Have you ever wondered what ‘Art Therapy’ at a children’s hospice could look like? Judy King, an Art Therapist who works part time at Bear Cottage in Manly, Australia has provided us with a step-by-step, illustrated account of the creation of a stunning ‘Tree of Resilience’ – a fine example of inclusivity and creativity in practice.
In the blog, Judy provides describes how the tree was created, incorporating hand prints, foot prints, art made by the wheels of wheelchairs and walkers and even the paw prints of Frankie, Bear Cottage’s resident pooch.
Judy has been an artist for many years and also works as a registered nurse intermittently, on a casual basis. She combined these two worlds by completing the Masters in Art Therapy at Western Sydney University in 2008 and has been working with a variety of different client groups since then. This includes adult palliative care and mental health, chronic pain, troubled adolescents within the school system and preschool children.
She says that working part time at Bear Cottage she is able to facilitate children and their families to express themselves within a safe space, making memories creatively together or individually as part of their understanding and processing of what has connected them to the hospice.
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