A Community's Response to Suicide Through Public Art: Stakeholder Perspectives from the Finding the Light Within Project.

Autor: Mohatt, Nathaniel V., Singer, Jonathan B., Evans, Arthur C., Matlin, Samantha L., Golden, Jane, Harris, Cathy, Burns, James, Siciliano, Catherine, Kiernan, Guy, Pelleritti, Margaret, Tebes, Jacob Kraemer
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Journal of Community Psychology; Sep2013, Vol. 52 Issue 1/2, p197-209, 13p, 3 Color Photographs, 1 Chart
Abstrakt: Suicide is a preventable public health problem and a leading cause of death in the United States. Despite recognized need for community-based strategies for suicide prevention, most suicide prevention programs focus on individual-level change. This article presents seven first person accounts of Finding the Light Within, a community mobilization initiative to reduce the stigma associated with suicide through public arts participation that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 2011 through 2012. The stigma associated with suicide is a major challenge to suicide prevention, erecting social barriers to effective prevention and treatment and enhancing risk factors for people struggling with suicidal ideation and recovery after losing a loved one to suicide. This project engaged a large and diverse audience and built a new community around suicide prevention through participatory public art, including community design and production of a large public mural about suicide, storytelling and art workshops, and a storytelling website. We present this project as a model for how arts participation can address suicide on multiple fronts-from raising awareness and reducing stigma, to promoting community recovery, to providing healing for people and communities in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index
Externí odkaz: