New Skies Above: Sense-bound and place-based songwriting as a trauma response for asylum seekers and refugees

There is sparse literature examining connections between songwriting and trauma overall, or specific connections between songwriting, trauma, the senses and place. This article presents a sense- and place-based approach to songwriting with and by asylum seekers and refugees. We facilitated a four-day songwriting workshop in Turku, Finland, that incorporated trauma-informed approaches, and whose outcomes we documented through ethnography. We responded to traumas of participants involving social isolation and relocation by encouraging the use of sense-bound imagery – lyrics that communicate a multisensory experience of ‘being there’. We demonstrate that songwriting can support refugees and asylum seekers in gently connecting to difficult places, while achieving respite from trauma via positive overall musical experiences. If approached in a trauma-informed and -sensitive way, sense-bound songwriting that indirectly engages potential trauma triggers can offer a gentle path towards neutrally engaging the triggers – an essential step in trauma recovery.