Ep 59 Kiran Bangerh (now Manley)

Kiz Bangerh (now Manley) is the founder of Hip Hop Heals. Here's
how she describes herself on her website:


"I lost my older sister, Promila, in a car accident in 2000.
After, I suffered a delayed traumatised grief reaction. I was an
English Literature graduate and keen writer but experienced a
creative block that lasted ten years. During this time, I trained
as a secondary English teacher, and enjoyed a fruitful career in
museum and gallery education.


When my father died in 2010, I was in recovery from a delayed
traumatised grief reaction and a breakdown. This is when I
discovered therapeutic writing. My writer’s block came undone. I
already had an MA in Literature and decided to do an MSc in
Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes to share what I’d
learnt about self-healing through creativity. I set up Hip Hop
HEALS, a mental health project that tackles mental health
inequalities in disadvantaged groups, particularly BAME groups,
young people and men.


We deliver poetry therapy-style workshops in schools, probation
centres, mental health units and homeless hostels. I am also now
Director of Story with Lapidus International and Communications
Director for its academic research journal, LIRIC, as well as
Lived Experience Champion for LENS Network (Lived Experience
Network).


Outside of work, I run Dubgasm: a social action fundraiser for
Brum's foodbank and homeless communities. I still love teaching
and tutor Looked After Children in my spare time. Recently, I was
selected for Lloyd's Bank's School for Social Entrepreneurs to
develop Hip Hop HEALS into a social enterprise business with a
grant of £1000. Through this, I’ve been developing mental health
resources using Hip Hop’s central tenet: ‘Knowledge of Self’. My
goal is to spread knowledge and research about the therapeutic
power of Hip Hop culture. My thesis on this topic applied
narrative and poetic inquiry to interpret MC interviews
(available on request: hiphophealsuk@gmail.com)"


Kiz spoke in detail about these experiences. This includes some
graphic description of her sister's car crash - so be aware of
this particularly towards the later part of the interview
(1:00:13-1:01:37). She talks about her PTSD and how her creative
process has helped her to integrate traumatic memories.


Resources:


Hip Hop Heals website home page:


https://www.hiphophealsuk.org/ 


Glowitheflow Podcast:


hiphophealsuk.org/podcast 


Trauma Research Foundation (includes videos on Hip Hop Therapy):


Trauma Research Foundation - YouTube


Feeling the Beat: TRF Tuesday Therapeutic Applications of Hip Hop
Workshop Series Week 1 - YouTube


References:


Afonu, D. (2015). Hip-Hop As Community Psychology?: A
Participatory Research Project with Adolescent
Co-Researchers (Doctoral dissertation, University of East
London).


Allen, T. N., & Randolph, A. (2020). Listening for the
Interior in Hip-hop and R&B Music. Sociology of Race and
Ethnicity, 6(1), 46-60.


Kirkland, K., & King, S. (2019). Rap and recovery: A music
therapy process-oriented intervention for adults with concurrent
disorders. www. approaches. gr ISSN 2459-3338, 70.


Levy, I. P. (2019). Hip-hop and spoken word therapy in urban
school counseling. Professional School
Counseling, 22(1b), 2156759X19834436.


Travis, R., Gann, E., Crooke, A. H., & Jenkins, S. M. (2019).
Hip Hop, empowerment, and therapeutic beat-making: Potential
solutions for summer learning loss, depression, and anxiety in
youth. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social
Environment, 29(6), 744-765.