{"id":1338,"date":"2022-06-16T16:09:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:25:49","slug":"destigmatising-self-injury-through-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Destigmatising self-injury through art"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Through a series of participant-led art workshops, Reading researchers are raising important questions about how we understand and talk about self-injury.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/-FmGXS2U0Qc” align=”center”][vc_column_text]Seventeenth-century representations of self-injury in literature and art suggest that modern attitudes towards what is now considered a pathological behaviour are very different from those of the early modern period.<\/p>\n

By encouraging exploration and discussion of how the motivations, representations, and social attitudes surrounding self-injury have changed throughout history, a project led by Dr Alanna Skuse is informing new models of patient engagement with at-risk groups.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with Associate Professor Tina O\u2019Connell who runs Reading\u2019s ArtLab, Skuse devised a series of \u200b\u200bworkshops to bring together co-researchers from different academic backgrounds, cultures, and age groups, all of whom had a professional interest in \u2013 or lived experience of \u2013 self-injury.<\/p>\n

Skuse and O\u2019Connell worked with psychiatry professionals to create an atmosphere of trust during the workshops, facilitating open discussion between participants as they reflected on their personal experiences of self-injury through a range of artistic and creative techniques from clay modelling to digital animation.<\/p>\n

The findings from the project are being used as the basis for a new academic monograph by Dr Skuse, while the artworks created during the workshops are being displayed as part of a digital exhibition to demonstrate how art-led, humanities-informed models can be used to discuss and destigmatise self-injury in both clinical and community settings.<\/p>\n

“Really enjoyed the workshops. They were challenging in a positive way, and a space was created in which it was possible to be vulnerable. Having the art as an outlet helped facilitate this. Thank you for getting me involved!” <\/strong>Workshop participant<\/em><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1655381500685{padding-top: 5px !important;padding-right: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;padding-left: 25px !important;background-color: #d6dbdd !important;}”]Judges\u2019 comment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA very creative project with real strengths in cross-disciplinary working that combines artistic practice and historical context to address an important issue in innovative ways.\u201d<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Team<\/strong>: Alanna Skuse and Tina O\u2019Connell<\/p>\n

In partnership with <\/strong>The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Funded by <\/strong>Wellcome Trust<\/p>\n

Shortlisted for the University Research Engagement and Impact Awards 2022 (winner)<\/p>\n

First published: June 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Through a series of participant-led art workshops, Reading researchers are raising important questions about how we understand and talk about self-injury.[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/-FmGXS2U0Qc” align=”center”][vc_column_text]Seventeenth-century representations of self-injury in literature and art…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":969,"featured_media":1335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133,134,16],"tags":[274,289,267,203],"coauthors":[137],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engagement-impact-awards-2022","category-engagement-impact-awards-2022-winner","category-heritage-creativity","tag-art-design","tag-engagement-impact-awards-2022","tag-heritage-creativity","tag-public-engagement-with-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDestigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Destigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Through a series of participant-led art workshops, Reading researchers are raising important questions about how we understand and talk about self-injury.[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/-FmGXS2U0Qc” align=”center”][vc_column_text]Seventeenth-century representations of self-injury in literature and art...Read More >\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Engagement and Impact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-16T15:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-27T16:25:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2022\/06\/Skuse_FOR-WEB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Conor Byrne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Conor Byrne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/\",\"name\":\"Destigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-16T15:09:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-27T16:25:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3f2225d484dd8910ebd7758671acbf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Destigmatising self-injury through art\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/\",\"name\":\"Engagement and Impact\",\"description\":\"Research at the University of Reading\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3f2225d484dd8910ebd7758671acbf\",\"name\":\"Conor Byrne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4589eb9e64c7fe8616a6e028ddbb8609\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60519e3600bcaf0362aafdb23be4ec4315094a43eaa460a2f681845f306ea58?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60519e3600bcaf0362aafdb23be4ec4315094a43eaa460a2f681845f306ea58?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Conor Byrne\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/author\/ci931957\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Destigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Destigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact","og_description":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Through a series of participant-led art workshops, Reading researchers are raising important questions about how we understand and talk about self-injury.[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/-FmGXS2U0Qc” align=”center”][vc_column_text]Seventeenth-century representations of self-injury in literature and art...Read More >","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/","og_site_name":"Engagement and Impact","article_published_time":"2022-06-16T15:09:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-27T16:25:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2022\/06\/Skuse_FOR-WEB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Conor Byrne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Conor Byrne","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/","name":"Destigmatising self-injury through art - Engagement and Impact","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-16T15:09:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-27T16:25:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3f2225d484dd8910ebd7758671acbf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/destigmatising-self-injury-through-art\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Destigmatising self-injury through art"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/","name":"Engagement and Impact","description":"Research at the University of Reading","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3f2225d484dd8910ebd7758671acbf","name":"Conor Byrne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4589eb9e64c7fe8616a6e028ddbb8609","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60519e3600bcaf0362aafdb23be4ec4315094a43eaa460a2f681845f306ea58?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60519e3600bcaf0362aafdb23be4ec4315094a43eaa460a2f681845f306ea58?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Conor Byrne"},"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/author\/ci931957\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/969"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}