Arts-based groups in mental health recovery

Abstract

Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Genevieve Dingle and Jolanda Jetten for their guidance, support, and encouragement throughout my thesis. Learning from your expertise, insights, and feedback has been a privilege. I am so grateful for how reliable and involved you have always been in these projects. It has been inspiring to see the passion that you have for your research. Thank you for all the opportunities that you have provided me with to learn and develop as a researcher throughout this PhD journey. I would also like to thank all my research collaborators for the contributions they made to this thesis. Thank you, Stephen Clift and Esther Coren, for providing you advice, expertise, and assistance on the systematic literature review. I would also like to thank the research assistants on the School of Hard Knocks project-Renee Calligeros, Leah Sharman, and Belinda Lipscombe. I am also grateful for Stefanie Sprong and Gary Chan for their invaluable statistics advice, and to Braden Trotter and Cameron Hawes for filming the videos. It was a pleasure to work with you all. The School of Hard Knocks research project was supported by Wesley Medical Research Institute [2014-32]. I would like to particularly thank Genevieve Dingle, Jonathan Welch and Christian Rowan for your dedication and advocacy in acquiring this funding. It has been a privilege to be a part of making this research project come into fruition. I am also grateful to the financial contribution that Jolanda Jetten made from her Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. Thank you to all my family and friends for being there for me throughout this journey. To everyone from my office, lab groups, and wider school who I have shared this PhD experience with, thank you for all your support and friendship. To my family and my partner's family, I feel so blessed to have such caring, and supportive family that I can always rely on. To my partner, Marko Dukic, thank you for encouraging me through demanding times, putting things into perspective, and even helping with some data collection. I think we are both uplifted to reach the end of this chapter in life and I look forward to the next adventure with you. Finally, I would like to give my utmost gratitude toward the members of the School of Hard Knocks and Musica. To the School of Hard Knocks coordinators and program facilitators, Jonathan Welch, Susan Gilmartin, Melissa Gill, David Stavanger, and Richard Thayil, thank you for your assistance and support in these studies. It has been an incredible experience to see the amazing work that you do. However, this research would not have been possible without the contribution of the members of the School of Hard Knocks who have so obligingly provided testimonies to their experiences. Thank you for welcoming us into your group. It has been an honour and pleasure to meet you, see your passion, and sing alongside you in the choir.