Museum Objects, Health and Healing

The Role of Museum Exhibitions in Health and Healing sheds light on the primacy of the human need for relationships with objects, defines the fundamental healthful and healing impact of human-object dynamics, and explores what kind of implications these relationships might have on the exhibition experience.

Brenda Cowan is Associate Professor in the Exhibition and Experience Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York in the USA. Ross Laird is an independent author, scholar, and clinical consultant in Vancouver, British Columbia. Jason McKeown is a Marriage and Family Therapist, Parenting Educator, Clinical Program Consultant, and an Adjunct Instructor at Lenior-Rhyne University, Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville, North Carolina.

Introduction Part I Our Primal Dialogue with Objects 1. Ordinary Portents 2. Object Scholars and the Literature 3. The Power of Objects Part II The Theory of Psychotherapeutic Object Dynamics 4. Origin of the Theory: Brenda Cowan 5. The Theory and Framework Part III Therapeutic Object Practices in Clinical and Educational Settings 6. The Wilderness Within: Jason McKeown 7. Creativity and the True Teacher: Ross Laird Part IV Health and Healing in the Museum Setting 8. Seeing Through a New Lens: the Empirical Research 9. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum 10. The War Childhood Museum 11. The Derby Museum and Art Gallery 12. The Museum @ FIT Part V Implications for Museums 13. The Museum-Wellness Connection 14. Working with Trauma, Grief, and Related Challenges