Outputs (44)

Arts for the blues: a new creative psychological therapy for depression (2024)
Book Chapter
Parsons, A., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Harlow, J., Haslam, S., Hobson, J., …Griffin, J. (2024). Arts for the blues: a new creative psychological therapy for depression. In Art that Tells the Truth. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032629650-10

Routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression are not always effective. Arts therapies, particularly Dance Movement Psychotherapy, may offer additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. Therefore, client-reported helpful factors fr... Read More about Arts for the blues: a new creative psychological therapy for depression.

Conference Report: Poetry & Care (2024)
Journal Article
Nissel, J., Thurston, S., Fitzsimons, M., & Spence, S. (in press). Conference Report: Poetry & Care. Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry, 15(1), https://doi.org/10.16995/bip.11688

The following multi-authored report provides an account of the Poetry & Care conference held at the University of Plymouth, 7-8 September 2023. Many thanks to the organisers: Anthony Caleshu, Mandy Bloomfield, and Russell Evans

Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’ (2024)
Journal Article
Karkou, V., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Thurston, S., Clark, R., Perris, E., Kaehne, A., & Pearson, M. (2024). Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’. PLoS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296178

Place-based arts initiatives are regarded as rooted in local need and as having capacity to engage local assets. However, many place-based arts initiatives remain poorly funded and short-lived, receiving little attention on how to scale up and sustai... Read More about Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’.

Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’ (2024)
Journal Article
Karkou, V., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Thurston, S., Clark, R., Perris, E., Kaehne, A., & Pearson, M. (in press). Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’. PloS one, 19(1), e0296178. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296178

Place-based arts initiatives are regarded as rooted in local need and as having capacity to engage local assets. However, many place-based arts initiatives remain poorly funded and short-lived, receiving little attention on how to scale up and sustai... Read More about Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’.

Turning : selected poems 1995-2020 (2023)
Book
Thurston, S. (2023). Turning : selected poems 1995-2020. Shearsman Books

A selected poems volume covering 25 years of work

Dancing the Blues: An interdisciplinary collaboration between artists and therapists (2023)
Journal Article
Thurston, S., Griffin, J., Davismoon, S., Omylinska-Thurston, J., & Karkou, V. (2023). Dancing the Blues: An interdisciplinary collaboration between artists and therapists. Journal of Applied Arts and Health, 14(2), 159-174. https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah_00107_1

Creative practice differs widely across the contexts of artistic performance and therapy. In this article the authors describe a novel example of how the otherwise separate fields of choreographic practices and dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) have... Read More about Dancing the Blues: An interdisciplinary collaboration between artists and therapists.

The importance of psychological flow in a creative, embodied and enactive psychological therapy approach (Arts for the Blues) (2022)
Journal Article
Parsons, A., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Turner, R., Thurston, S., Starkey, J., Omylinska-Thurston, J., & Karkou, V. (2022). The importance of psychological flow in a creative, embodied and enactive psychological therapy approach (Arts for the Blues). Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2022.2130431

Psychological flow can be experienced in various occupational, recreational and creative domains and may confer increased well-being. Yet, very few studies have examined flow as a potential feature of creative arts therapies – particularly therapies... Read More about The importance of psychological flow in a creative, embodied and enactive psychological therapy approach (Arts for the Blues).

Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS Mental Health Services in the UK : a feasibility study on patient and staff experiences of arts for the blues workshops delivered at Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services (2022)
Journal Article
Karkou, V., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Parsons, A., Thurston, S., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Nair, K., …Haslam, S. (2022). Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS Mental Health Services in the UK : a feasibility study on patient and staff experiences of arts for the blues workshops delivered at Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12544

There have been several arguments for the need to generate evidence-based creative forms of psychological interventions in Improving Access to Psychological Services (IAPT), the main primary mental health provider in hospitals in England, UK. In th... Read More about Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS Mental Health Services in the UK : a feasibility study on patient and staff experiences of arts for the blues workshops delivered at Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.

