Mental Health and Wellbeing When Researching Trauma and Grief: Literature and Life Narratives

Background:

Life writing about trauma and grief is a significant area of study. However, researching such areas takes a mental toll on researchers who must monitor and support their own wellbeing and mental health while investigating topics that can be triggering, depressing, and weigh heavily on their minds (Drozdzewski and Dominey-Howes, “Research and Trauma”; Drozdzewski and Dominey-Howes, “Researcher Trauma”; Gleeson; Smith; Edelman; San Roman Pineda et al.; Woods et al.). There is limited research from a literary studies perspective that acknowledges and theorises this facet of conducting research.

Our article on this topic, “Affective Ambush: An Autotheoretical Approach to Understanding Emotions as Useful to the Research Process” was recently published in Life Writing (a leading Q1 literature journal). In this work we identify and articulate a phenomenology we call “affective ambush”, the experience of encountering emotional or traumatic life narratives in otherwise (traditionally) academic reading. In this work we investigate our own affective responses as researchers illuminating how involuntary psychological triggering during the research process might not only be managed, but might be productively acknowledged and used as a constructive or generative part of research methods. We now aim to expand this into our work with literary texts as creative writers interested in practice-led methods, and as literary scholars.

We wish to build and extend on this foundation, and invite other researchers and practitioners into the process by:

• Publishing a special issue of Life Writing on the topic of researcher wellbeing
• Convening a symposium at JCU to support the production of a journal special issue
• Delivering a masterclass for HDRs and undergraduates that addresses the mental health and wellbeing aspects of working with trauma, grief, and other challenging research subjects in a narrative context

Our theoretical aims are thus:

• To build on an underdeveloped area of research that investigates the practical and theoretical implications of researcher positionality in relation to trauma narratives–both literary and scholarly.
• Developing a methodology for working with narratives that can impact on researcher mental health and wellbeing by reframing triggers as affective “trip wires” with implications for both producing and analysing literature.
• To interrogate the dichotomies of “body/intellect” and “emotion/reason” to open new avenues of relating to, understanding, and producing human-focused research which balance risk and safety.
• To facilitate collaborative research practices that reflect on the human element of life narrative-based research.

Methodology, connection to Roderick themes, and plan of work:

This proposal relates to the Roderick theme of Mental Health, and the subtheme of exploration of literary narratives that depict the impact of trauma on individuals or communities. Furthermore, it makes links between representation of trauma in texts and mental health of researchers working with such texts. It also addresses the mental health of students by considering supportive and intellectually productive ways of working with triggering material in the classroom in ways that develop resilience and affective literacies.

As a whole this activity seeks to build new and strengthen existing partnerships that work with and extend beyond JCU English faculty/Roderick Centre staff.

Symposium at JCU

We will deliver a 1-day interdisciplinary research symposium at JCU Townsville City Campus that brings Australian scholars together to develop papers for a special issue of Life Writing journal on “Affective Ambush and Life Narrative: Engaging with and Interrogating Emotional Responses During Research.”

The symposium will assemble up to 12 scholars to deliver papers on affective ambush from their unique disciplinary perspectives, incorporating collaborative feedback. There will be purpose-built time after each presentation for feedback and reflection in order to develop ideas and build a shared, cohesive approach for the special issue while in an in-person collaborative setting. This aims to create strong relationships between JCU and external researchers, expanding the reach of Roderick Centre networks. The conference dinner provides a social space to consolidate the professional networks between participants and continue the conversations that emerge during the day.

Special issue of Life Writing

Life Writing—a Q1 literary studies journal—have accepted our proposal for a special issue stemming from the above symposium. It is scheduled for delivery in May 2026 (see supporting documents for the special issue proposal and acceptance email). The Roderick Centre would be named in the acknowledgements section for this issue.

Masterclass at JCU Bebegu-Yumba

In our recent article we state that a subsequent pedagogical aim is to run workshops introducing students and staff to the concept of affective ambush, and specifically the idea of “trip wires” as complimentary to, but distinct from, existing concepts such as trigger warnings. We will develop and run a 3-hour workshop aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students at JCU. This will be run as an in-person masterclass with the option of online attendance via Zoom.

HDR and undergraduate students in English and Creative Writing would have first preference for enrolment, but students from related fields with interest in life narrative or which involve human-focused research such as Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, and Gender Studies may also be considered.

In the masterclass we will posit affective ambush as a phenomenon which students are likely to encounter in the course of their research lives and one which they might prepare for through mindful reading practices, support networks, and the acknowledgement of emotions as part of the process.

Researchers:

Dr Emma Maguire,James Cook University

Dr Marina Deller, Flinders University