Skip to content
1981
2-3: Creativity, the Arts and the Environment
  • ISSN: 2040-2457
  • E-ISSN: 2040-2465

Abstract

This article describes evidence of the therapeutic value of expressive arts programming following a natural disaster. The authors created the ‘Art Relief Map’ to serve as a living online record of the therapeutic art-based offerings that emerged organically in western North Carolina, United States, in the wake of devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in late September 2024. By sharing the ‘Art Relief Map’ and its evolution alongside several stories of art-based programme development in the midst of a drastically changed landscape, the authors depict a topography of healing that may be adapted and applied during future climate-related crises.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00202_1
2025-11-29
2026-04-10

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Biddle, Katherine, Welfare, Laura, Abaid, Nicole, Upthegrove, Tanner and Queen, Robin (2023), ‘Exploring attunement among clinicians-in-training via group drumming’, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2023.102094.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Chen, Shuquan, Bagrodia, Rohini, Pfeffer, Charlotte, Meli, Laura and Bonanno, George (2020), ‘Anxiety and resilience in the face of natural disasters associated with climate change: A review and methodological critique’, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102297.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Cole, Joe (2021), ‘Photography healing and justice in Appalachia’, Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis, 3:10, pp. 4674, https://jtpp.uk/archive/#. Accessed 8 September 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cooper, Roy (2024), ‘Hurricane Helene recovery: Revised damage and needs assessment’, North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management, 23 October, https://www.osbm.nc.gov/hurricane-helene-dna/open. Accessed 30 December 2024.
  5. Douglass, Nathaniel and Fish, Carolyn (2022), ‘That’s a relief: Assessing beauty, realism, and landform clarity in multilayer terrain maps’, Cartographic Perspectives, 100, pp. 4566, https://doi.org/10.14714/CP100.1727.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Gelsthorpe, Andi (2024), personal communication with K. Biddle, 12 December.
  7. Johnson, Helen (2024), ‘Supporting individuals after the Queensland floods’, Art Therapy, 41:3, pp. 15054, https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2024.2356968.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Jones, Loyal (1994), Appalachian Values, Ashland, KY: Jesse Stuart Foundation.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Juric, Kanling (2024), ‘A creative disaster response and recovery framework for supporting extreme weather events affected communities’, Art Therapy, 41:3, pp. 14549, https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2024.2363088.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Kossak, Mitchell (2021), Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy, 2nd ed., Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Lawrance, Emma, Thompson, Rhiannon, Newberry Le Vay, Jessica, Page, Lisa and Jennings, Neil (2022), ‘The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: A narrative review of current evidence, and its implications’, International Review of Psychiatry, 34:5, pp. 44398, https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2022.2128725.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Levine, Ellen G. and Levine, Stephen K. (2011), Art in Action: Expressive Arts Therapy and Social Change, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Liebmann, Marian (2023), ‘Art tables at refugee drop-in centers: From exclusion to belonging’, Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 14:1, pp. 11730, https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah_00131_1.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Linton, Jess (2017), ‘A natural response to a natural disaster: The art of crisis in Nepal (Une réponse naturelle à une catastrophe naturelle: Art de crise au Népal)’, Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal, 30:1, pp. 3140, https://doi.org/10.1080/08322473.2017.1317201.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Lipsky, Laura van Dernoot and Burk, Connie (2009), Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others, San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Malchiodi, Cathy A. (2020), Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process, New York: The Guilford Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Marcow Speiser, Vivien and Speiser, Phillip (2023), ‘Journeying with Shaun McNiff: Entering the slipstream in the right moment in history, trusting the process and letting conflict define’, Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 14:3, pp. 30514, https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah_00143_1.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. McNiff, Shaun (1992), Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination, Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Meade, Jill (2021), ‘Mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents: A review of the current research’, Pediatric Clinics of North America, 68:5, pp. 94559, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2021.05.003.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Prigogine, Ilya and Stengers, Isabelle (2017), Order out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature, London: Verso Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Revill, George and Gold, John R. (2018), ‘“Far back in American time”: Culture, region, nation, Appalachia, and the geography of voice’, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108:5, pp. 140621, https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1431104.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Ribeiro, Daniel and Caquard, Sébastien (2018), ‘Cartography and art’, in J. Wilson (ed.), The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge, Chesapeake, VA: University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, pp. 715.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Rimé, Bernard, Paez, Dario, Kanyangara, Patrick and Yzerbyt, Vincent (2011), ‘The social sharing of emotions in interpersonal and in collective situations: Common psychosocial consequences’, in I. Nyklíček, A. Vingerhoets and M. Zeelenberg (eds), Emotion Regulation and Well-Being, New York: Springer, pp. 14763.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Van der Kolk, Bessel (2014), The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, New York: Penguin Books.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00202_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00202_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test