The National Capacity Building (NCB) Project at the Center for Victims of Torture and the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma held this webinar, held on August 20, 2026, on “In Hard Times, We Do Projects”: The Tree of Life and Other Arts-Based Responses to Hardship and Trauma.
Please note:
This webinar was switched from a webinar to a meeting format to allow participants to share their tree with the group. Any participants who shared their tree and how it was made during the session were contacted to get their consent to share both the image of their tree and their audio in this recording. We did delete sections from the recording for those who did not consent. Thanks to everyone who did share their tree and enrich the session with their process, their thoughts, and findings with Joe as it created a rich discussion.
Description
This workshop-style webinar introduces participants to Narrative Therapy’s project-based approaches to processing traumas and building community connections. The webinar introduces The Tree of Life project and then utilize a flipped classroom approach in which participants will complete their own Tree of Life. Time is allotted to discussing the process and optional sharing of results. Participants should come to the workshop with at least one piece of paper and writing/drawing implements of their choosing.
Learning Objectives
After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Describe the steps in the Tree of Life Exercise
- Apply the theoretical concepts behind activities like the Tree of Life to their work with survivors of torture.
- Identify ways that project-based approaches to processing trauma and building community can be applied in their own work.
- Execute and complete the Tree of Life exercise with clients and/or patients.
Resources and References
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Tree of life worksheet with tree outline
- The Vela Project
- Vela Well-being
- Denborough, D. (2014). Retelling the Stories of Our Lives: Everyday Narrative Therapy to Draw Inspiration and Transform Experience. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Denborough, D. (2018). Do you want to hear a story? Adventures in collective Narrative practice. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
- Epston, D. (2013). [Conference presentation]. International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
- Mattheiss, S., Zabihian, S., Diessner, R. (2025). Moral beauty, natural beauty, and artistic beauty cause self-transcendent emotions. Journal of Moral Education, 1-19 (online). https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2025.2588303
- Monk, G., Winslade, J., Crocket, K., & Epston, D. (1997). Narrative Therapy in Practice: The Archaeology of Hope. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
- Carey, M., & Russell, S. (2003). Outsider-Witness Practices: Some Answers to Commonly Asked Questions. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 3. http://narrativepractices.com.au/attach/pdf/Outsider_Witness_Common_Questions.pdf
- Other arts-based responses to trauma and hardship
- The Storms of Life
- The Suitcase Project
- Rescued word songs
- Definitional Ceremonies, Identity Documentation, and Outsider Witnessing
- A free repository of Narrative Therapy projects
Presenters:
-
Joe Mageary , Associate Provost for Mental Health and Wellbeing at Lesley University in Cambridge