The Digital Bytes Project: Digital Storytelling as a Tool for Challenging Stigma and Making Connections in a Forensic Mental Health Setting

This article reports on the findings of a study that explores the utility of digital storytelling as a narrative practice and learning tool for social work in an Australian secure forensic mental health hospital. The short digital stories, or Digital Bytes Project, centered on capturing the lived experience, hopes and perspectives of the hospital's service users by giving voice to their experiences through digital technology. The project was collaboratively designed and co-delivered with social work students, hospital staff, and service users. It aimed to not only destigmatize people with lived experiences of mental distress and criminal justice system involvement but also to give staff and students further insights into understanding who they are working with. Through a series of 11 semi-structured, one on one interviews, this research aims to explore social work student and forensic mental health staff experiences and perceptions in relation to the utility and impact of these digital bytes, reflecting on how the prototype bytes may have impacted their learnings, or practice, including how they then interact with service users. This research investigates how these digital bytes could be used further within forensic mental health organisations and contexts. The research findings demonstrate the overall value of digital bytes in challenging different kinds of stigma, shifting power dynamics and staff perspectives; strengthening rapport and understanding through enhancing engagement and sharing power between students, staff, and consumers; as well as providing insight into the utility of digital bytes for learning and making connections between theory and practice. The preliminary findings from this research suggest the need for greater accessibility, integration, and consideration of these digital tools, with their potential to be translated across multiple human service sectors.