A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CREATIVE THERAPIST AT APPOINT US SERVICES

Hi I’m Emma. Before I leave home, I double check that I have all the materials I need for my two visits scheduled in my diary.  I usually like to listen to some loud upbeat music in the car to wake me up and get me in a positive mood.  A bit of queen usually does the trick!  In my head I am going over what I’m planning to do with the first client I visit in the morning at a residential home in Coventry.

My first visit

I text the office to say I have arrived (check-in) and greet my first client (lady with learning disabilities). As I walk into the communal lounge, she smiles when she sees me.  She often likes to see what I have in my bag and is excited to see an envelope full of photos that I had taken of some of our activities previously.  We work as a team to stick these into her own sketchbook/album and admire all of the other photos already in there.  She is very proud to see that the book is now full and I promise to buy a new one.  We then play a doodle game where I draw part of a line and she has to carry it on until we fill the page with abstract shapes/lines etc. After an hour, our session is over in time for her lunch and it’s time to ‘check out’.

Ideas following from this session……….

She liked this activity so I may plan to do this again but on a bigger scale and using different materials and possibly on a canvas.

 

Time for a bite to eat

Today I have a bit of time to kill so that the residents at my next destination can have their lunch so I grab something to eat myself and as it’s a nice day, take a stroll through memorial park in Coventry.

My second visit

I don’t have to travel far to get to my next group session and ‘check in’ at a nursing home in Allesley.  I have been visiting here for a couple of years now and love that both the staff and residents know me as a familiar fixture in their week.  There are four lounges and I make my way around each one, looking for willing participants to help me mix some salt dough.  This can be a challenge sometimes as residents are either asleep or need a lot of support and encouragement.   A lady who suffers from dementia and finds it hard to communicate, took the spoon and stirred the mixture until it formed the dough.  I then put the warm dough into her hand and she pushed it between her fingers.  When rolling out the dough, she knew exactly what to do with the rolling pin and we laughed that she’d definitely done this before!  I made an impression of her hand in the dough ready to bake and contribute towards a group project at the home I’ve put together on positive affirmations for the new year.  Before leaving I put some new photos on the special Appoint Us display board in the entrance hall to show all visitors what we get up to each week.  I also text the office to ‘check-out’ and try to find a space in my car for yet more creative bits and bobs.

Ideas following from this session…………

In the car on the way home I’m thinking of the different ways I can collate all of these hands together to make one big display in the main lounge of the home.  How can I hang them?  Remember to get permission from the Manager.

 

 

I arrive home with ideas still spinning in my head and take my dog for walk to unwind and