Abstract
This chapter discusses the role of expressive arts in addressing the mental health needs of refugee populations. There is growing recognition and evidence of how the arts - broadly defined to include visual arts and crafts, dance, music, creative writing, drama, theatre, film and cultural events - contribute to health benefits and promote holistic wellness more generally. More specifically, the arts can help us to emotionally navigate challenging events and the accompanying difficult emotions. The forced migration landscape is characterised by unmet mental and emotional needs of individuals and communities. There has been a call in the field of forced migration to rethink durable solutions to this crisis, premised on the lived experience of the people forcibly displaced. This call involves the need for a sustained co-creative engagement, and recognises the transformative value of the arts because they are part of everyday life, yet go beyond what is experienced, while speaking to it. The chapter presents a series of expressive arts activities tailored to support the mental wellbeing of people from refugee backgrounds, and important considerations in the employment of these activities. This discussion contributes to contemporary debates on the impact of the arts for health, and in particular, the role of the expressive arts in mental health support.