Case Studies
Wellbeing
Our ability to live well with others depends on having safe private spaces to express our emotions.
Of the 127 artworks and accompanying interviews, 9 reference privacy, and 10 specifically mention their bed as a safe, calm place, or somewhere that they feel like home. Wellbeing was a core theme expressed across the Journeys artwork, represented by 29% of the pieces. This theme often intersects with themes of friendship and cultural belonging, but also with home and safety. Private wellbeing, and the ability to access safe private spaces to express emotions and unwind, is a crucial facet of community integration that emerges through this research.
Case study 2 (TH20): Omar
Omar is a British-Syrian boy who loves football and spending time outside with his friends. His artwork describes moving from Saudi Arabia to the UK when he was four, as he expands on in his interview. His map labels parts of his life with significance, and he names ‘parents hug’ as ‘a place I was made to feel welcome’. This is paired with ‘a place I welcome others’, which he explains as follows:
“‘Obviously I love playing outside and stuff, but I love home and calmness and being just, like, just taking a few deep breaths and stuff. So I’d welcome others to home, and I have a calming room in my home. So, I really, sometimes if I want to think about something, I go to the calming room. If I just, I don’t know, if I maybe get a bad score, or I, if something bad happens, I might go to the calming room.’”
Omar’s ‘calming room’ is a specific space in his house that he can use to regulate, to process his emotions and find methods to cope with difficult things that happen, such as when he is struggling at school. It’s significant that he chooses this as a place to welcome others; his association of home with calm and space to process his emotions is linked for him to his capacity to welcome others there. Omar names his bedroom as a somewhere he can ‘call home’, saying: ‘I love my bedroom. I love sleeping’, before going on to describe his chess club and a park he went to with his friends. He then once again names his bed as ‘a place of calm’. The way his description of his hobbies is bookended by these statements about his bedroom and bed seems significant. Once again, Omar’s ability to enjoy hobbies and time outside with others is linked to having somewhere safe to come back to relax be alone. This example demonstrates the importance of a safe home for a child’s emotional wellbeing, but also indicates that this is an important facet of a child’s ability to integrate with others. That safe, calm place is essential for Omar to be able to go out and play with others in his community, and to be able to welcome others into his home.