Expressive Life Writing and Telling During Crisis: Addressing Urgent Needs in the Akkar Governorate, Lebanon

Lead Research Organisation: The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Arts and Social Sci (FASS)

Abstract

The Lebanese financial crisis has caused significant loss of incomes for households, creating a food security crisis. The Lebanese currency has been reduced in value by 80%. The result has been hyperinflation. The current situation in Lebanon has created several acute challenges for vulnerable groups: increased resentment of - particularly Syrian - refugees manifesting in harassment and discrimination; Lockdowns provide additional cover for sexual abuse, and trafficking; The online provision of education faces barriers including digital divides between households and a cementing of gender roles in quarantined households whereby girls are doing more domestic work than boys.

The team of the Lebanese partner organisation for this project, Akkar Network for Development (AND), have previously delivered EW training through a focused psychosocial support curriculum to women and adolescent girls. In 2020, however, the new and increased combination of issues makes the need for adapting existing practice and developing new techniques urgent. The aim of applying the Expressive Writing (EW) methodology in Akkar is to develop support that helps create a life plan, enhances coping mechanisms, builds personal resilience and gives the recipients a feeling of being supported. The research question of this project, therefore, is: Can we adapt the Expressive Writing methodology to these emergency/crisis situations successfully and if so, how can this methodology then be taken to scale and deployed in other contexts.
 
Title Creative and Expressive Writing from Lebanon: a short film (in Arabic with English translation) 
Description Presented in Arabic with translation of key sections in English, this short film shows women of Akkar, Lebanon, read selections from the writing which emerged from the Expressive Writing and Telling project. The music of the language is palpable as they speak movingly about difficult subjects and experiences. This is an output from the AHRC funded project: Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis, Lebanon and is accompanied by the ebook of the same name, available within this collection. The participants wanted to have their voices heard, and their stories told in the hope that they might speak to others. The participants are clients and workshop-attendees at the EWLT workshops held by Akkar Network for Development NGO. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact Clients of Akkar Network for Development NGO reported how Expressive and Creative Writing had enabled agency among their groups. They arranged that they collate and film their stories, knowing that the personally voiced story is a powerful tool and might inspire others to come to the AND safe places. The impacts of the EWT program are here demonstrated: confidence was gained, understandings of the value of personal experiece was shared, and women organised themselves to further disseminate this knowledge via this short film. 
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/st3r0lp16m2cwm4/lebanon4.mp4?dl=0
 
Title Ethics in Context: Creating Frameworks for humanities-based interventions during Crisis 
Description As part of the developing relationship between UK-based researchers and the Lebanese NGO, Akkar Network, when researching the efficacy of Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis (AHRC project), it became clear there was a need to create a model or framework for such humanities-based interventions. This is the model: Ethics in Context: a partnership in developing principles of practice between UK based researchers and NGO workers. This presentation captures the co-development of a model of practice for research in crisis which is sustainable, inclusive and ethical. • Ethics-in-practice refers to anticipating, attending to, and learning from, the experience of conducting research • The idea of "Emergency" or "Crisis" is a way of trying to grasp complex and problematic events. It emphasizes unpredictability, abnormality and brevity, and implies that immediate response - intervention - is necessary. • "Emergency" becomes a specific way of thinking about how the world works, including a particular moral orientation. Once a humanitarian emergency is declared, it shapes who should act, and how. It alters notions about acceptable levels of risk. • This framework addresses the situation for research, covering Unequal Power and the challenges of working in Fragile Environments and it proffers a matrix of understandings. • That matrix leads to a set of Guiding Principles for the partnership itself, for voluntary informed consent practices, for confidentiality/privacy and for challenges to care giver support. • A checklist of principles-in-practice and a set of undertakings are established for both parties. • The follow-on step of a risk-benefit analysis is also provided within this collection of outputs from this project. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Women who use the 'safe places' run by our partner NGO, Akkar Network for Development have used this film to do outreach to other women and families. They encourage others to seek out the services of AND NGO and they employ this film and transcripts of the writing to set up new writing groups as part of the PSS (psycho-social support) programme. 
URL https://ordo.open.ac.uk/articles/presentation/Ethics_in_Context_Creating_Frameworks_for_humanities-b...
 
