Art Therapy Trial Session

Bromley Memory Service recently received funding for a new art therapist role. I had the opportunity to join an art therapy taster session and offer feedback as a service user. I found the session very interesting, particularly the part around the history of art therapy in Bexley Hospital, as I used to work as a psychiatrist. I really enjoyed the session and found the therapist to be very good and supportive. When given a prompt to draw my “calm and quiet place”, I drew my mosque, which enabled me to feel relaxed. I found the session very engaging and would encourage my DASH group peers to have a go as I think it’s a great way to keep your mind active when living with dementia.

What I learnt from the session is:

1. You do not have to be good at art
2. It's not what the work looks like that matters, it's what it represents
3. You can use symbolism to take a step out of the actual mental/physical experience in order to make sense of it
4. There is no wrong or right way to do art therapy
5. The therapy accesses non-verbal parts of your brain
6. The therapy can increase self-awareness and communication skills
7. It helps to find new ways of seeing and interpreting situations
8. A picture can say 1000 words