Take Up Space, You Matter!: Fostering (Re)Connection After the Pandemic through Trauma-Informed Community Arts Programming

Project Summary:

This project seeks to research the impacts of trauma-informed arts-based engagements in dance, music and skateboarding on youth’s mental health and wellbeing. This project responds directly to the impacts of isolation and anxiety youth have been experiencing during COVID-19 through trauma-sensitive engagements which will be shaped to increase self-regulation and build healthy relationships. The research team will create a series of workshops to assess the mental health benefits for participating youth and facilitators.
We will satisfy the following 5 main objectives:

• To create a multi-disciplinary community-university collaborative team. We have a commitment from 3 community organizations, 2 university researchers, and youth with lived experience, and are seeking three additional youth.
• To better understand existing knowledge through Integrated Knowledge Translation. Drawing from: the Sole Expressions dance program; Dr Marsh’s evidence-, arts- and body-based research in hip hop/popular music; programming/delivery experience from 3 community organizations; lived experiences; and, Dr Reid’s trauma-sensitive pedagogies research.
• To translate our collective knowledge into a trauma-sensitive, arts-based workshop series supportive of youth mental health, to decrease isolation, increase self-regulation, and build a community for youth whose contexts have been made increasingly vulnerable throughout COVID-19.
• To offer the workshop series. The workshop series will present three programs occurring weekly spanning 8 weeks in May and June 2022.
• To conduct both process and product evaluations to shape knowledge dissemination initiatives. The evaluations will be conducted through pre/post surveys and focus group discussions and will lay the foundation for presentations, writing, and social media dissemination.

Project Timeline: Jan 2022-Dec 2022

Project Funded By: Mental Health Research Canada and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

Project Partners: Community arts-based organizations: GRR!, VibesYQR, FAB