The Role of Creative Imagination, Illustration and Storytelling in Supporting Social, Emotional and Mental Health in Educational Settings

Abstract

This paper outlines two collaborative, child-centred art projects I led in school settings as a child mental health expert and artist, which sought to explore how illustration, imagination and creativity can emotionally support, positively empower and visually inspire children to engage with emotional literacy, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma, and eco-anxiety. These projects brought together my experience as a mental health practitioner, artist and educator, underpinned by an interdisciplinary synthesis of illustration theory, arts therapeutic models and neuroscience, with particular reference to ‘The Manifesto for Illustration Pedagogy’; Sean McNiff's arts therapy Dr Margot Sunderland's research on the importance of imagination to creativity, play and mindfulness; Attention Restoration Theory, Polyvagal Theory, Attachment and Nature Theory. The paper considers the implication of research showing (Kaimal 2017) art activities improve attention, health and wellbeing. Visual self-expression activates reward centres in the pre-frontal cortex, creating reward pathways that enable us to positively regulate our thoughts, actions and emotions (Kaimal 2017), and manage stress, which in turn promotes a capacity to learn and to be socially engaged. Secure attachments to people and nature are vital if children are to manage ACEs and the climate crisis without debilitating stress. I will evidence ways in which we can build these bonds of attachment to nature through imagination, creativity and research. I will demonstrate that opportunities to externalise our inner-world realities through words, image and metaphor, provide a containment that enables children to confront the harshest of outer realities, and empowers them for the future.