Case study 3: Jessica

Published: 31 October 2019

Jessica was a very troubled young person when we first started working with her. She was not attending school at all and she had started engaging in risky behaviours instead, where no one knew where she was going. She said “I don’t care what anyone thinks / I’m raging all the time”.

It turned out that Jessica was very angry about family circumstances and hard times in her childhood and early adolescence. Using the arts, we were able to work to help Jessica understand some of the anger her mind and body were holding on to.

Jessica was able to piece together the story of her life so far and that helped her remove a lot of the judgement, resistance and anger in her psyche. She said “it makes so much sense now, I really get it”. Jessica is now engaging in school a lot more, her teachers have noticed a shift in her attitude, and she has decided to stay in school one more year. Her temper has subsided and she is no longer holding on to the past. She said “I’m just, way more relaxed now

Purple Imp