Speakers - AWC 2026

Abstract

This session explores how the Hero’s Journey framework can cultivate resilience among arts therapists and students facing political, social, and institutional turbulence. Amid funding cuts, censorship, and policies restricting arts and social justice education, storytelling, poetry, and bibliotherapy emerge as acts of resistance and sources of strength. Through autobiographical reflections and contextual analysis, it demonstrates how arts-based practices foster personal growth, mental health, community cohesion, and cultural renewal. Drawing on literature in resilience, narrative psychology, and arts integration, the session emphasizes that embracing the hero’s journey nurtures hope, agency, and collective resilience. Ultimately, storytelling and arts engagement serve as vital tools for navigating adversity, promoting mental health, treating addiction, inspiring activism, and sustaining cultural resistance in turbulent times.