I am woman, hear me draw!

Chris Storm AThR, SEP, M.Ed, CCPT, ACA, ANZACATA

Many researchers have explored the impact of violence in our communities. We know the statistics are high potentially 1 in 4 women experience one form of abuse or sexual violation, many of these before they grow from girls into women. The unfortunate reality is that the statistics only come from those cases where reports have been made. I know also from my work over the years that many people do not report for fear of consequences, or try to tell and are not believed, pushing the pain, shame, and anger down further. We also know that many men experience violence and abuse at the hands of other men, also leaving a trail of pain that can manifest into further rage and explosive behaviour, and the cycle of psychological and physical damage continues.

As Jackson Katz (American educator, filmmaker, and author) has said: “Most male victims of violence are the victims of other men’s violence. So that’s something that both women and men have in common. We are both victims of men’s violence”. 

 I have found myself yet again pondering on what would it take for society collectively to denounce gendered violence and reflecting on the benefits for everyone on being able to live a more harmonious life. To live in peaceful safety, respecting all cultures and supporting women as mothers sometimes seems little more than a pipe dream. Accepting justice and equality for all – Black, Indigenous women, people of colour, the diversity in faith base and cultural beliefs, gender fluidity, transgender, LGTBQI community would be a great first step. We need to be working in unison, with a vision of finding ways to promote and instil the values in our children that become a legacy of understanding and compassionate caring for others, and women need to be supporting other women more.

This recent resurgence of collective anger, pain and angst that women are experiencing and are voicing highlights the need for a way to process this in a safe and embodied way. I also know from my own personal journey that in order to do this processing, you need to be held in a safe container that allows time for the slow and gentle path back to healing that is required. The journey from survivor to thriver can be fraught with setbacks and challenges.

The hard truth is that hurt people, hurt people. In finding ways to shift from the impulse to use violence might actually support both those who experience using or being the recipients of that violence to heal – if we can work to repair the history of what underpins the fear, to locate an active response to trauma held in the body, we can also shift the behavioural outcomes.

So this finds me once again returning to the power of Sensorimotor Art Therapy and Guided Drawing to process my own story, the feelings of outrage and injustice, and the pain I experience as I witness women struggle to move through their own stories in these times of constant activation and triggering.

Chris has spent over 40 years working with the impact of violence and abuse. She has been active in running Family Violence education programs in primary schools, supporting women and children who find themselves homeless as a result of family violence, Men’s Behaviour Change Programs, and supervises practitioners who work in the Family Violence sector. In her own private practice Storm Insight, many of the referrals for Sensorimotor Art Therapy, Child Centred Play Therapy, and Somatic Experiencing include the impact of the lived experience of violence. She recently co-presented with Cornelia Elbrecht on ways that the Arts and Sport can support peaceful communities at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women NGO CSW65 Virtual Forum. Chris attended the recent march in Geelong, Victoria….and she can’t believe that she still needs to protest about this!