The Role of Art, Music, and Drama in Trauma Counselling in the Christian African Context

Résumé

Traditionally trauma counselling in the African church has not been afforded the attention that it deserves. Some qualitative research studies on trauma counselling in the African context reveal that traumatised people are often merely advised to read their Bibles, pray, and participate in religious rituals to deal with their traumatic experiences. Stigma, untrained pastors and counsellors, as well as a lack of financial resources often prevent people from receiving effective trauma counselling. Recent literature further highlights the concern that although effective Western trauma counselling modalities, such as cognitive behavioural therapy and narrative therapy, have demonstrated positive results, the unique contextualised needs of traumatised Africans in their non-Western contexts are not always sufficiently met. This article presents art, music, and drama as part of an accessible counselling approach and method to facilitate emotional and spiritual healing from trauma in the African context. Creative non-verbal expressions through art, music, and drama form part of everyday life in African communities. These familiar creative expressions have the potential to merge traditional trauma counselling approaches with more contemporary innovative counselling methods. A significant implication of this research is making trauma recovery more accessible to African church communities by equipping Christian counsellors to address trauma safely and effectively within the scope of their training. The research employs a literature-based methodology to explore secular and Christian scholarly literature and studies on the application of creative expression in counselling to promote emotional and spiritual healing from trauma. The article explores how creative expression facilitates the empowerment of trauma survivors to reconstruct their narratives as they discover renewed meaning in Christ. The research offers practical recommendations for implementing creative counselling modalities in the African church context and identifies potential challenges and areas that require further research.