Envisaging intergenerational spaces for co-creating creative writing: developing reflective functioning for positive mental health

In this paper, we take an ecological view of children’s development to argue that preventive interventions should move beyond separating the microsystems of school and home to create new intergenerational spaces for nurturing mental wellbeing. Using the 5A’s theory of creativity, we draw upon our experiences of creative writing to explore how intergenerational spaces that facilitate co-creating creative writing between parents and carers and their children as actors develops reflective functioning, secures attachment and promote positive mental health. This original idea is explored further with experts from diverse landscapes of practice through a World Café and focus group discussion. Thematic analysis of these discussions conceptualises intergenerational spaces as complex, contradictory and dynamic: addressing potential barriers to actor participation caused by the microsystems of school and home; creating emotional and physical security; being underpinned by pedagogical freedom and structure; involving the writing of different artefacts for competing audiences. For those, including schools, looking beyond performativity and neoliberalism to promote positive mental health in more holistic ways, this paper offers a useful starting point for thinking about what intergenerational spaces that facilitate co-creating creative writing might look like.