Title Postcards from Lebanon: showcase of Expressive-Creative Writing and Telling: from the humanities intervention, Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis 
Description The Lebanese financial crisis and resulting hyperinflation has caused significant loss of incomes for households, creating widespread scarcity of food, shelter, and other basic needs. When combined with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing refugee crisis, the situation has had catastrophic effects across the country, particularly among the most vulnerable groups. The works presented here are translations from the Arabic of writing and storytelling which arose in response to a series of Expressive Writing and Telling initiatives conducted in Lebanon as part of the AHRC funded research project - Expressive Life Writing and Telling During Crisis: Addressing Urgent Needs in the Akkar Governorate, Lebanon. Expressive Writing and Telling (EWT) is a form of storytelling that draws on imaginative and creative processes to express life experience and emotion and thereby support well-being and the building of resilience. During crisis, the research team have worked with our partner NGO, Akkar Network for Development, to expand the range of EWT offerings, now adapted for work online and on the phone, thus reaching arenas even in Covid lockdown. The showcase of writing and telling comprises short pieces of memoir and life experience, along with reactions on present difficulties and on the past and future. EWT in crisis offers one way for those receiving support from AND NGO to access a program which AND report helps both local Lebanese and refugee communities to express current challenges, to help enhance coping mechanisms, to build individual resilience and to support community cohesion. The writing and telling is anonymised and all works are reproduced with permission and consent. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Participants have experienced increased agency and, in giving permission for their work to be collected, expressed the hope that their tellings might help others. The vulnerable youth, who participated in the Youth Curriculum, express exactly what the impact is: "Following my participation in this curriculum I learnt that my life matters and some people are interested in listening to my story and together we could use to support other people" 17 year old Lebanese female. And: "Having someone listen to what I am saying just for the sake of listening meant the world to me. I never knew I could matter to someone" 14 year old Lebanese male. Akkar Network for Development have reported an uptick in returning clients, which is better prefer for continuity of care, when those clients partake in the EWT program. They add that such interaction has led to the NGO being able to have difficult conversations re Covid, the vaccine and the stigmas associated with the disease. This showcase was part of the move by UNICEF in Northern Lebanon to adopt the EWT program as a designated PSS (Psycho-social support) program. 
URL https://expressivewritingforall.com/en/
 
Description Key findings:

Expressive Writing and Telling has been proven to be an effective Psycho-Social Support tool adapted for use in crisis situations with end beneficiaries of NGOs and Care-Providers.

Expressive Writing has also been established as a self-care option which leads to improved well-being and ability to cope for social workers and human rights defenders under particular pressures due to working in crisis.

The Expressive Writing and Telling program is adaptable, iterative and can be readily localised for in-situ needs and for particular ends. This is evidenced by the further key findings of this project: Akkar Network for Development, having established that EWT could be effective in mitigating the silences around GBV, developed a training program for social workers in the use of EWT in GBV programs. SHiFT International, Tripoli, having established the need for a low-cost intervention with disadvantaged, traumatised or refugee youth, reported psychologically significant results from their implementation of the Expressive Writing and Telling Youth Curriculum.

Expressive Writing and Telling, when embedded in programs run by NGOs is seen to establish relationship between care-giver and client, to support continuity of returning clients, to aid the revelation of physical and psychological needs as well as contributing to a further uptake of aid or care.

This project's outcomes will directly contribute towards the mainstreaming of Expressive Writing and Telling as a low-cost, accessible and powerful means of addressing stress and mental wellness issues among vulnerable people in acute crisis situations.
Exploitation Route o EWT training materials and techniques that have been specifically adapted to the current crisis in Lebanon, have the potential to be adapted to other crisis contexts in the future. We provide models and frameworks of how this can occur, along with newly refined consent and privacy protocols.
o Publication and dissemination of the research findings on how the EWT methodology can be applied may be rolled out in crisis contexts in a quick, versatile and cost-efficient way.
o A collection of the Expressive Life Writing and Storytelling materials produced throughout the project, wherein participants were invited to share their writing, anonymously or otherwise, in text form and in a short film, will corroborate the above with inspiring examples.
o An interactive website, Expressive Writing and Telling for All, was designed, tested and established during the project which enables others to add their responses. Here too, is an online training delivery portal which has been piloted and is ready to be adapted and used elsewhere.
o An EW online App, containing all the EWT modules, and which has been tested, is ready for dissemination in other crisis contexts.
- The Self-Care Expressive Writing toolkit for Human Rights Defenders and Social Workers operating in pressurized situations will shortly be available via the open access Open University International Development site for use by other NGOs and this is being collected, along with the project's curricula re GBV, by the UK Select Committee researching new methods of preventing violence against women and girls.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice
 
