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In difficult times, people turn to poetry, reading, and writing for solace and peace. In emotionally intense and traumatic times, people use poetry to process and understand the lived eyepieces. The havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the emotional and psychological well-being of individuals all across the world. Poetry has emerged as a savior in these difficult times. A phenomenon, "lockdown poems", came into existence as individuals all across the globe processed and shared their lived experiences of isolation, pain, and suffering through poems. In the present paper, students of a management program process and share their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent lockdowns, and their community work experience. Poetry as a therapeutic and hope-building tool is discussed in the paper along with the original poems written by the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual Poetry and nursing have much to say about humanity during and after the global lockdown. Whereas nurses have worked on the front lines to treat infected patients both physically and mentally, poets have played a tremendous role in relieving students of negative energy, motivating them to pursue their dreams and hopes. Building on Thematic Analysis and the Reflective Learning Approach, this paper examines the relationship between virtual poetry and nursing education. One focus group from Agadir city had to study English at ISPITS institute for 14 h, using Google Meet and, at a later stage, they were entailed to evaluate their learning experiences with the Online English Class. The results unveiled that the Moroccan student nurses share a great concern for humanity and that virtual poetry could be used as an instructional medium in shaping their personality traits and reinvigorating their academic goals about the nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an a/r/tographic (artist/researcher/teacher) study through autobiographical close readings of several poems as a means to understand death within what the author calls eternal poetic time. Moving beyond the author's childhood's static image of death, the paper suggests that the ephemeral nature of life is not something to fear, but makes living more beautiful and eternal through the making and sharing of poetry and art. This paper is the first part of a three-paper study, which includes original poetry by the author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A co-design project, consisting of individual and collective design activities, was organized with clients of a mental health service, in order to explore its potential to support people with psychosis. The group met for approximately two hours, weekly, for six months, participating in design activities and collectively deciding on the project purpose and outcome – a boardgame. The experience of one group participant (Anthony) is explored, selected as the first case study within an Interpretative Phenomenological Analytical (IPA) framework. Following IPA's ideographic focus, Anthony's case was purposefully selected, as it portrayed a detailed picture, informing theoretical reflection on designing as therapeutic. The paper includes Anthony's first-hand account, combined with an analysis of data from three semi-structured interviews, photographic evidence and a reflective diary kept by the lead researcher. Results suggest that, for Anthony, design activity: a) helps developing a sense of agency b) is experienced as grounding in reality c) contributes to the development of inter-personal relationships, and d) has a different sense of rhythm than artistic practice. These results are contextualized within literature on the lived experience of psychosis and suggest that designing can be beneficial for people with psychosis, providing the backdrop for further research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the role of fathers in the family. Structured around three poems, it emphasises the need for a triangular structure in the mind, enabling the child (and any individual) to look at 'reality', internal and thus external too, from a third position. The Oedipal situation, what Hanna Segal called 'the core complex', lies deep within the mind of any individual, and continues to have vital relevance in the lives of modern families. Clinical material is included in the paper to illustrate the points made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns young adults who came to Sweden from Afghanistan as unaccompanied refugee minors (UMs) and their engagement with poetry and other creative activities. The aim was to explore how UMs use poetic writing and other creative activities to handle resettlement challenges. Seven young men and six young women, aged 18–24, participated in semi-structured interviews. The material was analyzed using the three components of poetry therapy, developed by Mazza. Three themes were identified: (1) Encouragement; (2) Creative expressions as a "safe place"; and (3) A sense of recognition. Through creative expressions, our participants could understand and handle the emotional difficulties and the insecurity associated with resettlement. Poetic writing was a way to convey personal experiences of injustices, a source of self-understanding, and a way to establish new social networks. We discuss and present suggestions on how poetry and other creative activities can be integrated in interventions toward UMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes group and community intervention work with individuals currently or formerly experiencing homelessness to create mutual connection and support using art, poetry, stories, pop-up porches, and photobooks. The group and community intervention work was enhanced by International Association of Social Work with Groups (IASWG) SPARC endorsement and funding to create photobooks which served to visualize the life stories and accomplishments of persons identifying as currently or formerly homeless. The two-decade journey of the author's work with individuals experiencing homelessness will be described to illustrate and celebrate how creative group and community interventions addressing homelessness (including photobooks) can connect individuals experiencing homelessness with people who have never experienced homelessness to facilitate group dialogue and mutual understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper includes research into the pervasiveness and dangerousness of intimate partner violence and the ways that poetry therapy can be used to help victims gain perspective on their situation. According to the World Health Organization, over 30 percent of women worldwide have experienced violence at the hands of a partner. The author's personal experience with poetry therapy in leaving an abusive relationship of 13 years is used as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At 18 weeks' gestation, we were told that our son was not going to live. Left to cope on my own, I turned to the paper and pen and poured out my feeling and fears on paper. For the next couple of years, I was to spend many hours dotting all the “i”s and crossing all the “t”s to make sure every detail was correct. In this short article, I share briefly an introduction followed by a poem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adolescence is a challenging stage due to the multiple and rapid changes that occur. In this paper, we present a clinical case of a teen with anxiety and hypochondriac symptoms. The therapeutic treatment, ongoing, was provided in 16 sessions. The intervention was based on the assumption that health anxiety results from processes that maintain catastrophic interpretations that for itself increases anxiety. The principles of cognitive–behavioral and narrative therapy were applied in the intervention. The therapy involved providing psychoeducation, reducing the excessive focus given to the body, learning and training strategies to cope with anxiety, and constructing a life project. The case study shows the value of using metaphors as tools in the therapeutic process, and when facing life's challenges. Also, it shows the importance of using reading and writing exercises to promote change and adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through poetry and strips of narrative, this paper discusses the embodied experience of chemical sensitivity and the anthropologist author's and other patients' journey through altered perception towards knowledge, community and transformation in the context of a medical clinic. The narratives are situated in several strands of relevant theory, including Merleau‐Ponty's work on the primacy of perception, feminist perspectives on embodied experience and standpoint epistemology, disability studies, identity creation through narrating the self, and Lave and Wenger's situated learning in a community of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal common sense sees the absence of conversations about abortion in schools as the consequence of a taboo that leaves teenage girls uninformed and silenced. From this perspective, the solution is to systematically introduce the subject of abortion in sex education curricula in order to provide information, resources and discussion on the schools' terms. Using post-structuralist theory, I argue that what might be needed instead is a certain ‘side-spreading’, rather than an official understanding, of the subject of abortion in schools. I aim to de-naturalise dominant liberal discourse by making transparent the links between sex education and ‘populational reasoning’, considering powers of production, questioning the position of schools as official holders and spreaders of approved knowledge about sex, and inviting possibilities to ‘de-territorialise’ and ‘re-territorialise’ the subject of abortion in unpredictable ways. This paper is composed of personal reflections, poems and theoretical explorations that challenge the predetermined nature of sex education curricula. Arguments for loosening the subject of abortion through multiple discourses and modes of expression are mirrored by the fragmented, genre-crossing form this paper takes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]