Hats and Values

Hello again. I hope you had a lovely weekend! Mine started with great news on Saturday morning that Ms. Endreson was feeling much better and I had a whole day of art therapy ahead of me. 

We started the morning with a quick group session. There were a number of new patients, so we decided to have everyone get to know each other as much as they could. With a group of about 5 or 6 patients gathered around a few tables (some patients tend to join the group and leave within seconds...we don't take it personally though), we paired up again and conducted mini interviews. I had a lovely conversation with two older women. However, they both had severe dementia. One confessed that she loved to chat and proceeded to spill out stories that never connected in any way. My heart sank a little when she told me she had "the disease that makes you forget everything" but couldn't remember the name. When I reminded her of "Alzheimers" she seemed to snap back into a more conscious state and began to tear up, fully aware of her disease and ultimate condition. I think we both had a bit of a reality check in that short moment.

After group, I was a bit more familiar with the patients and Ms. Endreson and I decided that they all deserved a fun, crafty activity to get their weekend started: paper hats! I was inspired by my past weekend at the Scottsdale Arts Festival and eagerly told Ms. Endreson about the crafts we do there. I've volunteered at the festival for the past several years in the kid's section making paper hats. I was quite convinced the Bridges patients would enjoy a similar activity. Confused about the paper hats? Enjoy these entertaining pictures of me in the past and this year at the festival:

My brother seems so skeptical...But those hats though 

Shameless selfie? Yes.

Anywho, Ms. Endreson and I substituted newspaper for the brown paper you see in the pictures. Our art therapy session began with only a few patients but a couple more wandered in after a while. As always, we had a bunch of materials available so patients could do whatever they pleased if the project didn't interest them. A couple patients decided to wander in and paint/draw pictures, while the others created and decorated their hats. One patient painted sailboats all over his hat, while another added gold bedazzle to hers. Ms. Endreson and I got as involved as we could and helped the patients add color with acrylic paint. I shared a lovely moment with one of the patients as he painted the rim of his hat blue, all the while explaining to me how he used to paint engine parts and refurbish mechanics. As lunch time rolled around, our art table looked like this:

We made boat hats like the red one you see in this picture as well as big sun-hats

After lunch, we did not have any formal group or art sessions scheduled, but we figured we would give the patients an "open studio." We figured some might want to keep working on their hats and turned on the TV in the art room to the UofA basketball game. The TV ploy brought in a few patients who began to fiddle with the art supplies after a while. I was particularly excited about one patient with severe Schizophrenia who came in and drew picture after picture for a good 45 minutes. He usually can't sit still for more than a few minutes, so when he kept asking me for pieces of paper to draw guitars and what he described as "spaceships" I was happy to supply them. 

As the patients worked on their projects, I took a seat at the same table and put some finishing touches on the value game. Ms. Endreson and I were actually able to sit down with one of the patients that day and observe as she sorted the cards. I was absolutely thrilled with what I saw and took a bunch of notes on the mini case study. In fact, I was so excited that I decided that the entire experience deserves its own post. You can expect to see it sometime tomorrow. 

Until then! 

Tia