Description Expressive Writing and Telling has now been adopted as a Focused PSS activity in the NGO Akkar Network for Development's interventions with UNICEF, reaching over 350 families in North Lebanon. Expressive Telling in Crisis has been adopted as a GBV intervention tool by AND NGO specialists in GBV prevention and a training program has been developed which trains social workers in the uses and delivery of Expressive Telling with vulnerable women and girls. Expressive Telling in Crisis was implemented after a pilot with an initial set of recipients by Akkar Network for Development during the Covid lockdown and subsequent challenging time where lack of electricity and lack of petrol meant travelling to clients was difficult. The EWT in crisis programme proved itself as a key tool in establishing continuity of access and of care by caseworkers at AND, who found that the techniques underpinned their aims regarding both Covid-related care as well as individual care. Expressive Telling (adapted from 'writing' for ease of use during crisis and in cases where writing is counterindicated) has been used as part of the telephone interview pilot study 'Women and Girls in Iraq During the COVID-19 Pandemic' as reported by the Women's Leadership Institute, UNDP report. That report corroborates the efficacy of Expressive Telling and 'intentional listening' in establishing a relational research basis for the conduct of the survey by telephone, resulting in being able to identity and mitigate local needs. 25 social workers trained in providing psychological support and in expressive techniques, and in how to conduct the survey, contacted 2500 women and girls in the five governorates (500 in each governorate and 100 for each social worker). The Expressive Writing and Telling Youth Curriculum is being rolled out after a successful pilot (showing psychologically significant results) with adolescent youth in the Tripoli region by SHift International under the directorship of EWT-trained Youth and Outreach director, Farah Sankari. Having established the efficacy of Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis, this project collaborated with Roof 11, Beirut, to design, develop and launch an interactive website which acts as a story-gathering portal for Expressive Writing and allows for participant and researcher engagement across different locales. Here too, the training curricula are provided and interactions sought with social workers and other care-givers in arenas in crisis.
First Year Of Impact 2001
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description Expressive Writing and Telling psychosocial support in crisis: new online and remote methods
Geographic Reach Asia 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Impact on delivery of social support: AND NGO, Akkar AND report the following (via questionnaires to social workers who drew on their client reports) Expressive Telling in particular (provided remotely) and, now that things have opened up again, Expressive Writing in Crisis elicit the following impacts: 1. Clients speak more about actual difficulties, staying longer with the social worker, therefore enabling provision of care. 2. More detail about their day to day challenges can be elicited, enabling social workers to identify possible GBV issues, and issues of safety within the home (increased during Covid 19) 3. Clients make another appointment more readily as 80% of them report that they enjoyed the Expressive Telling, saying that they would like to 'do it again' and that they 'felt calmer', or 'felt more supported' and 'felt more able to cope' Impact on well-being and quality of life: SHiFT International Tripoli report the following re their implementation of the youth curriculum remotely: A follow up survey showed a 19% improvement in beneficiaries' ability to feel confident in talking and expressing their opinion; a 27% improvement in their ability to "determine what to do in their spare time"; a 35% improvement self-worth; a 27% improvement in feelings of helplessness; and a marked improvement in ability to regulate feelings - 34% improvement in anger/temper; 24% improvement in feelings of sadness. Impact on Policy As of November, 2021, Expressive Writing and Telling has been adopted as a 'Focused PSS program' in the UNICEF collaboration with Akkar Network for Development. AND NGO has been invited to present on EWT at the inter-agency conference in early 2022 with a view to EWT being further adopted.
URL https://figshare.com/s/430539dea6b4af211445
 
