Art & Horticultural Therapy. A Creative Collaboration.
Before the world turned upside down with the Pandemic, Jenny and I had celebrated a wonderful collaboration of over 10 years, designing and facilitating a creative community gathering for sensory engagement for older adults struggling with cognitive decline. We wove various types of stimulating experiences and activities within the weekly group format in our long-term care setting.
April & Jenny. AKA Jenny-Penny.
Similar therapeutic approaches, comparable program content and overlapping roles meant that Jenny and I were frequently mistaken for each other. On one of our shared days in the LTC home, a passing resident greeted us with “Hello Jenny Penny’ and we were immediately tickled by the name combination. We have been affectionately referring to each other by that name ever since!
Creative Collaboration.
As facilitators and psychosocial supports our aim was to engage and connect with older individuals in meaningful ways and to meet them where they were at (on that particular day), provide quality of life experiences and support empowering connections to self.
I share below photo collages that reflect the gentle gestures of connection to self and others that Jenny and I felt so honoured and privileged to witness and support.
The complimentary modalities of art and horticultural therapy provide individuals with a safe and supportive environment where connection and community are key (lessening their sense of isolation and desire to withdraw), and enable many individuals to become active participants (physical, cognitive and language barriers notwithstanding) through customized therapeutic planning based on interests, capabilities, body memories and reminiscence.
‘The Livingroom’.
On those occasions when the synchronicity and interplay of tender moments, individual expression and meaningful experiences melded together in “just the right ways’ the ‘living room’ came into being. Jenny and I had coined the term “living room’ in our post group reflections as a metaphor to acknowledge the enlivened atmosphere that developed within this small community setting. We were witness to a flow of energy and warmth, with richly-engaged interactions that buoyed residents’ sense of connection, comfort and support. For those brief moments in time the group members were transported from an institutional space into a transformed space - a ‘familiar, warm and cozy living room setting’.
Guided Experiences.
The guided experiences that fostered reminiscence, creativity and industriousness included various forms of tactile art making, planting, leaf pressing, flower arranging, singing, storytelling, solarium and art studio visits, garden walks, and watering and harvesting plants in the community gardens. Embodied activities like gardening for many group members were meaningful and engaging on so many levels. For others it was art, music or sharing stories. For most group members human connection and being part of a small caring community was the most meaningful piece - feeling seen, heard and included.
Engaging the Senses.
Alongside the materials we gathered each week for creative exploration and expression, Jenny and I often brought in supplementary materials from the solarium or art studio — plants like citronella & thyme that filled the room with sweet natural aromas, recent colourful blooms to engage visually around colour and form, tactile items to touch and pass around or artwork to view and respond to. These sensory and tactile additions to our program helped create the ‘living room’ atmosphere that I mentioned above, and could be enjoyed by group members, other residents who visited, and family and staff who dropped by.
Co-facilitation.
Co-facilitation allowed us to mindfully and purposely engage participants who might initially come in to the space in different ‘states of being’. We could provide additional emotional support, honour their lived experiences, and provide gentle encouragement, validation or redirection where needed. For those who were really struggling related to their declining health and cognition, we could devote further attention observing and discovering familiar tasks where body memories were uncovered, and capacities supported and nurtured.
This collaborative approach allowed us to have more residents participate throughout the hour and a half time period we were on the unit, and to provide the flexibility for various levels of participation (from shorter visits to longer stays). We were also able to accompany interested residents to and from the group whenever needed. Such gestures of flexibility and courtesy modelled interest and care, and each resident was genuinely acknowledged as a valued and special addition to our group.
As safety was paramount, co-facilitation also allowed us to engage participants in more involved creative projects knowing that additional support from each other was immediately available (as Jenny-Penny was across the table — a glance, nod or gesture away).
Inspiration & Gratitude.
Having access to beautiful community gardens and the plant and art solariums added to the possibilities of what experiences Jenny and I could offer. It was wonderful to have a LTC setting that provided permanent areas for these psychosocial programs, and supported our collaboration as specialized therapists (for this particular weekly therapeutic program).
The visibility and accessibility of these designated home areas also provided soothing and meaningful spaces for family and resident visits outside of any set therapy or recreation programming. The large windows (from both the art studio and plant solarium) opened out into the centre-wide community gardens, providing colourful seasonal vistas for viewing throughout the year. Families often chose to visit with their loved ones in either the art studio or plant room. Rotating art displays prompted discussion and reflection, and multiple plant stands packed with germinating seed pots, and small developing plants to observe new growth and transformation encouraged continued engagement around topics of interest, seasonal changes, gardening, reminiscing and life review.
Resident families frequently stopped by the art studio to share that the reason they had listed this particular LTC home at the top of their application for their aging loved ones was due, in part, to the art studio and plant solarium. After touring these home spaces, their rationale was that the obvious care and attention put into these beautiful communal resident rooms must reflect the overall care and quality of services provided by the LTC home. How nice it was to hear that! As Art Therapy and Horticultural Therapy are smaller services with limited hours in most settings, how wonderful it was to be part of something that reached more people within our LTC setting in so many different ways!!!
Autumn Floral Harvest from the Community Gardens and Nature Centrepieces created for the Town Hall for Everyone to Enjoy!
A Safe Outdoor Pandemic Visit/Autumn Walk in the Hammer in 2020.
It was an absolute joy to design and facilitate this weekly group with such an amazing human like Jenny, and incredibly rewarding as well to see the residents actively live and flourish in this later-life chapter through the specialty programming we provided.
