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An Interview with Dr. Angie Wigford on Silver Linings
An Interview with Dr. Angie Wigford
Our Covid-19 Silver Linings Creative Writing Panel of Judges. From left, Louise Short, Andrew Wigford and Dr. Angie Wigford
Dr. Angie Wigford is worked as an Educational What was the thinking behind the Educational Psychologist in South Wales, the FOBISIA Covid-19 Silver Psychologist at Dover UK for 7 years; she now Linings Creative Writing Court International School works exclusively with Competition? (DCIS) in Singapore. international schools. At the start of the global spread of the virus and then being in She is also the Lead Angie is passionate about quarantine myself in March I Educational Psychologist for promoting emotional started to become aware of International Educational literacy, wellbeing and the level of trauma that many Psychology Services. Angie inclusion in the international children and their parents/ trained as a teacher and schools sector. To this end carers were going through. I worked as a volunteer in rural Nigeria and Kenya. she conducts research, provides training, develops was writing a daily email to our staff in which I was trying to maintain/build resilience She then taught IB Science materials and gives talks at and keep things positive as in international schools conferences. Angie works much as possible. The email in Bogota, Colombia strategically with schools was well-received and I found and Vienna, Austria. An to develop their capacity it personally helpful to look enhanced understanding of individual needs caused to promote mental health throughout their community. for jokes and positive stories to put in it. The idea of the competition came to me as a Angie to re-train and she
way of encouraging children to process their experience with at least some positive framing as a way of building resilience.
We know you and your team spent the summer diligently reading through and commenting on every single entry, tell us about the process you went through and what were the highlights? We used a secure Google Docs link with all the stories in one place under category and school headings. Louise, Andy and I read every story and each other knew they had been read by putting our initials next to the title and writing a brief comment about what we had liked. The stories that really caught our attention because they were imaginative, original, had a silver lining and were well written, were highlighted. At the end of this process there were many highlighted stories and we got together for an afternoon to read them through and decide on the winners and the highly recommended. It was a lovely process and cheered us all up quite a lot at a difficult time. “ Children found out that their Mums could cook delicious food, their Dads now had time to play and teach them and they could actually get on with their siblings. This was very highly valued ”
What were the main themes that came through from the entries? Once the decisions had been made we discussed the key themes that we had identified throughout the process of reading the entries. Many students provided a description of their time in lockdown. They wanted to tell their personal story while looking for positive aspects. These stories tended to focus on relationships and being able to spend more time with their parents. Children found out that their Mums could cook delicious food, their Dads now had time to play and teach them and they could actually, after all, get on with their siblings. This was very highly valued. The reduced pressure on their time was also a revelation to many. Valuing the environment and politicians and health workers came across very strongly. For the older children, self-awareness and increased independence was a common theme with many putting down their phones and tablets and making space for other things. The panel were genuinely impressed by the imagery conveyed in some of the writing and there were many stories that took another perspective (that of the family pet for example) which demonstrated real empathy. This thematic analysis is ongoing.
In terms of student wellbeing, what would you say are the benefits of reflecting on Covid-19 through creative writing? COVID-19 has been a defining life event for many (even most) families. Narrative Therapy and Journaling are well known
psychological therapy techniques which help people process and make sense of what has happened to them through stories and writing. Positive psychology is also a well known approach where our natural focus on the negative is addressed in order to help us perceive life as more pleasant and manageable (reframing) than it otherwise might. I think that writing and telling our COVID-19 stories while looking for the positives will help students process what has happened and cope with it better.
Can you share other strategies that are good practice for both teachers and students from a wellbeing point of view? At DCIS we have had all staff and students take part in the COVID-19 Recovery Project. This was a structured approach to telling others about what we had been through. This was well received at school and helped children and teachers get to know each other at the start of a new and very different term. Having a structured, wellthought out Personal, Social and Emotional curriculum which is embedded is very important. This situation provides an excellent opportunity for schools to review and enhance their provision to ensure that students are being taught resilience skills (breathing techniques, how to listen, why it is important to talk about your worries, identifying your support team etc).
How will this competition aid your research, and can you check in with us once it is complete so we can share your findings with our membership? As with much research, my
investigation into student wellbeing started as one thing, morphed into another and is now being reviewed. My interest is in how students perceive their world and can best be supported to develop psychological resilience. The developmental aspect of this is far more significant than with adults and therefore I may focus on a specific age group. We know that young children can be explicitly be taught coping strategies and ways of thinking that have the potential to help them throughout their lives. This competition illustrated very clearly the growth in awareness that students develop from being family, home and school oriented to taking a more global perspective and becoming much more self-aware.