Description Translation and dissemination of Expressive Writing Handbook in Ukraine
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Title Expressive Writing for all: Interactive Supportive Website in English and Arabic 
Description The research model: Following on from the findings that Expressive Writing and Telling can be a tool for Social Workers and HRDs in GBV work, in enhancing general care provision, in valuing individual experience and therefore enabling agency, and as a potential ancillary research tool in survey and data gathering, this project has developed an interactive website which acts as a model of the co-research into these methods. Presenting several forms of the curriculum and offering training modules which are adaptable to different arenas, this is a model of how co-research can be disseminated, and scaled up - working from the grass roots organisations (those with the actual expertise) and on into the populations they serve. In itself, the website, as artefact, also acts as a model of how relational research can be developed, monitored and achieved. The Research Dataset: The Interactive Website acts as a data gathering opportunity that is uniquely poised to gather stories, testimony and personally voiced experience from arenas which may be difficult to reach in person. The dataset emerges from the exercise units provided here with several pathways. The data then, comprises exercises completed in English and Arabic which are anonymously saved in a secure section of the website. These texts respond to the EWT writing exercises that have been specially designed for use in a crisis context. Anonymised data in the form of written responses provided by participants following the acceptance of the participant information and informed consent permissions, are available to the project's named researchers for textual analysis through close reading methodologies and to inform the further development and refinement of EWT writing exercises and approaches that can be rapidly deployed in other emergency contexts 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Impacts of the model: The Interactive Website allows the organisations and individuals who have used and are delivering or partaking in Expressive Life Writing and Telling to partake in a cross-arena interaction from which all can learn. o EW training materials and techniques that have been specifically adapted to the specific challenges or crises can be shared which enables the potential to be adapted to other crisis contexts in the future. o Dissemination of the research findings on how the EW methodology can be applied and rolled out in crisis contexts in a quick, versatile and cost-efficient way. o A collection of the Expressive Life Writing and Storytelling materials produced throughout the project, where participants have given consent, and their work has been anonymised. This collection, in its variety and complexity, will reflect the very exacting nature of each locale and the challenges faced by individuals, thus enabling aid workers and human rights defenders to more o The Interactive Website acts as an online training delivery portal which presents modules on training of social workers (eg in GBV provision and for Youth) that have been pre-piloted, tested and refined and are now ready to be adapted and used elsewhere. https://expressivewritingforall.com/en/ https://expressivewritingforall.com/ar/ Impacts of the research dataset: The initial impact has been on the development of the EWT writing exercises for deployment online and face to face in a crisis context. The creation a flexible curriculum that could be delivered online and face to face, and of website to host that material and collect the data set, required the named researchers to investigate best practice in the flexible delivery of humanitarian support in crisis situations, and informed the field-based practice of the AND and SHiFT social workers who can draw on this dataset to improve and support their delivery of this flexible curriculum. In terms of the working partnership between the researchers and the field workers, many lessons have been learned in the development and deployment of the website. The amount of time and planning needed to manage online design and delivery in the crisis context proved to be much even more significant than originally anticipated and the risk matrix developed for the project proved an important tool. For example, it was decided to use a locally based web design company to ensure that the language of the site was accurate and the design would resonant well with the target beneficiary population. However, the locally based web designers were themselves subject to the impact of the crisis. For example, work flow was frequently interrupted by power outages and enforced absences from Beirut because of the economic and logistical situation. The issue of power supplies also directly affected the initial level of take up of the resource once online in a period of limited electricity supply. As noted above, the research team engaged a local web developer in Lebanon to create a bilingual (English and Arabic) website for the dissemination of Expressive Writing exercises designed for subjects living through crisis. The basic design of the web site has been completed but the impact of the economic, political and social crisis in Lebanon resulted in the closure of the web design company before completion of the project. The implementation of this part of the project was also hampered by the forced movement out of the country of members of the Lebanese team. We are currently seeking funding to compete the digital delivery of the project via a hybrid app to enhance its functionality and dissemination of the target populations. We are hoping to extend its functionality with an App in English and Arabic. We aim to bring these exercises into line with new versions being created in Ukrainian and ensure a multilingual access that allows for maximum access to the exercises via an App that can be used both on and offline. 
URL https://expressivewritingforall.com/en/
 
