Gail Kenning

This chapter outlines a psychosocial design approach used to create arts-based responses to support the processing of trauma in communities. We will first focus on The Big Anxiety festival in Warwick, Australia, in particular on Long Table, an event curated in response to the immediate needs of a community experiencing high rates of Indigenous youth suicide. We will then discuss an art project – We’re just gonna call it all BPD – presented in a gallery exhibition Spaces Between People at The Big Anxiety Festival, Naarm (Melbourne) (2022). In both cases, the design and engagement processes were informed by a psychosocial rather than biomedical framing of mental health, attending to the social determinants of health and to the facilitation of what D.W. Winnicott calls a ‘potential space’ for transforming traumatic experience through affect-led creative engagement.

This article examines the experience and effects of a trauma-responsive program that uses creative methods to address the ongoing psychosocial impacts of transgenerational trauma and youth suicide, which disproportionately affect First Nations people in Australia. Our aim is to understand how the aesthetic (sensory-affective) dimensions of such a program serve to promote experiences of growth after trauma, manifesting in a sense of connection to both self and community. The paper focuses on the second of two immersive, experiential workshops delivered seven months apart in the regional town of Warwick in Queensland, Australia. In the light of self-reports of growth and personal transformation following the initial workshop, the paper examines the key drivers of such growth, focusing in particular on how trauma-related experience is metabolised through cultural containment. It builds on Bion’s concept of container/contained, combining analysis of the affordances of immersion. Framed in cultural rather than medical terms, the larger goal of the paper is to establish how cultural programs fill a gap in trauma informed support, facilitating the processing of trauma.

A Safer Place represents a ground-breaking fusion of art, technology, and research that offers viewers a deeply immersive and empathetic experience within a hospital Emergency Department and beyond. Eight experts with lived experience guide us through a virtual reality experience of a hospital Emergency Department [ED]. They describe the scenarios of mental distress that led to their admissions, along with their experiences of waiting rooms, ED beds, and hospital procedures, and their insights into what can be done to address the shortcomings of emergency care. A Safer Place serves as a powerful tool for fostering empathy and understanding among healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the general public. By allowing viewers to step into the shoes of those who have faced mental distress and sought care, the project aims to drive meaningful change in emergency care practices. The immersive VR experience offers a unique opportunity to dismantle barriers, spark conversations, and inspire compassionate, patient-centered approaches to mental health care in emergency settings. The foundation of this creative endeavor is built upon extensive research conducted by Renata Kokanović and her team (RMIT Melbourne), who collaborated with 17 individuals accessing the ED for mental health care. The primary objective of the initial research project was to foster understanding among medical staff by gaining insights into ED processes from the unique perspective of those who have lived experience. Using virtual reality technology, the project takes viewers on a compelling journey, providing an immersive and empathetic encounter with the experiences of the eight guides. Through their narratives, viewers gain a deeper understanding of the complex and nuanced realities faced by individuals impacted by mental health distress. The project aims to bridge the gap between medical staff and patients, fostering empathy, compassion, and ultimately leading to improved patient-centered care. Moreover, it offers insights and recommendations for addressing the limitations and improving emergency care. By amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, the project aims to drive meaningful change in the healthcare system, encouraging more compassionate and effective practices. Please be aware that whilst the piece does not depict people in distress, the audio includes frank discussion of experiences of distress, including of suicidal feelings and psychosis.

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.

The field of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) is growing rapidly, with instrument designers recognising that adaptations to existing Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) can foster inclusive music making. ADMIs offer opportunities to engage with a wider range of sounds than acoustic instruments. Furthermore, gestural ADMIs free the music maker from relying on screen, keyboard, and mouse-based interfaces for engaging with these sounds. This brings greater opportunities for exploration, improvisation, empowerment, and flow through music making for people with disability and the communities of practice they are part of. This article argues that developing ADMIs from existing DMIs can speed up the process and allow for more immediate access for those with diverse needs. It presents three case studies of a gestural DMI, originally designed by the first author for his own creative practice, played by people with disability in diverse contexts. The article shows that system-based considerations that enabled an expert percussionist to achieve virtuoso performances with the instrument required minimal hardware and software changes to facilitate greater inclusivity. Understanding the needs of players and customising the system-based movement to sound mappings was of far greater importance in making the instrument accessible.