What makes you a super hero?

Hello all! (Just so you all know, I had this whole post written and accidentally deleted it ugh!...so I apologize for any lack of quality in this second version)

So I switched my days to Wednesday and Thursday this week. I'm going to try to cover two days in one post. The journey down to Tucson was, again, very boring. But the work I got to do at Bridges made it all worth it.

Wednesday was a rather slow day. I arrived at Bridges at 9am to find that five patients had been discharged the night before and there were only four left on the unit. Needless to say, it was a rather quiet day at Bridges.

But despite the apparent lack of energy, Ms. Endreson greeted me and asked me to accompany her to a meeting with the nurses, occupational therapist, supervisor, and head nurse practitioner on the unit. For future reference, they call these meetings "staffing." I listened closely as Betty, the nurse practitioner, meticulously reviewed the needs of the current four patients.

One of the things I really liked hearing in staffing was Betty's suggestion to use cognitive tests to measure patient progress. It was something I was looking into before, in an attempt to collect some sort of quantitative data, so I was excited when Betty coincidentally mentioned some of the same tests that I had found. This one, the MoCA, is one I think is most promising:

No...MoCA does not have anything to do with mocha coffee, unfortunately. Or the Museum of Contemporary Art, for that matter. 

I learned that there are actually several versions of the MoCA, so I hope to be able to use them as a sort of pre-test and post-test for art therapy sessions, either group or individual. Who knows, I might not see any notable results. But I figured it's worth a shot!

After staffing, I took a few hours to sit in Ms. Endreson's office and work on the super secret game (shh it's still not quite done). We then grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to Bridges to end the day with a group session and, finally, an art session.

Only three patients joined us for the group session at the North end of the unit. Inspired by NPR StoryCorps  , we focused on memories and conversation during group. We went around our small circle and asked each other questions:

"Who has been the most kind to you in your life?"

"What are some funny stories your friends/family tell about you?"

"Do you have any regrets?"

The informal interviews were a great lead into our art therapy project later that day. We chose collage, a material that requires much less effort and is much less intimidating, since we noted the slow feeling about the unit. The "rules" were to create a three part piece, depicting your past, present, and future. One patient followed the project guidelines, but the other two were much less involved. One simply collected small cut-outs of cats, while another flipped through car magazines. So, I figured I would share my collage, just to get some color up in here: 

I threw this together rather quickly. It's certainly not my best work. 

Thursday was much livelier and more productive. Five new patients were admitted, leaving us with a total of nine patients on the unit. I got to sit in on three group sessions: an early morning group with Ms. Endreson, Cassie's Reminiscence group, and the art therapy group. 

The morning group was quite similar to Wednesday's group, but served as more of an icebreaker for the new patients. Six patients sat around a circle with Ms. Endreson and I and we all paired up. We conducted mini interviews and asked each other three questions: Who are you? Where are you from? What would help you? After the interviews, each pair introduced each other to the group. It was a lovely start to the day. 

Cassie's  reminiscence group was the most popular event of the day. The discussion was based on ideas of strength. Cassie, Randy (the unit supervisor), and I joined eight other patients in the day room. One patient, who had been very reluctant to join any groups previously, even took a seat with us. I was really pleased with the turn out. We began by naming our favorite super heroes, from our childhood or just in general. As we went around the circle, patients named characters like Superman, Mighty Mouse, The Lone Ranger, and even Napoleon. Cassie quickly transitioned to asking the patients "What makes you a super hero?" 

The patients, forced to consider their strengths, listed traits such as patience, persistence, and organization. We ended on a positive note and headed into art therapy with ideas of strength on our minds. During a short break between groups, I hurried into the art room with Ms. Endreson, to peruse bunches of magazines and cut our images of "strength." Eventually, the activity table was covered with images of men working out, ballerinas, hawks, soldiers, rock climbers, and just about anything you could think of. We hoped the images would help kickstart any reluctant newbies. Often times, a visual stimulus is all a patient needs to get started. 

Six patients joined us to create collages of their perceptions of strength. However, like always, the "rules" were broken. After a while, the collage images on the table were joined by colored pencils, markers, and stencils. We decided to give the patents freedom to create whatever they liked. And they did. One patient created a strikingly evocative portrait, while another created a campaign poster of some sort. 

We started out the session with classical music playing in the background, but about half way through, a patient got up to change the radio to "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, which (if you haven't heard) sounds like this:

How's that for an art therapy vibe? It was a great way to end the day. The entire session took on a very cozy, homey feeling towards the end. The patients got quite invested in their work and I could tell they got something out of it.

Anyway. I had a wonderful time in Tuscon this past week. Next week is spring break for me, so I will be working on that secret game and reading a bunch of art therapy articles. Get excited!

Until next time,
Tia