The reconstruction of psychological and environmental envelopes in the drawings of street children in Haiti: A post-earthquake study

Objectives. The objective of this paper is to show how children and adolescents, living in the street in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, use the street as a space to rebuild their identity. Using drawings of children and adolescents encountered in the context of research on resilience and the creative process among child and adolescent victims of the earthquake (ANR-10-HAIT-002 RECREAHVI), we explored the difficulties, the trauma and the creative expression of these children in the aftermath of the earthquake. These young people found themselves in a particularly vulnerable situation, whether socially, psychologically, or in terms of their safety. Their environmental envelopes were uncertain, fluctuating or damaged, so that the psychic envelopes of these street children was also put to the test. This article concerns the analysis of the drawings of street children and adolescents. We focus on the characteristics of the graphic envelopes to understand how these young street-dwellers symbolize the damage to their environmental and psychic envelopes, and how they express their needs for reconstruction. Method. The study was conducted in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, one year after the earthquake. The methodological approach entailed a series of drawing workshops conducted with 45 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years encountered in three different institutions: a public education center and two shelters. In each establishment, the workshops were held three times a week over a period of three weeks. Participation in the workshops was voluntary and the children and adolescents were instructed to draw freely. Blank sheets and pencils were made available to them. The sessions of 1 h 30 were led by a student in psychology and a facilitator. A total of 680 drawings were collected from these workshops, highlighting various issues and themes. For this article, the analytical work on psychic and environmental envelopes concerned 270 drawings randomly selected in the three institutions. We conducted a classification according to three types of envelope (1) fixed containers/envelopes (houses or other buildings), (2) mobile containers/envelopes (means of transport) and (3) human containers (persons or groups of persons). Results. Analysis of the drawings across the different graphic envelopes showed fragile psychic envelopes and a pervasiveness of the trauma of the earthquake. The fragilities are also linked with past trauma in these young people. The analysis also showed that external environmental envelopes that were destroyed in the earthquake (house, school, church, club, etc.) were characterized by internal disorganization, discontinuity and insecurity. The drawings show attempts to express, and a psychic organization characterized by mobility, so as to survive, and to face up to the internal and external instability. Discussion. For these young street-dwellers, the street-environment, as it is assumed and experienced, is a representation of their psychic space and in particular the way they experience their bodies. Their situation was already fraught with trauma, well before the earthquake reactivated the trauma. Indeed, most street children have experienced other trauma or domestic abuse, and have often been either the victims or the instigators of urban violence. We observed that these young people are looking for stable support, despite their distrust of their environment. However, the group, and the symbolization of the house or home in drawings, appear as the predominant elements. We also note the importance of the secondary therapeutic effects of the drawing workshops, especially the cathartic benefits and the scope for elaboration of trauma in the group, with the support of drawing as a space for play and creativity. Conclusion. The vulnerabilities of these young people deploy in an interweaving of family traumas, earlier experiences of psychic and social precariousness, and the collective trauma caused by the earthquake in 2010. The study shows the need to design counseling and educational facilities to develop their potential and help them build stable relationships with their environment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.