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Workshop: Creative therapies as a response to self-harm in young people
Led by: Julia Ruppert, Vlad Kolodin, and young lived experience experts from the Creative Therapy to Support Young People Engaged in Self-harm Special Interest Research Group
This workshop explored insights on the potential of creative therapies to address self-harm in young people. The facilitators discussed research and experiences with creative therapy interventions and encouraged discussion surrounding current and potential future treatments for self-harm, future research directions, and thoughts on the viability of introducing these therapies more widely.
Four key messages:
- The creative therapies are underexplored as a response to self-harm in young people
- The creative therapies are meaningful, empowering, enjoyable and efficient
- Didactic wellbeing interventions can lose sight of the individual and their needs for meaning, self-empowerment and self-selected expression. In response to the one-size-does-not fit- all challenge of mental wellbeing interventions, creative therapies offer a bespoke and flexible solution.
- As mental illness isn’t a textbook thing and varies from person to person, so too should our interventions.
This workshop was connected to our Supporting the Supporters research challenge: How can young people, family members, and settings be better enabled to help promote good mental health and prevent and overcome emerging mental health problems?
Further Resources
Check out these pictures and sketches from the day!
Photos from Oxford Atelier and artwork by Tom Bailey (@tombaileyart).
Workshop Live Tweets
You can read a great thread below from @HazelMarzetti who live-tweeted the workshop.
Super excited for my first session of the day on creative therapeutic approaches to supporting young people who self-harm from @Collective_Arts
— Hazel Marzetti (@HazelMarzetti) October 17, 2022
For more on their work check out: https://t.co/gVqrNu6u5A#EmergingMinds
Researchers from @Collective_Arts talk about how during the project their views were transformed by the young people they worked with. Although they had previously thought of self-harm as a problem, some young people they worked with saw self-harm as a solution.#EmergingMinds
— Hazel Marzetti (@HazelMarzetti) October 17, 2022
Great to see the Cochrane review completed by @Dr_KatrinaWitt and colleagues cited here, which I was lucky to hear about at @suicideresearch's forum for early and mid career researchers in suicide and self-harm earlier this year.https://t.co/0NIWJoF3eJ#EmergingMinds
— Hazel Marzetti (@HazelMarzetti) October 17, 2022
.@Collective_Arts argue that conventional wellbeing interventions, such as CBT, often take a one-size-fits-all approach and don’t consider individuals unique needs. Whereas creative therapies can offer a more bespoke and flexible solution.#EmergingMinds
— Hazel Marzetti (@HazelMarzetti) October 17, 2022
.@Collective_Arts emphasises that creative therapies is an umbrella, including drama therapy, photo therapy, and positive visual reframing.#EmergingMinds pic.twitter.com/tQufyxbJ3F
— Hazel Marzetti (@HazelMarzetti) October 17, 2022