Diving to The Cinema Beneath the Lake: a novel as immersive, synthetic-magical exploration of the surrealist prose of Claude Cahun, Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington (2022)
Thesis
Sunderland, S. (2022). Diving to The Cinema Beneath the Lake: a novel as immersive, synthetic-magical exploration of the surrealist prose of Claude Cahun, Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington. (Thesis). University of Salford

This practice-led PhD explores the role of mimicry (simulation, impersonation, imitation) in the surrealist prose of Claude Cahun, Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington. It evaluates mimicry both as a feminist critical technique and as a form of ca... Read More about Diving to The Cinema Beneath the Lake: a novel as immersive, synthetic-magical exploration of the surrealist prose of Claude Cahun, Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington.

Digitising creative psychological therapy : Arts for the Blues (A4B) (2021)
Book Chapter
Farish-Edwards, F., Parsons, A., Starkey, J., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Thurston, S., Omylinska-Thurston, J., & Karkou, V. (2022). Digitising creative psychological therapy : Arts for the Blues (A4B). In J. Prescott (Ed.), Digital Innovations for Mental Health Support (1-17). Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7991-6.ch001

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a need to adapt and develop psychological interventions that address the mental health of those in need. As a result, Arts for the Blues (A4B), an evidence-based creative group psychotherapy model,... Read More about Digitising creative psychological therapy : Arts for the Blues (A4B).

The dance and movement work of Jennifer Pike Cobbing : economies of effort and vitality dynamics (2021)
Journal Article
Thurston, S. (2021). The dance and movement work of Jennifer Pike Cobbing : economies of effort and vitality dynamics. Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry, 13(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.16995/bip.3401

Jennifer Pike (1920-2016) was a major artist whose practice traversed the disciplines of painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, photography, jewellery-making, poetry and performance. Although a fuller appreciation of the scale and range of... Read More about The dance and movement work of Jennifer Pike Cobbing : economies of effort and vitality dynamics.

Threshold moves : a ritual poetry practice (2021)
Thesis
Davies, N. (2021). Threshold moves : a ritual poetry practice. (Thesis). University of Salford

This thesis identifies and explores a practice of ritual poetry. Drawing on creative writing and embodied ritual practice, as well as theory from poetry, performance and anthropology, I form new theoretical and practical understandings of a field of... Read More about Threshold moves : a ritual poetry practice.

Reflections on offering a therapeutic creative arts intervention with cult survivors : a collective biography (2020)
Journal Article
Parsons, A., Kefalogianni, M., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Turner, R., Ingleton, H., Omylinska-Thurston, J., …Karkou, V. (2020). Reflections on offering a therapeutic creative arts intervention with cult survivors : a collective biography

A new, evidence-based, multimodal, and creative psychological therapy, Arts for the Blues, was piloted with survivors of cultic abuse in a workshop within a conference setting. The five facilitators, who occupied diverse roles and perspectives w... Read More about Reflections on offering a therapeutic creative arts intervention with cult survivors : a collective biography.

Arts for the Blues : the development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression (2020)
Journal Article
Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Parsons, A., Nair, K., Starkey, J., Dubrow-Marshall, L., …Sharma, S. (2021). Arts for the Blues : the development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 21(3), 597-607. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12373

Introduction: Depression affects many adults in the UK, often resulting in referral to primary care mental health services (e.g. Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, IAPT). CBT is the main modality for depression within IAPT, with other ap... Read More about Arts for the Blues : the development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression.

A poetics of subjective resistance (2020)
Thesis
Frances, J. (2020). A poetics of subjective resistance. (Thesis). University of Salford

This doctoral thesis is a work of poetics, which speculatively casts into the future of possible writing, to ask how contemporary innovative poetry can enact or contribute towards political resistance. More specifically, it asks how poetry that finds... Read More about A poetics of subjective resistance.

Flowing towards freedom with multimodal creative therapy : the healing power of therapeutic arts for ex cult-members (2020)
Journal Article
Parsons, A., Turner, R., Ingleton, H., Kefalogianni, M., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., …Dubrow-Marshall, L. (2021). Flowing towards freedom with multimodal creative therapy : the healing power of therapeutic arts for ex cult-members. Arts in Psychotherapy, 72, 101743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2020.101743

Creative arts can play an important role for cult survivors in surviving, transcending and healing from their past realities. Flow – an empowering state of mind-body integration and skilful, intuitive action while engaged in a challenging yet enjoyab... Read More about Flowing towards freedom with multimodal creative therapy : the healing power of therapeutic arts for ex cult-members.

