18-Dec-2013
Mackay Base Hospital patients recently benefited from a four week art therapy project, exploring a concept still growing in Australian hospitals. The Art Therapy – Smart Therapy project was offered in the Mental Health Unit’s Acute Patient Ward, and funded under a Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) grant from Mackay Regional Council.
Local Artist and Art Therapist, Adrian Harris said, “One-hour sessions were run every Thursday afternoon for four weeks. Inpatients were invited to illustrate their own picture of health and reflect upon their lives through drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and collage.” Some of the resulting art pieces symbolised patients’ management of their own mental health disorders.
The project proved accessible to both male and female patients of all ages. Adrian received positive feedback from participants, including statements of the project being relaxing, bringing people together and providing them with a sense of achievement.
“An unexpected result was participants asking for more ideas on how to manage their health through art making once discharged from the Mental Health Unit,” Adrian said. “The project did achieve its aim, which was to build community cultural capacity through ongoing learning and therapeutic art making and reflection.”
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