Making a Body Mapping Workshop a Safe Space for Drawing/Telling About Caring for a Family Member with Mental Distress

Body mapping in social research generates rich multimodal data about biographic experiences and provides an opportunity to encourage unusual forms of expression. Its embodied nature calls for the creation and maintenance of an emotionally comfortable and safe research space for those involved in the process. This Case Study is based on research with carers of relatives diagnosed with mental illness who I engaged in a body mapping workshop. Through drawing and storytelling, they explored the different facets of the distressing experience of caring for a loved one, giving me an understanding of the nuanced and varied aspects of these lived experiences. My research design carefully considered how embodied inquiry, and especially the creation of a body map depicting a long caring relationship with a suffering person, quickly and intensely stimulates emotional engagement. Throughout the process, I sought to ensure the safest possible space for participants to talk and share about themselves and their caring relationships. I provided the participants with many details about the process in advance, guided the elaboration of the visual and verbal stories through broad thematic stimuli and an invitation to draw their loved ones, and created an opportunity for retrospective reflection through individual interviews. Using my observations and research materials, including drawings, the oral description of the story told in the body map, and individual post-workshop interviews, I discuss the difficulties and ambiguities of creating a setting that is welcoming enough for participants to share painful personal experiences in the context of a research project.