An Interplay of Learning, Creativity and Narrative Biography in a Mental Health Setting: Bertie's Story

This paper describes selected findings from a research study exploring the use of a basic literacy/creative writing course provided in a community setting for adults with long-term mental health difficulties. It explores one case in particular, where long-term mental illness coupled with limited verbal articulation and low levels of literacy presented significant barriers to learning, creativity and the construction of narrative. However, whilst little movement or development could be discerned in some participant cases where recognisable barriers were less formidable, the case study selected illustrates a resilience and agency on the part of one individual which enabled incremental but significant development. The paper suggests that seeking the creative in the writing, or the meaning in the words was to overlook the actual creative act, which was the resilient, reparative process of coming to terms with a new identity and a new self narrative

Learning virtually or virtually learning? : a survey to gauge students’ use and perception of Blackboard and VLEs

This report presents the findings of a survey of students’ use and perception of Blackboard and VLEs as part of their learning in art and design higher education. In November 2007 a consultative process began through which the scope and design of the survey were decided. An on-line questionnaire was designed and piloted, and eventually responded to by 256 students across UAL during spring of 2008. This data was supplemented by data from a focus group interview held in June 2008

Developing teaching identities : An evaluation of the UAL postgraduate certificate - teaching in HE

This report has two aims. Firstly, it is an evaluation report of the first run of a new course run by the Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design (cltad). The second aim is to begin to report on a longitudinal study of a small sample of individuals entering into a career in teaching in Higher Arts Education. This strand of the study is not concluded in this report, but preliminary findings from the cohort regarding their professional identities at this point in time are included

Rupture, loneliness and education: Experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking people

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: epub 2024-09-03, issued 2024-09-03Publication status: PublishedOlivia Sagan - ORCID: 0000-0001-6128-8499 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6128-8499Gianluca Palombo - ORCID: 0009-0009-5812-937X https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5812-937XThis paper explores the intrinsic links between rupture, loneliness, resilience and agency within the experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking people, drawing on a wider study conducted in Scotland during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The paper then posits education, in its diverse forms, as a potential anchor, providing a sense of structure, belonging and purpose, thus serving as a bulwark against the negative impacts of rupture and loneliness. The findings presented here are based on 51 semi-structured interviews with people at different stages of the asylum process or with refugee status, offering insights into how educational experiences, both formal and informal, can act as a crucial support system during times of uncertainty and crisis. This exploration contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by refugee and asylum-seeking people, and the potential of education to foster resilience and integration within host communities.aheadofprintaheadofprin

Art making and its interface with dissociative identity disorder: No words that didn’t fit

Studies point to promising developments in expressive arts therapy work with clients who experience dissociation as one of a constellation of symptoms of trauma. Individuals diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, however, may be hesitant to engage with long-term therapy and its relationship. This article presents the case of one such individual, a participant in a narrative phenomenological study who was able to develop her own visual art-making practice. Reflections on this practice revealed that it offered a safe place for her to explore the voice of her “parts” hitherto silenced. Her narrative has implications for professionals working in the expressive and talking therapies.14pubpub

The loneliness of personality disorder: a phenomenological study

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experience of loneliness amongst people who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Design/methodology/approach -The research used a narrative phenomenological approach. Findings -The study found that the loneliness experienced amongst this group of participants was perceived to have taken root in childhood and was not a transient state. Its endurance, however, had led participants to develop a number of strategies as means by which to manage what was felt to be a deep seated painful sense of emptiness; some of these strategies were, however, risky or harmful. Research limitations/implications - Limitations of the study include the absence of longitudinal data which would have offered the opportunity for the close study of how people manage the experience over time. Practical implications -The study has practical implications for mental health professionals wishing to better understand the difficulties faced by individuals with the characteristics described, but it also highlights the resilience of sufferers who, while living with acute loneliness continue to explore ways of managing it. Social implications -The study brings to the attention that the connectivity and sociability required and expected in today's society emphasise the lack of lonely individuals, further stigmatising loneliness as deficit and taboo. Originality/value -The paper offers a welcome addition to loneliness studies in its adherence to the phenomenological experience and offers a small corrective to the bulk of existing loneliness studies which, while valuable have been more attentive to exploring the constituent elements of loneliness than the lived experience of it. Emerald Publishing Limited.div_PaS21pub4787pub

Organised loneliness and its discontents

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2023-09-06, rev-recd 2023-11-01, accepted 2023-11-20, epub 2023-12-22, ppub 2024-04Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedOlivia Sagan - ORCID: 0000-0001-6128-8499 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6128-8499This review paper offers a critique of the discourse of loneliness both in the popular and academic imagination. It questions the stance and approach of much loneliness research and the headlines that have been extracted from it. These position loneliness as an epidemic, framing it as a global public health problem, its aetiology and management located in the individual. The paper draws attention to overlooked alternative framings of loneliness as well as to the risks of maintaining our current levels of alarm regarding it. Finally, the work of Hannah Arendt is turned to, as part of a wider academic reappreciation of her work on loneliness. The paper ends by suggesting what can be learned by loneliness researchers in the medical humanities from such political analyses.pubpu

Thou Art, I am: Discovery and Recovery in the Art Making Process

Londondiv_PaSpub4702pu

The loneliness epidemic

https://www.bacp.co.uk/bacp-journals/therapy-today/2022/december-2022/articles/the-loneliness-epidemic/pubpu