Presentation Information
[SY-34-03]Contributions of the Jamaican Psychiatrist Dr Frederick Hickling to clinical creative arts innovation in teaching, therapeutics, resilience promotion and deinstitutionalization
*Jaswant Guzder (McGill University(Canada))
Keywords:
creative arts therapeutic innovations,resilience promotion,deinstitutionalization
The session will honour the legacy of Dr Frederick Hickling an emeritus professor at University of the West Indies who engaged with innovative application of creative arts in psychiatry inspired in his efforts to address the post slavery legacy of colonialism including deinstitutionalization of the Jamaican asylum, a psycho-historiography methodology and the Dream a World (a community school based resilience promotion project).Dr Hickling was mentored by the late chancellor of UWI Rex Nettleford who established the National Dance Theater in Jamaica and toured with him as his stage manager while a medical student. His legacy as clinician researcher, innovator, artist and writer reflected his life passion for developing community psychiatric services embedded in his knowledge of Afro-Caribbean post slavery trauma . His last book (Decolonization of Psychiatry in Jamaica: Madificent Irations). outlines the methodology of psycho-historiography with patient scripted and performed works at the Garden Theatre created on the asylum grounds of Bellevue Hospital.His integration of creative arts with trauma informed resilience and reparation approaches was an important contribution to global health addressing the complex agendas of cultural genocide, histories and creative arts responded to child ,youth and adults with severe mental health disorders and risk.