Professional Reflection: Art, Expression, and Connection

Reflecting on a Creative Journaling Group for People Living with HIV.

Creativity creates openings for connection, for humour, and for being seen.

In 2019, I had the opportunity to facilitate a creative and expressive journaling group at the WA AIDS Council (WAAC) for people living with HIV. It was a structured but informal program that combined guided art-making with conversation, peer connection, and moments of shared humour. While the focus was expressive journaling, the real work happened in the spaces between the pages, in the laughter, the storytelling, and the ease that comes from being with others who understand something of your experience.

The group brought together participants with diverse backgrounds and life histories, but with a shared context of managing a chronic health condition. For many, this was the first time they’d engaged in an art process in years or ever. The aim wasn’t technical skill, but self-expression, exploration, and the chance to engage with creativity in a supportive and non-judgmental setting.

Over several weeks, we used a range of low-barrier art materials collage, ink, paint markers, and mixed media within structured prompts and open-ended themes. Some participants chose to work visually, others incorporated text, humour, or memory. While the journals became deeply personal artefacts, the group itself functioned as a shared holding space: a place for reflection, affirmation, and lightness.

There is growing evidence to support the role of creative practices in managing chronic illness. Art-making can reduce distress, support emotion regulation, and offer a sense of agency and identity beyond the illness itself. For people living with HIV, the benefits of creative peer groups also include reduced stigma, increased social connection, and opportunities for meaning-making.

This group affirmed what I’ve seen across many settings: that creative processes don’t need to be ‘therapeutic’ in a formal sense to have therapeutic value. Sitting alongside others, sharing stories, laughing mid-way through a collage that’s taken an unexpected turn these moments contribute to wellbeing in ways that are real but often hard to quantify.

Above all, the program reminded me of the importance of joy in health-based settings. Creativity creates openings, for connection, for humour, and for being seen in ways that aren’t always available through traditional support models.

With thanks to the WA AIDS Council for hosting this program.