Phrases towards a Kinepoetics (2020)
Book
Thurston, S. (2020). Phrases towards a Kinepoetics. Brighton: Contraband

This sequence of twenty-five poems is the latest product of a sixteen-year process of integrating dance and movement into my poetic practice. The poems draw on the practice of Five Rhythms, Movement Medicine, Authentic Movement, Alexander Technique,... Read More about Phrases towards a Kinepoetics.

Allen Fisher : reading 'Mummers’ Strut' (2020)
Book Chapter
Thurston, S. (2020). Allen Fisher : reading 'Mummers’ Strut'. In C. Cheek, & R. Hampson (Eds.), The Allen Fisher Companion (134-162). Swindon: Shearsman Books

In 1995, Allen Fisher published a poem entitled ‘Mummers’ Strut’ in an issue of the magazine West Coast Line, accompanied by a statement of poetics. This essay offers a close reading of the poem by investigating its multiple sources alongside Fisher... Read More about Allen Fisher : reading 'Mummers’ Strut'.

Arts for the blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression (2019)
Journal Article
Parsons, A., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Harlow, J., Haslam, S., Hobson, J., …Griffin, J. (2020). Arts for the blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 48(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2019.1633459

Routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression are not always effective. Arts therapies, particularly Dance Movement Psychotherapy, may offer additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. Therefore, client-reported helpful factors fr... Read More about Arts for the blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression.

Vital Signs : A Poem in Four Movements - 300 word statement (2019)
Other
Thurston, S., & Slee, S. (2019). Vital Signs : A Poem in Four Movements - 300 word statement. [Performance]

A space to tell : writing poetry in a second language (2019)
Thesis
Setia Sari, W. (2019). A space to tell : writing poetry in a second language. (Thesis). University of Salford

Distinct from the increasing interest in Research on L2 creative writing in a pedagogical context, this practice-based PhD research attempts to situate the process of writing poetry in a second language as a creative practice in its own right. This e... Read More about A space to tell : writing poetry in a second language.

“For which we haven’t yet a satisfactory name” : the birth of Linguistically Innovative Poetry and the practice of a collective poetics in Robert Sheppard’s Pages and Floating Capital (2019)
Book Chapter
Thurston, S. (2019). “For which we haven’t yet a satisfactory name” : the birth of Linguistically Innovative Poetry and the practice of a collective poetics in Robert Sheppard’s Pages and Floating Capital. In C. Madden, & J. Byrne (Eds.), The Robert Sheppard Companion (36-59). Bristol: Shearsman Books

A detailed account of early editorial pieces by Robert Sheppard (b. 1955) - a major figure in Linguistically Innovative Poetry - in his magazine Pages - laying the theoretical groundwork for a new movement in poetry. The piece also consider Sheppard'... Read More about “For which we haven’t yet a satisfactory name” : the birth of Linguistically Innovative Poetry and the practice of a collective poetics in Robert Sheppard’s Pages and Floating Capital.

Arts for the Blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression: a pilot workshop report (2019)
Journal Article
Haslam, S., Parsons, A., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Nair, K., Harlow, J., Lewis, J., …Karkou, V. (2019). Arts for the Blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression: a pilot workshop report. Perspectives in Public Health, 139(3), 137-146. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913919826599

Introduction: Research over the last decade has identified both strengths and limitations in the use of routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression. More recently, a focus on creative art therapies, and 'art on prescription' are deve... Read More about Arts for the Blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression: a pilot workshop report.

We must betray our potential (2018)
Book
Thurston, S. (2018). We must betray our potential. New Mills, Derbyshire: The Red Ceilings Press

We Must Betray Our Potential In these metaphysical dialogues between the dancing and linguistic self, Thurston circles questions of being, ‘self’-presence and identity. The temporality of dance – its fleeting, unrestricted movements – and the a... Read More about We must betray our potential.

