A meeting with ‘I-Thou’: Exploring the intersection between mental health recovery and art making through a co-operative inquiry

Abstract

Recovery as a social justice framework addresses how people who experience mental illness can increase being active agents to assist in improving their quality of life. Similarly, co-operative inquiry challenges the power imbalances that exist among marginalized and vulnerable groups by seeking to create relevant platforms for equality. The intention of this current study was to explore the relationship between art making and the mental health recovery process. This article describes a multi-faceted approach to action research by using the concept of the bricoleur to piece together co-operative inquiry and art-based research with the mental health recovery values. In particular, a relational layer of knowing was brought forward through the making of art-based intersubjective responses of the data collected. By integrating the knowledge gained from this first-second-person relational knowing with the findings from participant interviews, the overall the trustworthiness of the study was enhanced. For this type of co-operative inquiry, trustworthiness was determined by whether engagement in the study led to the development of relationships built on mutual respect and how a shared understanding enabled further validation of the participants' experiences.