Art therapy, intersectionality and services for women in the criminal justice system

ABSTRACT Women in the criminal justice system are a diverse yet marginalised group, living with the most dangerous of intersectional oppressions. Women from the Global Majority face a "double disadvantage" (Agenda, 2017). Prison is evidenced as the least effective place for women, yet prison places have increased and gender-informed services are inadequate. These obstructions to healing from trauma have created a spiralling crisis, leading to preventable deaths and the destruction of families. As a white, female art therapist, I argue that an intersectional framework is critical to understanding and supporting this service-user group. I maintain the established perspective generated by Black feminists and marginalised groups, that focusing on the most ostracised and working from the ‘ground up’, is an effective way of tackling social injustice. A gap in research for art therapy with this service-user group and evidence of epistemological racism within the existing literature presents an opportunity for development and growth within the profession. I discuss the possibilities of using an intersectional framework as intertwined with this service-user group, and with re-establishing ways of knowing within art therapy to ensure anti-oppressive practices. Through a summary of the existing literature developed through research in my final year of training, I will demonstrate how resistance to art therapy occurs at systemic and individual levels and that this cannot be disentangled from the neoliberal status quo. A call to action is proposed for white art therapists to increase their curiosity about their complicity in white supremacy and find ways to develop alternative epistemologies. Plain-language summary The criminal justice system (CJS) provides care for people who are confined in institutions, such as prison or secure hospital, because they pose a significant risk to themselves or others. It also includes people who now live in the community but still need continued support when they leave hospital or prison. Most people in the CJS are men, and facilities have therefore been designed around male needs. The needs of women within the CJS have been persistently ignored by UK government, and women from the Global Majority – Black, Asian, Dual-Heritage, Indigenous and ‘Ethnic Minority’ communities (Campbell-Stephens MBE, 2020) – face particular disadvantages. Race, class and gender oppressions overlap and cause significant harm to the women and their families. Art therapy has been offered within these services for many years; however, there is not much research to support therapy with women in these settings. As an art psychotherapy trainee on placement at a hostel in the community for women leaving secure hospital, I wanted to find out what literature was available to support this work. I searched online databases and found only 24 published articles and book chapters. It was difficult to relate the findings to my community work as the literature was based mostly in high security settings. Most of the authors were white women in professional roles so other people’s perspectives were not represented. This meant that what I found was not a fair description and therefore, not very reliable. However, art psychotherapy was shown to offer positive benefits and respond to existing recommendations for this client group. This paper presents an argument for the need for art therapy services for women in forensic services and proposes a call to action for white art therapists to increase their curiosity about their complicity in white supremacy and find ways to develop alternative intersectional, anti-oppressive practices. The paper also highlights the need for more research from art psychotherapists from different backgrounds that is developed in collaboration with service-users.