As a psychotherapist who grew up during Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’, I am conscious of how violence casts a long and enduring shadow over communities. My project ‘Beyond the Blade’ will explore the layered causes of knife crime in the UK. At its heart is a search for collective healing through powerful culturally rooted practices: testimonial theatre, grief rituals and community-based trauma recovery, especially where classic approaches to knife violence appear limited or have failed to have significant lasting impact.

Drawing knowledge from countries where ritual and theatre performance have been most effective and, importantly, central to post-violence healing, I am seeking to learn from these creative approaches to addressing violence and its lasting trauma. This international research will inform three innovative social justice theatre performances that honour the grief and address the fear caused by knife crime, aiming to foster community reconciliation and activism and to catalyse change. By centring lived experiences and collective mourning, beyond the blade seeks to create new hopeful narratives, restore community cohesion and imagine new pathways beyond violence.