The Power of Creativity in a Therapeutic Community

When Art meets Prison – What happens?

Last month, Jacqui and Vane spent three days inside Christchurch Women’s Prison in Ōtautahi. It was our final project in Christchurch Women's Prison, as our current funding ends in June 2025.

This time, we were invited to work within Te Waihora, a therapeutic community (TC), a unique space within the prison system. A TC is a way of living and healing together. Women support one another, hold each other accountable, and grow through shared experiences. The community encourages honest dialogue, deep listening, reflective practice, and mutual care, showing up for themselves and each other.

When we add creative practice into the mix, such as writing, painting, performing, or making, something profound happens. We unlock a deeper kind of healing.

Many women in prison carry heavy histories: trauma, addiction, domestic violence, poverty, and deep loss. These are stories that do not always come easily in plain words. But art gives us another language, a way in.

A blank page.

A lump of clay.

A role in a play.

These become tools for self-expression, connection, and self-discovery.

We have seen women, too anxious to speak, begin to unlock thoughts and feelings through creativity. We offer both collective and individual work, space to be witnessed, to witness others, and to remember their own voice.

This was our last project in Ōtautahi, but the echoes of these three days will stay with us. Art does not fix everything, but it opens doors, and sometimes, that is where healing begins.