al., 2019). Different people use different metaphors to describe their perceptions because we experience resilience in different ways. Metaphor can be used to express and communicate those experiences of resilience, for example through the representation of a tree that survives the dry in the desert, or a tree that shapes itself according to prevailing winds. DeVerteuil and Golubchikov (2016) argue that resilience is a primordial, prefigurative and embryonic social and spatial foundation (p.148). All people can recognise it inside themselves. Recognition of this groundwork helps us to draw from and rely upon it. 

Some arts therapists have approached the relationship of resilience and creativity through the lens of contemporary neuroscience (Hass-Cohen & Findlay, 2015). A heterogeneous, de-neoliberalised reading of resilience through using metaphor can promote a different and complementary approach to resilience that foregrounds social justice and addresses power relations in an intra- and interpersonal way. The use of metaphor supports a socio-ecological, posthumanist perspective on resilience, important in this era of the Anthropocene, because human society may be able to deal with change from a social dimension lens but will not survive if human adaptation takes place at the expense or in denial of ecosystems. “Not only adaptations to current conditions and in the short term, but how to achieve transformations toward more sustainable development pathways is one of the great challenges for humanity in the decades to come” (Folke, 2006, p.263). 

People’s lived experiences and personal descriptions of resilience, using metaphoric language and making use of arts-based methods, is a priority for me as an art therapist, to assist people in identifying with and strengthening their inner capacity to transform their lives. Art therapy, according to the American Art Therapy Association, can be defined as follows:

Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active artmaking, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. 

Art Therapy, facilitated by a professional art therapist, effectively supports personal and relational treatment goals as well as community concerns. Art Therapy is used to improve cognitive and sensory-motor functions, foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, reduce and resolve conflicts and distress, and advance societal and ecological change. (AATA, 2017, paras.2–3)

The Australian and New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association defines creative arts therapy as:

[A]n experiential, psychotherapeutic approach utilising many creative modalities within a therapeutic relationship with a trained therapist. It is holistic, attending to emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual well-being – and aligns well with Indigenous models of health and well-being. (ANZACATA, 2019, para.1) 

The remainder of the article will discuss the geographical context of the art therapy-based workshops, our methodology, how participants were recruited, the demographic of participants, the tools and approach used in a series of workshops, and the findings. These included the reception of the workshops and the impact on participants’ resilience scores, which indicated the sessions had a very positive impact. Participants both recognised their own abilities for resilience and learnt skills to promote and enhance these skills for themselves and others.