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Creating an Ecology of Hope: Arts-based Interventions with Refugee Children

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Abstract

This paper illustrates how human ecological theory and hope theory were used to develop arts-based research tools and program interventions with refugee children in a Canadian inner city context. Building on key ideas such as: the contextualized, reciprocal, and dynamic nature of hope, the paper identifies a series of program activities. These include the use of photographs, a hope quilt, the development of narratives, followed by opportunities for children to share their hope work with others and for parents and other adults to undertake child-focused and hope-based discussions. Policy and program implications for refugee children are then discussed.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. The educational cultural brokers were a group of seven individuals representing various ethnic groups in the city who were employed by the organization that hosted the EIP. These brokers served as a bridge between families (including those in the program) and schools.

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  1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 6-107, Education North, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2G5

    Sophie C. Yohani

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  1. Sophie C. Yohani
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Correspondence to Sophie C. Yohani.

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Yohani, S.C. Creating an Ecology of Hope: Arts-based Interventions with Refugee Children. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 25, 309–323 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-008-0129-x

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