Draft Vicinity (2018)
Book
Thurston, S. (2018). Draft Vicinity. Newton-le-Willows: The Knives Forks and Spoons Press

Book of short experimental lyric poems, several of them exploring the author's ongoing interest in the relationship between dance and poetry; movement and language. Cover endorsement: “All journeys”, said Martin Buber “have secret destinations... Read More about Draft Vicinity.

Poems for the dance (2017)
Book
Thurston, S. (2017). Poems for the dance. Llangattock, Powys: Aquifer Books

Containing an essay, and poems, occasioned by the author’s engagement with Five Rhythms and other improvised dance and movement practices over more than a decade, Poems for the Dance is a multi-faceted enquiry into the relationship between poetry and... Read More about Poems for the dance.

Vital signs : poetry, movement and the writing body (2017)
Journal Article
Thurston, S., & Slee, S. (2017). Vital signs : poetry, movement and the writing body. Choreographic Practices, 8(1), 9-25. https://doi.org/10.1386/chor.8.1.9_1

This article outlines a collaborative enquiry between a dancer and a poet. It considers some past and present collaborations between poets and dancers before framing the authors’ interest in the traditions of North American Post-modern dance and Euro... Read More about Vital signs : poetry, movement and the writing body.

Contemporary innovative poetry by women in the UK : Revoicing in the work of Holly Pester, SL Mendoza and Sophie Robinson (2015)
Journal Article
Thurston, S. (2015). Contemporary innovative poetry by women in the UK : Revoicing in the work of Holly Pester, SL Mendoza and Sophie Robinson. Contemporary Women's Writing, 9(1), 53-72. https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpu035

Until recently women’s position on the British innovative poetry scene has been difficult to say the least, often risking being “doubly excluded,” as an anonymous writer is quoted in the introduction to Maggie O’Sullivan’s crucial 1996 anthology Out... Read More about Contemporary innovative poetry by women in the UK : Revoicing in the work of Holly Pester, SL Mendoza and Sophie Robinson.

Figure detached figure impermanent (2014)
Book
Thurston, S. (2014). Figure detached figure impermanent. Old Hunstanton, Norfolk: Oystercatcher

A sequence of thirty prose poems

The pleasures of reification : Kelvin Corcoran's lyric lyric (2014)
Book Chapter
Thurston, S. (2014). The pleasures of reification : Kelvin Corcoran's lyric lyric. In A. Brown (Ed.), The Writing Occurs as Song: a Kelvin Corcoran Reader (125-138). Bristol: Shearsman Books

This chapter examines the use of the term 'reification' in Kelvin Corcoran's poetry and reflects on its relevance for understanding a poetics driven by a fascination for the history and material properties of writing.

Reverses heart's reassembly (2011)
Book
Thurston, S. (2011). Reverses heart's reassembly. London: Veer Books

A dance with and against sense, Scott Thurston’s sequence moves and stands still, opens and closes itself, around a core of thought sentience and heart’s risk. A bodywork of language, intimate and extimate - William Rowe.

Talking poetics: dialogues in innovative poetry (2011)
Book
Thurston, S. (2011). Talking poetics: dialogues in innovative poetry. Bristol, UK: Shearsman Books

This is a book of full-length interviews with the poets Karen Mac Cormack, Jennifer Moxley, Caroline Bergvall and Andrea Brady, carried out between 2008 and 2009 in the UK and USA. During the course of these conversations, the poets explore a huge ra... Read More about Talking poetics: dialogues in innovative poetry.

Maggie O'Sullivan : states of transformation (2011)
Book Chapter
Thurston, S. (2011). Maggie O'Sullivan : states of transformation. In C. Hamilton-Emery (Ed.), The Salt Companion to Maggie O'Sullivan. Salt Publishing

Maggie O’Sullivan’s work has often been linked to the concept of shamanism, through her works’ own declared interest in it as well as by commentators. Nevertheless the application of this concept constructs a view of the work as somewhat ‘othered’ in... Read More about Maggie O'Sullivan : states of transformation.