Title Questionnaires and data-gathering in crisis: adapted methodologies for delivery and implementation of Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis, Lebanon 
Description Expressive Writing and Telling in Crisis is a humanities-based program which values individual voices and experience. In terms of research, it attempts to take a 'with' not 'on' approach. This project established that even in crisis, once primary needs are fulfilled, there may be a place for expressive telling as a psychosocial support for client beneficiaries and also as support to aid workers or social workers in both providing care and gathering information. As part of this research, new questionnaire techniques were developed. Due to Covid, these had to be adapted to the lockdown situation. This collection showcases the following: - Questionnaire and headline results data from the two Joint Analysis Workshops held during the project. - Pre and post questionnaires from the Youth Curriculum in Expressive Telling, piloted by SHiFT International Tripoli. - Monitoring and Evaluation forms co-developed and implemented by AND NGO in Akkar Lebanon, to assess both quantitively and qualitatively, the effective delivery of EWT by social workers there. Headline results from EWT in crisis are that participants 'felt better after', 'found it calming' and 'want to do it again'. EWT providers believe that results are possible because of the nature of the program: - it does not assume one size fits all - it allows for conversations to develop over time, meaning that Covid vaccines and stigmas re Covid could be addressed, as well as issues of personal security and GBV - participants can develop at their own pace as it is participatory and respondents can feel they are part of shaping the outcomes - it has the idea that something can change, or may transform, at the heart of the program and this permeates the ethos of the whole. 
Type Of Material Data handling & control 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Questionnaires, in their adapted form, could be used in asynchronous ways, enabling the holding of an asynchronous Joint Analysis Workshop (necessitated due to the multiple crises and pressures). These adaptations exhibit flexibilities of approach which other practitioners in crisis may find are useful models. Monitoring and Evaluation forms, adapted for EWT delivery in crisis, allowed for the ongoing roll-out of the new forms of EWT to include online and on-the-phone, showing that M and E processes can be adapted with no loss of quality assurance, even in crisis. The dataset, valuing the input from social workers and caseworkers on the ground, provides a model of extraction of both qualitative and quantitative data, and demonstrates that EWT techniques are themselves a useful tool in researching in crisis, adding to the quality as well as the quantity of results and data. 
 
Description "The Diary Project: narrative interventions for the bereaved and their supporters in post-pandemic times" - Funding Application to AHRC (AH/W006251/1 )submitted July 2021 
Organisation Cruse Bereavement Care
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Co-I on this funding application is Professor Meg Jensen working in collaboration with Professor Patricia Phillippy (P-I) of the Research Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Coventry University and Program Directors Eve Wilson and Morwenna Everitt from Cruse Bereavement Charity UK. Cruse are the are the United Kingdom's largest bereavement charity, which provide free care and bereavement counselling to people suffering from grief. The application seeks support to develop a bespoke strand of Expressive Life Writing research which has implications for both UK and partnering countries' grief support practice in post-Covid times testing EWT and related narrative interventions as a potentially important tool in the national conversation about death ensuing after Covid. Needs analysis by P-I Phillippy and Co-I Jensen, drawing on a small pilot study using diary writing as a method of support in bereaved populations and Jensen's research on writing interventions in crisis setting, raised the potential for the efficacy of other narrative approaches in working with the bereaved whose numbers have grown quickly post-COVID. Jensen's research on the uses of such approaches in crisis contexts was central to the development of the ethical framework surrounding proposed data collection, the methodologies for training in the delivery of such interventions to vulnerable groups and expertise in the evaluation of responses in workshops to support well-being and recovery in crisis settings.
Collaborator Contribution Professor Phillippy, Director of Research Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Coventry University, (P-I), originated the project after being approached by Wilson and Everitt from Cruse Bereavement Charity. Phillippy, whose own expertise is in therapeutic poetry practice, recruited Jensen to the project and coordinated discussions and needs assessment and wrote the first drafts of the funding application. The Cruse Staff, in addition to participating in the needs assessment discussions and the development of budgets and logistical information, offered expert insight into the existing protocols surrounding bereavement support, and identified key beneficiary volunteers interested in participating in this research should the funding be secured.
Impact A funding application to the AHRC (AH/W006251/1 )entitled: "The Diary Project: narrative interventions for the bereaved and their supporters in post-pandemic time, " submitted in July of 2021, received positive reviews in September of 2021. Unfortunately this application was unsuccessful. This proposed project is an interdisciplinary one, drawing upon, literary, creative writing, human rights and psychosocial methodologies.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Creative Writing and Psycho-Social Support for frontline Healthcare Workers after Covid 
Organisation North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution This project, jointly funded by the NHS Trust and the Impact Acceleration Fund of The Open University UK was a pilot to establish whether the outcomes from the social-worker support stream of the Expressive Writing in Crisis, Lebanon project could be ethically and usefully adapted into a workshop series for frontline UK Health Care Workers, also working in crisis. Dr. Siobhan Campbell adapted her work from the self-care handbook to create a new approach to delivering Creative Writing workshops co-led by collaborators in the NHS Trust who have studied CW.
Collaborator Contribution The North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust gave 24 x .5 days for Dr. Donna Wakefield and Nurse Practitioner Mel McEvoy to collaborate on the co-design and co-research leading to the workshop series. The Trust offered peer review by the research committee there as well as a venue to host the workshops.
Impact Creative Writing for Healthcare Workers: a Handbook and Showcase, edited by Dr. Siobhan Campbell, Vetiver House Press, 2021, ISBN 978-1-8381086-3-2
Start Year 2021
 
