Creative Healing for Refugee Youth

Join us for the launch of Psychological Support for Refugee Adolescents: An Expressive Arts Approach to Wellbeing and Trauma Recovery (Routledge), an exploration of how creativity can support healing and resilience for young people who have experienced displacement and trauma.

This special evening brings together voices from research, practice, and lived experience to illuminate the transformative power of expressive arts. We begin with opening remarks from the Provost and Vice-Provost for Global Engagement, before Dr Rachel Hoare introduces her new book, drawing on nearly a decade of clinical work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents and her research through Trinity's Centre for Forced Migration Studies.

We'll hear from Thomas Dunning, Principal Social Worker with Tusla's Separated Children's Unit, on the realities of supporting unaccompanied refugee minors in Ireland. Somaia Abunada and Abdallah Abusamra will share their powerful personal stories of using writing, embroidery, and the arts as tools for expression and connection in conflict and post-conflict settings.

Keynote speaker Thahmina Begum, an artist, researcher and therapist from the UK, will explore how art enables refugee youth to reclaim and reshape their narratives—turning fragments of experience into coherent, meaningful forms.

Whether you're a practitioner, researcher, student, or simply interested in creative approaches to wellbeing and social justice, this event offers rare insights into how the arts create pathways to healing for young people navigating forced displacement.

Light refreshments will be served from 5.30pm.

Info: Programme
5.30pm – 6.00pm
Welcome Reception with refreshments
6.00pm – 6.20pm
Opening Remarks
Provost and Vice-Provost for Global Engagement
6.20pm – 6.30pm
Reflections from Practice
Thomas Dunning, Principal Social Worker, Separated Children's Unit, Tusla
6.30pm – 6.45pm
Introduction to the Book
Dr Rachel Hoare, Centre for Forced Migration Studies, Trinity College Dublin
Psychological Support for Refugee Adolescents: An Expressive Arts Approach to Wellbeing and Trauma Recovery (Routledge)
6.45pm – 7.05pm
Creative Voices: Stories from Experience
Somaia Abunada and Abdallah Abusamra Scholarship students from Gaza in Trinity College
The importance of writing, embroidery, and arts in conflict and post-conflict settings
7.05pm – 7.35pm
Keynote: 'Fragments into Forms: How Art Helps Refugee Youth Reclaim Their Narratives'
Thahmina Begum, Artist, Researcher and Therapist
7.35pm – 7.40pm
Closing Reflections
Dr Rachel Hoare

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Trinity Long Room Hub, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

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