Left Write Hook – Silence is no longer an option

e-poster by Donna Lyon, Senior Lecturer, VCA Film and Television, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music

Other contributors and affiliations – Shannon Owen, VCA Film and Television, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music

What began as an 8-week grassroots community initiative, blending writing and boxing for adult survivors of child sexual abuse, has morphed into a multi-modal research phenomenon. Transitioning from traditional academic publications to media interviews, podcasts, a book, and the fusion of academia with the screen industry, “Left Write Hook” exemplifies creative practice research in action.

“Left Write Hook” is now a book amplifying survivor voices in the discourse on sexual violence. It is also a documentary set to premiere at film festivals both locally and internationally from mid-2024. Moreover, it has birthed a start-up charity running pioneering writing and boxing programs, empowering victim-survivors.

Backed by the University of Melbourne’s research innovation commercialisation team, Left Write Hook has secured proof of concept funding to upscale the program through online certification. With an ambitious social impact campaign, the film is projected to reach over half a million individuals. Join our social impact campaign movement.

Methods: mixed methods research and creative practice research methodologies.

Quantitative, qualitative psychological data, audio-visual data, thematic analysis, phenomenological studies.

Key highlights

• Trauma is stored in the body, and it needs to be expressed.
• Healing happens in community.
• Lived experience needs to be at the centre of victim-survivor programs.

Results or findings

The Left Write Hook program has demonstrated a reduction in PTSD, depression, stress and an increase in personal agency, resilience and belonging.

The project is now a feature length documentary film which has adopted a participatory survivor-led model. The film premieres at the Melbourne International Film Festival, August 2024 followed a national cinema release in October with a social impact campaign.

The project has also evolved into a book of survivor stories, an online training program for trauma informed writing and boxing lived experience facilitation and a registered charity.

References

Blanch, A., Filson, B., & Penney, D. (2012). Engaging Women in Trauma Informed Peer Support: A Guidebook. US National Center for Trauma Informed Care, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.nasmhpd.org/sites/default/files/PeerEngagementGuide_Color_REVISED_10_2012.pdf.

Cross, J., Queen, C. & Schneider, P. (2017). Writing Ourselves Whole: Using the Power of Your Own Creativity to Recover and Heal from Sexual Trauma (Help for Rape Victims, Trauma and Recovery, Abuse Self-Help). Mango.

Gammage, K., van Ingen, C., & Angrish, K. (2021). “Measuring the Effects of the Shape Your Life Project on the Mental and Physical Health Outcomes of Survivors of Gender-Based Violence”. Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211038966.

Herman, J. (2001-2015). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Pandora.

Lyon, D., Owen, S., Osborne, M. S., Blake, K., & Andrades, B. (2020). Left / Write // Hook: A mixed method study of a writing and boxing workshop for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and trauma. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(5). Retrieved from https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/1505.

Lyon, D. & Gaskin, C. (Eds.). (2021). Left/Write//Hook: Survivor Stories from a Creative Arts Boxing and Writing Project. Loving Healing Press

Lyon, D, Gaskin, C, & Everall, G. (2022). “Writing + Boxing = Left / Write // Hook.” TEXT 26 (Special 67): 1–18 https://doi.org/10.52086/001c.37824.

Van der Kolk, Bessel A. (2014) “The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma.” New York, New York: Viking.

van Ingen, C. (2016). Getting lost as a way of knowing: The art of boxing within Shape Your Life. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. (Vol 8, No. 5). pp. 472-486. http://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2016.1211170.

van Ingen, C. (2011). Shape your life and embrace your aggression: A boxing project for female and trans survivors of violence. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 20(1), 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.20.1.66.