Creative Arts With Older People

Art Therapy and Creative Aging offers an integrated perspective on engaging with older people through the arts. Drawing from the author’s clinical, research and teaching experiences, the book explores how arts engagement can intertwine with and support healthy aging. This book combines analysis of current development theory, existing research on creative programs with elders, and case examples of therapeutic experience to critically examine ageism and demonstrate how art therapy and creative aging approaches can harness our knowledge of the cognitive and emotional development of older adults. Chapters cover consideration of generational, cultural, and historical factors; the creative, cognitive and emotional developmental components of aging; arts and art therapy techniques and methods with older adults with differing needs; and examples of best practices. Creative arts therapists, creative aging professionals, and students who seek foundational concepts and ideas for arts practice with older people will find this book instrumental in developing effective ways of using the arts to promote health and well-being and inspire engagement with this often-underserved population.

Art and the therapeutic uses of art provide older adults with valuable ways in which to express and share their feelings, needs and fears, and with a resource for coping with life's major changes. This practical book is filled with step-by-step exercises for art therapists and other professionals to use in work with older adults, either individually or in groups. The author provides brief, imaginative warm-ups, which encourage participants to become more at ease expressing themselves creatively. She offers ideas for engaging and innovative creative projects across a range of media, including art, music, movement, poetry and creative writing, all of which can be adapted, personalised or combined to meet the particular needs of individual participants. Points to consider when working with this client group are explored, and case study examples, with participants' artwork, are included throughout. Appropriate for use with all relatively able older adults, including those with depression, anxiety or in the early stages of dementia, this will be an invaluable tool for art therapists as well as counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and carers.

With this insightful and intelligent book, professionals can help institutionalized older adults express themselves creatively. One of only a few books on expressive arts for older people, this unique, new volume is ideal for professionals who provide art activities for residents in adult homes and retirement communities. Creative experience can facilitate the expression of ideas and feelings, increase sensory stimulation, improve self-esteem, and improve social relationships. Creative Arts With Older People provides time-tested suggestions to stimulate the creative process among older adults, resulting in numerous physical, psychological, and social benefits. The author, an artist and a social worker, describes dozens of activities that have proven effective in her many years of working with older people--painting, movement, poetry, sculpting, puppetry, dramatic expression, and more. She explains the goals and advantages of each activity, includes a list of materials needed, and details the step-by-step process for conducting each activity. Creative Arts With Older People is a practical and valuable book for activity directors in adult homes and adult health care units, and workers in adult day care centers, adult psychiatric facilities, and senior centers.

This book constitutes an important step in demonstrating that art therapy is a unique offering for persons aged sixty-five years and older, giving the potential for enrichment and healing in those lives. Describing the various ways in which art therapy can be used in the treatment of mental and emotional problems of older adults, the editor encourages the reader to use the suggestions and concepts within or tailor them to suit one's own specific working environment or population. Divided into three sections, this book proposes creative art therapies interventions, directives, and ideas along with model programs and examples of work in different settings. Section I discusses art therapy interventions and ideas for treatment, including working with ceramics, sandtray, memory books, and directives. Section II deals with working with specific populations of older adults, caregivers of older adults, and older adults in long-term care and residential settings. In addition, working with older adults with Alzheimer�s disease is addressed in this section. Section III focuses on working with individual older adult clients, home-based art therapy, grandmothers raising troubled teenagers, hospice patients, and mentally ill geriatrics. Readers will find this book to be a sourcebook of information. It will have great appeal to human service practitioners, health and mental health practitioners, and educators in social work, psychology, nursing, and counseling.

The physical care of people with dementia is of vital importance, but so too is their emotional, social, mental and spiritual wellbeing. The creative arts are gaining increasing recognition not only as a tool for delivering effective person-centred dementia care, but also for attending to soul as well as body. Encouraging those who care for people with dementia to develop their own creative skills, this book provides a creative map of care with easy-to-follow examples and detailed case studies. After explaining why adopting a creative approach is central to effective dementia care, the authors go on to discuss meditation, singing, movement and storytelling, describing the therapeutic benefits of each and giving practical examples of how they can be used with individuals or groups. They also look at the importance of creative supervision in promoting creativity and creating a safe space for honest interpersonal connection: an essential foundation for effective teamwork. This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone involved in the care of a person with dementia, including professional staff in residential and nursing homes, hospitals and day centres, families and other non-professional carers.

There is growing interest internationally in the contributions which the creative arts can make to wellbeing and health in both healthcare and community settings. A timely addition to the field, this book discusses the role the creative arts have in addressing some of the most pressing public health challenges faced today. Providing an evidence-base and recommendations for a wide audience, this is an essential resource for anyone involved with this increasingly important component of public health practice.

Begins with a valuable overview of the research challenge facing advocates of arts and health work and is followed by two qualitative evaluations of local arts and health initiatives in different parts of the UK. Together these papers show the kind of qualitative approach that has generally been adopted in evaluating community arts for health initiatives - and signal the need perhaps for larger scale, longer-term and more controlled studies. A review follows and focuses on dance therapy and Tai Chi for people affected by arthritis offers a possible goal for research in arts and health. The final article highlights the role of creative and arts-based activities in promoting more happiness in schools. Originally published as Health Education (2005, Vol.105, No.5)

Programs that use the arts to engage older people promote health, foster community, and give voice and legacy to participants. Creative practice in health care settings facilitates emotional, mental, and physical wellness for participants and staff, while improving the culture of care.Successful creative programs face challenges translating their benefits when evaluated inappropriately.This arts-informed inquiry uses creative writing to address multiple dimensions of knowing, integrating autoethnographical insights from work as a caregiver, artist, educator, and administrator of collaborative art. Serendipity and imagination in research were employed to explore how collaborating artists can facilitate creative engagement for elders, embodying preventative, community-based medicine to successfully address and transform myriad challenges and opportunities as the population continues to age.Yet there is resistance to arts-in-medicine as a legitimate tool of health care. The predominant biomedical paradigm privileges quantitative assessment methods over qualitative studies which may accept anecdotal, arts-informed, or "common sense" evidence.