Description The Expressive Writing Project Ukraine 
Organisation National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy
Country Ukraine 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Expressive Writing handbook developed by the Open University/Kingston University research team has been translated into Ukrainian and funding is being sought from UK embassy in Kyiv, the Canadian Department of Global Affairs and the Ukrainian charity No One Left behind to develop an App.
Collaborator Contribution The Kyiv Mohyla Academy team will engage three professionals trained and experienced in post-isolation activities to participate in the project: two persons are qualified by the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (Department of Defense, USA) and can provide training and supervision, the third person can provide PISA and advise other professionals after training. The existing Expressive Writing approaches will be adapted to a range of target populations that the Ukrainian teams are working with and for supporting the general population. The specific groups that will be engaged include but are not restricted to: a) Civilians who are liberated from the temporarily occupied b) Members of the armed forces of Ukraine who are released as prisoners of war c) Families of prisoners of war d) Internally displaced citizens e) Mobilised soldiers returning or still serving on the Frontline and their families f) Women and girls who are victims of or at risk of domestic violence g) Other citizens of Ukraine who wish to access the tool The tool will be delivered via an App which will have different levels of access depending on the target population and their level of need. The key variable will be whether or not the end user is being supported in their use of the tool by a social worker, psychiatrist or other professional or they are using the exercises themselves. If they are accessing the tool without face-to-face support, then this level of access will be restricted to some basic exercises which will be designed to encourage reflection and free expression. These will be open to anyone who downloads the App. The other levels of exercises will only be accessible to people who are under some kind of care and can get feedback and support for their work on the exercises. The team will also explore ways in which the exercises might be used in addition to individual work with group work.
Impact The proposed outputs from the collaboration encompass: 1. Design and develop the App structure for accessing the exercises: a. Levels of access b. Guiding people to the right exercises for their situation c. Linking the App to face to face support d. Capturing work completed so that it can be further researched 2. Design and validate the training for practitioners a. Design and deliver the Train the trainer's course b. Draft the curriculum for the certified course c. Validate the course at the two Ukrainian universities 3. Design the exercisers for the target population a. Research and develop the exercises for each target population b. Draft and run trails on the exercises c. Prepare for deployment through the App
Start Year 2022
 
Title WellWriting - a Chatbot of Creative and Expressive Writing for wellness 
Description Design of a chatbot for supporting creative writing exercises for frontline workers, Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and others working under high-stress conditions, e.g. during a pandemic or in war scenarios. The chatbot design has been implemented to run on Flow.AI, a cloud chatbot engine. The chatbot engages in a conversation with the user providing suggestions in terms of quotes and poetry to foster creativity, self-reflection and facilitate the composition of creative writing. The chatbot collects anonymous creations to be used to study the responses of frontline workers and to develop new strategies to support them in expressing, e.g., needs and fears. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact This work is a proof of concept of a new strategy of remote engagement compatible with the current COVID-19 pandemic, war zones and other conditions where direct human engagement is not viable or too risky for the frontline worker or the healthcare worker. The outcomes of this first prototype are a) an assessment of the constraints of delivering creative writing exercise and generating automatic recommendations, b) the analysis of identification risks of alternative technologies for caregivers operating in totalitarian countries and privacy-related risks in general, c) the design of three different types of exercises, compatible with the technological constraints, and d) modelling of research outcomes informing the design of feedback mechanisms, safeguarding caregivers privacy and anonymity. 
URL https://t.me/WellWriting_bot
 
