ABSTRACT Self-expression is central to mental well-being and mental health therapy. Art therapy offers a wide range of expressive mechanisms, allowing individuals to process their emotions when traditional therapies prove unsuccessful. However, a lack of expertise or comfort with artistic expression, along with cost and waiting times, may hinder one's ability to receive needed mental health support. Creative machines can offer novel therapeutic approaches enabling the bereaved to engage in creative expression as and when needed. In this paper, we apply a co-creative songwriting system, ALYSIA, as a new form of therapy for those who had recently suffered the loss of a loved one. We evaluate the utility of this creative system in aiding bereaved individuals through user testing. The utility of collaborative creative systems for adaptation to bereavement is discussed and may have implications for other therapeutic applications.

Self-expression is essential to processing our thoughts and feelings and is central to successful mental health therapy. Art therapy provides a wider range of expressive mechanisms than offered through traditional approaches, allowing individuals to process their emotions when traditional therapies prove unsuccessful. Yet, effective expression through art therapy may call on a level of artistic experience that is not available to all. As such, a lack of expertise or comfort with artistic expression may hinder one’s ability to receive needed mental health support. Creative machines can offer novel therapeutic approaches by offloading the need for creative expertise and opening up creative self-expression to those who lack the corresponding experience. In this paper, we focus on bereavement, and explore a co-creative songwriting system, ALYSIA, as a new form of therapy for those who had recently suffered the loss of a loved one. We evaluate the utility of this creative system in aiding bereaved individuals through several case studies. In addition, we discuss the utility of co-creative systems to the therapeutic context with potential application to a broad range of therapies.

The question of why and for whom we build creative systems is becoming increasingly relevant. We argue that one potential application area is in therapeutic fields. We investigate the reminiscence practices of 13 bereaved participants; exploring possessions used to support reminiscence; interactions with them, and participants’ receptiveness to computational creativity (CC) being used to support them. We use our findings to identify 10 provisional design recommendations for CC in a bereavement context.