Tuesday 4 October 2011

The Living Story

We are currently settling into the Living Story project at two separate dementia units in Leeds; The Mount and Asket Croft, with male and female patients respectively.  I went along to visit The Mount last Monday as this has been running for 4 weeks now and is led by artists Becky Cherriman and Milena Dragic.

The project was developed in light of the growing evidence to suggest that those suffering with mental health difficulties and dementia can benefit greatly from engaging with hands-on creative activities.  Research about the benefits of arts and creativity in the care and therapy of dementia sufferers can be found at the British Association of Art Therapists, The Alzheimers Assocation and Dementia Positive.  The research has shown that meaningful and stimulating activities can have a positive effect, improve self-esteem and confidence among patients.  Perhaps more profoundly however, studies have shown that aesthetic preferences stored in the long-term memory remain constant, when short-term memory fails, and since our aesthetic values are part of our core personality, at a deep level, engaging with dementia sufferers through art can be very successful.  There is also clear evidence to suggest that when our ordinary verbal skills fail, the visual arts, music and poetry can enable self-expression.

Due to the previous careers of many of the patients it was decided that a project which appealed to 'manual labour' would be a good start!  Bearing this in mind participants have been exploring lino printing together with creative writing over the last few weeks.  We have also brought along items from the Second World War which staff and patients have enjoyed trying on and sharing stories of themselves and family members.

I walked into the day room on Monday into an air of intense concentration.  Patients were sat listening intently as Becky read poetry and shared stories with the group.  I was struck by the feeling of calm which seemed to encapsulate the room as Becky read the poetry.  There were also a good few smiles from patients and staff too.  We shared poetry where Becky had worked together with participants to create the a piece of writing and learnt a little more about patients' lives as they shared their stories.

We then moved onto the lino printing room where Milena had set up a screen press.  A number of patients were given the opportunity to have a go at creating their own piece, rolling out the inks, layering up colours, creating patterns and handling the press to produce their own piece of work.  Again, there was a feeling of calm and many smiles too as the afternoon progressed.  We were focussed and chatting together.  What struck me was how patients seemed to become engrossed in the lino printing and became more engaging with others around them.

I left the Ward that day in awe over the power of creativity, how it had brought people out of themselves, created laughter and made us all feel we could do a little bit more than we thought we could.  It confirmed to me just how powerful artistic activity is within wellbeing and does have enormous positive benefits when we allow ourselves to become engrossed within it.  I was also pleased to hear that Jonathan, the Occupational Therapist lead on the project, has now decided to start a short story group from this work.  He has also asked for Becky's workshop plans so these can be built into future work.

At a later date, I'll ask Becky and Milena to drop down their thoughts and experiences from The Mount, together with Asket Croft - once this project begins in earnest towards the end of October.  Until then, I'll leave you with some of the lino prints we produced the other day, artistic talent all round, I think you'll agree! - Hayley