Description 'Collaborative Writing Practices in Crisis: The Ethics of Co-research and Adaptation', a paper presented on 19 October 2022, online. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Sally Blackburn-Daniels, RA on this project presented this paper based on the data collected from the Creative and Expressive Writing project, with a focus on the ethics of working collaboratively in crisis, and the limitations of the university systems in dealing with issues requiring rapid responses. The auience of practitioners and academics offered both network development and potential collaborators for ongoing research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description 'Metaphor on the Frontline: Poetry during COVID-19' A paper presented to the British Society of Literature and Science, April 5 2022. Manchester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr Sally Blackburn-Daniels, RA on this project, presented this paper based on data collected from the Creative and Expressive Writing project, drawing connections between the use of metaphor to describe trauma, anxiety and stress, with battle and violence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description ? Mental Health and the Memoir Research Seminar at the University of York, plenary speaker, "The Expressive Writing Project," May 2022. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact 35 post-graduate students and 10 academic/practitioners of English Literature, Psychology and Creative Writing, participated in an online presentation and workshop via their Mental Health and the Memoir Research Seminar at the University of York. I discussed the development and impact of the Expressive Writing Project in Lebanon and Iraq and suggested further pathways forward, and offered my diverse creative, critical and applied perspective into autobiographical genres and the communication of traumatic experience in narrative form.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Exhibition of writings from the Expressive Writing and Telling FPSS Program - Digital and online program 'in crisis', 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Our partner NGO, Akkar Network for Development (AND) curated and developed an exhibition of writings in relation to the UNICEF-adopted Intervention and focused PSS program, Expressive Writing and Telling (in crisis) which emerged from this AHRC project.The venue was Akkar, Lebanon. Participants were invited to view their writings and share other works, while workshops and readings were held as part of the event. AND reported on EWT feedback from social workers with selected quotes from participants and photographs of the exhibition event and reading.

The event (Nov 2021) had over 105 participants, including 85 EWT clients of AND. The impacts included further dissemination of writings by participants, uptake of this programme by new participants, as well as a new workshop run by one of the participant writers herself, a development demonstrating both agency and behavioural change.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Expert Panel at SELMA: Centre for the Study of Storytelling, Experientiality and Memory- panel on Life-Writing: Imagining the Past, Present and Future 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact PI, Dr. Siobhan Campbell presenting at SELMA: Centre for the Study of Storytelling, Experientiality and Memory in a panel curated by
The International Auto/Biography Association (IABA) on
Life-Writing: Imagining the Past, Present and Future

Addressing the interdisciplinary nature of life-storytelling in research, especially within vulnerable communities, this presentation explores the interrelations between storytelling, experientiality and cultural memory and addresses the challenges and nature of the Expressive Life Writing and Telling tool for cultural recovery and narrative retrieval.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited presenter: KUL Festival of Research - disseminating research to industry and the public 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Dr Jensen (Co-I) was invited to present a paper on 31st March 2021, and then participate in a panel discussion on Participatory Action Research methodologies, with questions from the audience, which included the General Public, representatives from the creative industries, other academics, practitioners and post graduate students. The panel was part of as part of Kingston University's industry and external facing "Festival of Research."
Thie resulted in a transfer of knowledge on the building of Communities of Practice, and guidelines for best practice in the application of PAR in humanitarian and crisis settings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The Ethical Arts and Humanities Researcher Workshop: Presenting on "Ethics in Context: Creating Frameworks for Working in Crisis" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr Jensen was invited to offer a presentation and participated in follow up panel discussion at The Ethical Arts and Humanities Researcher Workshop with fellow senior researchers in Kingston School of Art, Kingston University about ethical considerations in relation to research, challenges and how they are met, and good practice models as well as University and professional body requirements.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021: Meg Jensen "Ethics in Context: Creating Frameworks for Working in Crisis"

This resulted in a transfer of knowledge of best practice in the dialogic development of ethical research practices in collaborative humanitarian work in crisis settings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022
 
Description Translation of toolkit and handbook to Ukrainian and sharing of material with mental health reform advocates in Lviv and Kyiv, Ukraine 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Brian Brivati visited Ukraine in October 2022 and February 2023 on behalf of the Expressive Writing project to explore ways in which the work could be applied to the Ukrainian context and to disseminated copies of the translated handbook/toolkit. This entailed meetings with professional practitioners and policy makers in both cities and follow-up calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Workshop provider at the Community NI organisation: Participation and Practice of Rights, Northern Ireland 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact PI Dr. Siobhan Campbell held four workshops with the grassroots campaigners and the supporting staff of this community organisation PPR who run campaigns on mental wellness provision, on access to housing and on access to education. Recognising that Expressive Writing and Telling could be a tool in supporting the wellbeing of their volunteers from the community, PPR asked the PI to run workshops in EWT techniques, emphasising the applied nature of the skills learned, in particular the 'self-care' set of EWT techniques which emerged during this research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021