“Sawinery”: woodworking as PTSD/C-PTSD art therapy.

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Credit: Sawinery.net

Once in a while my readers reach out to me with questions, their own stories about abuse, or projects they are working on.  I can’t respond to all of these, but I do appreciate when my readers want to share things with me.    Occasionally, something stands out so much to me or is so innovative that I feel like it might be of help to other readers, so I asked the person who sent me the email about this if I could share it on my blog.

Sawinery is a blog about the woodworking world.

Woodworking? Why would I want to include an article about that?  It’s not a topic I’ve ever written about and isn’t the kind of thing I do write about.   But this is different, because the blog’s owner told me they have started to explore the power of woodworking as therapeutic healing art for trauma related conditions of PTSD and C-PTSD.    In the owner’s own words:

We recently interviewed 3 people: two men and one woman, who suffer from CPTSD/PTSD, one because of abuse in his childhood and one after retiring from the army — who are all doing woodworking as therapy.

They describe how it improved their creativy, that it helps to cope with confusion and anger as a result of trauma, that their confidence has improved and that they can now communicate more easily with other people.

You can read the full interview here:
https://www.sawinery.net/blog/woodworking-cptsd-ptsd-therapy-interview/

If you suffer from a trauma related disorder like PTSD or Complex PTSD, or know someone who does, you may want to take a look at the above link and share it.

6 thoughts on ““Sawinery”: woodworking as PTSD/C-PTSD art therapy.”

  1. I didn’t take up woodworking as a form of therapy, but this makes complete sense to me. Although I got into it sort of by accident (laid off from a job), it often became a kind of meditation, demanding mindfulness (power tools can bite, among other reasons).

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  3. This makes sense to me. It’s like when I do my computer graphic designs. The creative part of my brain takes over, and I feel relaxed and energized.

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    • All creative pursuits are very healing. For me, it’s writing and listening to music. I think all arts bring us closer to our Creator, and I find working on a creative writing piece, listening to music (sometimes singing too) and just being in nature are all forms of prayer that make me feel closer to both the earth and to God, and more connected with humanity and the planet in a way I can’t just going about my routine activities. Whoever said art and being in nature was a form of prayer was right.

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