What the body remembers: An art-based exploration of embodied trauma as it relates to therapeutic practice

Abstract

Contemporary therapeutic approaches to trauma include an understanding that traumatic experiences are stored implicitly in the body and that the body may ‘narrate’ these stories through physical symptoms or bodily enactments. In this article, the author reflects on her experience as an art therapist at a specialist therapeutic unit, where she works with young people and families affected by sexual abuse and sexual violence. It weaves together reflections on various personal encounters with the performing and visual arts (outside of the therapy space) that have offered a different lens on themes that regularly surface in clinical work. A selection of images drawn from these engagements with the arts are discussed here, with reference to the endeavour in therapy to support the traumatized body towards healing and recovery.