pathways: understanding the impacts of trauma

1 Jun

The Art of Wellbeing: Second Chancers exhibition runs at the Pathfoot Building until Aug’ 2022.

A free workshop to help arts professionals understand the impact of trauma on people’s lives is being held at the University of Stirling this month.

The event on Tuesday 14 June is aimed at artists and museum professionals either working or looking to work in community and criminal justice settings.

The session, jointly hosted by Scene Stirling and the University of Stirling’s Art Collection, will be led by trauma experts Shumela Ahmed of the Resilience Learning Partnership and Clinical Psychologist Edel McGlanaghy.

TRAUMA INFORMED

Edel McGlanaghy is the Transforming Psychological Trauma Implementation Coordinator for Forth Valley, with a remit to support the local workforce to become more trauma informed.

She said: “I’ll be sharing information about the National Transforming Psychological Trauma programme, highlighting some key principles of trauma informed practice and signposting attendees to a wealth of free resources to support their ongoing development.

“I'm also delighted to be hosting a discussion with members of a local recovery cafe book club and author Lin Anderson about their collaborative relationship, which has been mutually inspiring.”

LIVED EXPERIENCE

Edel will be joined by Shumela Ahmed, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Resilience Learning Partnership and co-author of the National Trauma Training Plan.

Shumela said: “It’s my ambition to see lived experience as the dominating force within public policy design across the UK.

“I feel passionately that the key to achieving this goal lies within the learning and development of staff and adopting a new approach that has people’s real-life experience at the heart of it.”

REFLECTING ON PRACTICE

Workshop participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own experiences of working with trauma in the arts.

Kevin Harrison, Director of Scene Stirling and a Trustee of Justice and Arts Scotland, said: “Having an understanding of trauma and how to reduce its impact on people’s lives is becoming increasingly important for creative professionals working in the community. Particularly post Covid-19.

“Our Scene Stirling pathways series is designed to support local artists and creatives by helping them explore important issues relevant to their practice.”

SECOND CHANCERS

Sarah Bromage, Head of the Art Collection at the University of Stirling, added:

“We’re so pleased to be jointly hosting this workshop as part of our outreach activities.

“Participants will also have the chance to view the Community Justice Scotland Second Chancers exhibition exploring experiences of Community Justice in Scotland, which is currently on display in our Pathfoot Building.”

The Art of Wellbeing: Second Chancers Exhibition is on display in the Pathfoot Building in the University of Stirling until August 2022.