Trauma and the art of healing: examining pathways of coping and healing for women experiencing poverty and homelessness

This study sought to examine pathways of coping and healing for women experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Boston area. Data was collected through participant observations of shelter dynamics, semi-structured interviews with shelter clients (referred to as “guests”), card-sorting activities in which participants were asked to rank self-generated cards for support groups, coping mechanisms, and internal selves across a range of situations, and a free association task, which involved having participants submit whatever self-generated cards of the above groups they associated with the terms “health,” “safety,” “shame,” and “pride,” respectively. Results were subsequently organized into three analytical chapters representative of the three levels of physiological response to threat. The first level of analysis looks at social engagement in the form of receiving and giving care. The second level examines expressions of rage and how these contribute into cycles of isolation, violence, and suffering. The third level further explores these dynamics within the realm of grief and erasure. The final chapter of this thesis then discusses the implications of these areas, as well as some suggestions for how to improve or potentially intervene in the perpetuation of these cycles, with a focus on how to emphasize healing while decreasing the need for coping