Internal rhyme (2010)
Book
Thurston, S. (2010). Internal rhyme. Exeter UK: Shearsman Books

Internal Rhyme is a sequence in four parts which continues the author’s preoccupation with time and process as compositional elements. The book also explores how meaning can change when viewed from different perspectives as each poem in the book can... Read More about Internal rhyme.

Innovative poetry in Britain today (2010)
Journal Article
Thurston, S. (2010). Innovative poetry in Britain today. Revista canaria de estudios ingleses, 15-30

Innovative Poetry in Britain has undergone considerable change in how it is published and read in recent years. This article examines Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain’s 1998 introduction to their anthology OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 19... Read More about Innovative poetry in Britain today.

The poet as critic, criticism as poetics: on Barrett Watten and Robert Sheppard (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Thurston, S. (2009, June). The poet as critic, criticism as poetics: on Barrett Watten and Robert Sheppard. Presented at The Critic as Artist, The Artist as Critic, University of Lancaster

This paper was delivered to the conference 'The Critic as Artist, The Artist as Critic' at Lancaster University in June 2009. It performs a critical reading of a paper given by US Language Poet Barrett Watten at the Poetry and Public Language confere... Read More about The poet as critic, criticism as poetics: on Barrett Watten and Robert Sheppard.

Ulli Freer: space is the place/Ulli Freer and Scott Thurston: an interview (2006)
Journal Article
Thurston, S., & Freer, U. (2006). Ulli Freer: space is the place/Ulli Freer and Scott Thurston: an interview

Hold: poems 1994-2004 (2006)
Book
Thurston, S. (2006). Hold: poems 1994-2004. Exeter: Shearsman Books

Allen Fisher: reading 'Mummers' Strut' (2005)
Book Chapter
Thurston, S. (2005). Allen Fisher: reading 'Mummers' Strut'. In L. Blaim, & D. Malcolm (Eds.), Eseje o wspolczesnej poezji brytyjskiej I irlandzkiej (Essays on modern British and Irish poetry) (119-134). Gdansk, Poland: Wydaw/Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego (University of Gdansk Press)

Maggie O'Sullivan: transformation and substance (2004)
Journal Article
Thurston, S. (2004). Maggie O'Sullivan: transformation and substance

Terraces : a choreography
Book
Thurston, S. Terraces : a choreography. Co. Tipperary: Beir Bua press

This eighty poem sequence emerges as the latest product of my eighteen-year enquiry into the relationship between dance and poetry. I think of it as a kind of written choreography, or kinepoetics – a term I’ve adapted from the dance scholar Suzanne B... Read More about Terraces : a choreography.

‘I is an other’ : encountering the self as other in expressive arts practice
Presentation / Conference
Thurston, S. ‘I is an other’ : encountering the self as other in expressive arts practice. Presented at 2nd International Arts in Healthcare Event - Arts, Creativity and the Global Crisis: Reimagining Identity, Otherness and the Possible, Pratt Institute, New York, United States of America

This paper was delivered at the 2nd International Arts in Healthcare Event – Arts, Creativity and the Global Crisis: Reimagining Identity, Otherness and the Possible, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, 4th-6th October 2019 In 1871, the poet Ar... Read More about ‘I is an other’ : encountering the self as other in expressive arts practice.

Through the weather glass
Thesis
Burnett, L. Through the weather glass. (Thesis). University of Salford

This Creative Writing thesis argues for the need to rethink our understanding of climate change and focuses on the response of creative writers to this phenomenon, whilst also offering its own creative contribution. The critical component aims at art... Read More about Through the weather glass.

‘Need keeps the book of dying open’ : negative capability in Gil Ott’s The Whole Note
Presentation / Conference
Thurston, S. ‘Need keeps the book of dying open’ : negative capability in Gil Ott’s The Whole Note. Presented at Ambiguity and the search for meaning : English and American studies at the beginning of the 21st century (Eleventh International Conference), Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

This paper was delivered at the Conference 'Ambiguity and the Search for Meaning' at the Jagiellonian University, Institute of English Philology, Krakow, Poland, April 2008. It explores the work of Gil Ott (1950-2004): poet, writer and publisher asso... Read More about ‘Need keeps the book of dying open’ : negative capability in Gil Ott’s The Whole Note.