Art Therapy for Seniors – Why it Works
Ranfurly Hospital General Interest
Simply put, art therapy is a way of engaging with your community, your brain, and your body through creative and artistic expression. In practice, this looks like experimenting with different techniques and styles until you find the way you like to make art, and then having fun creating and sharing that art with other people.
Engaging in art therapy has a wide range of benefits, from emotional, to social, to physical. It can help to increase your involvement in the community, as well as giving you a fun way to spend time when you have a moment to yourself.
Mental and Emotional Benefits
Art therapy has some really great benefits, especially in the mental and emotional spaces. For one, art therapy gives you the opportunity to feel your feelings and express your emotions in a safe place, without needing to involve anyone else if you don’t want to.
It can also be a great way to create a sense of accomplishment, and elevate your general mood.
Even if you don’t have a lot of experience in art when you start out, creating something is always a fun pursuit. Creating art through sketching, painting, drawing with oil, pastels, or experimenting with alternative media can be a fun way of engaging your brain. When creating art, it has the ability to reduce anxiety and depression, even if you don’t see the true artist straight away.
Physical Benefits
Creating something through art also comes with a bevy of physical benefits. It can help to strengthen your hand-eye coordination by reminding your brain of where your hand is in space, and can help to maintain fine motor skills that help you out in the rest of your daily life.
Practising art also has some really great benefits for cognition, because as we create art we have to use a number of different areas of our brains. This means that we can get some activity going and the juices flowing to all those regions to help keep them active for longer.
This is where the therapeutic parts of art therapy really come into play, because using these sections of your brain is vital to maintaining their health.
Social Aspects
Creating art can be done by yourself, but it is much more fun with friends. You can share your art with your friends and family and even engage with people while creating the art. You can spend as much or as little time on the art piece as you want, and focus on creating and maintaining those social connections which are so special and necessary to a well-rounded life.
Alternatively, you can attend a group session for creating art at your retirement village! Here you can learn from others, especially if you have an expert leading the session who has lots of practice with one particular type of artistic media. This is a great way to engage in your community.
Whether or not you choose to engage in sharing your art to a high level, a community will come to you from creating art. It is just one of those activities that draws people in and gets them talking, so be prepared to make lots of new friends and connections!
Adaptability
Choosing to engage in art therapy is a really great way to keep healthy, happy, and fulfilled on a daily basis. Luckily, art can be done by anyone, any time. Finger painting or chalks can be an accessible way for you to begin to create your art.
Some people can enjoy creating art that doesn’t last, so you can experiment with creating art out of plain water on paper. Some people only use their hands to paint, while others swear by a paintbrush or scraping tool to get clean and sharp lines.
Whether you have decades of experience as an artist, or are just picking up the skill again since childhood, you can engage with and enjoy art therapy. It is fully adaptable to any individual preference, skill level, or special requirement.
Art Therapy at Ranfurly Hospital
At Ranfurly Hospital, art therapy can be found at our activity and crafts rooms with dedicated art therapy sessions. Alternatively, try sharing your art online, or going for visits with friends.
Conclusion
If you are looking to enrich your life, or the life of someone you love, get in touch with us at Ranfurly Hospital.
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