Therapy Culture

I’m interested in therapy as a culture and I make and support experimental projects that explore and expand what therapy can be. This overlaps with my live art practice.

Projects

#WhatDoesTherapyLookLike (2021)

I’m curious about what therapy imagery shows and obscures, and how that relates to my own practice. I did some writing and drawing to understand how people think of therapy through the ways in which it is depicted. Check it out.

DIY Therapy (2021)

DIY Therapy is an original eZine about an alternative way of doing therapy. It builds on radical therapeutic practice and critical perspectives of the mental health system. Buy now!

Lesbians are Dying Out (2018)

I supported Kay Hyatt’s DIY comic project denouncing lesbian transphobia by providing a space to talk through and understand some of the issues.

Meditation Tapes (2018)

I was commissioned by Jamila-Johnson Small, who was working with Vooruit arts centre in Ghent, on an installation for a programme called The May Events. I provided a meditation text and recording exploring some of the themes of the May 1968 uprisings in Europe.

The Worst of Scottee (2013)

This was a show about understanding past trauma. I conducted therapeutic interviews with participants.

Cooper, C. (2013) ‘Theatre, Trauma and Transgression’, [online], available: http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/theatre-trauma-and-transgression

Hamburger Queen (2013)

I acted as in-house therapist for performers in this immersive theatre series about fat. This involved filming a couple of therapy sessions with Scottee and Amy Lamé where they brought the question: Why am I fat?

Why Are You Fat? #1
Why Are You Fat? #2
Why Are You Fat? #3
Why Are You Fat? #4

Ladies Rock (2007)

I supported a DIY music event at the Lambeth Women’s Project in Brixton. The idea was to create a confidential space where participants could feel supported, reflect on their work and the weekend. I wrote an account of this experience in 2012.

I was the Ladies Rock Therapist

Articles

Sometimes I write about therapy and being a therapist, sometimes people mention my work.

Cooper, C. (2015) ‘Poor Lass #6: Health’, [online], available: https://poorlasszine.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/poorlass-6-1.pdf (.pdf, 6.3mb)

Richardson Andrews, C. (2017) ‘App vs Therapist: How the digital age is transforming therapy’, The Future of Mental Health [online], available: https://web.archive.org/web/20200919212507/http://factor-tech.com/feature/app-vs-therapist-how-the-digital-age-is-transforming-therapy/ you can view an archived version of this article via the Wayback Machine.

Roderick, L. (2015) ‘Why we need to change the way we talk about sex work’, Dazed [online], available: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/28345/1/why-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-talk-about-sex-work

Various (2014) ‘Class struggle and mental health: Live to fight another day’, [online], available: https://libcom.org/library/class-struggle-mental-health-live-fight-another-day