Background
Harry lived alone in a warden controlled flat. His main carer was
his daughter who visited once or twice a week. He had a life long
interest in art and used to do a lot of painting and drawing. He
used to attend art classes but at the time of his referral to STAA
Harry had stopped attending as he found it difficult to remember
the times of classes. He had started to experience memory problems
and had received a diagnosis of dementia. Harry’s daughter
was keen for him to take up his creative work again as he expressed
a wish to do so. Harry was referred to STAA by his Community Psychiatric
Nurse.
Aims for the sessions were to encourage opportunities for self
expression and communication and for Harry to develop his personal
interests and hobbies.
What happened in the sessions?
Harry and June went out to buy art materials and a disposable camera,
Harry enjoyed the outing and was able to direct June to some short
cuts home in the car.
Sessions developed around Harry taking photos of scenery and making
watercolours and drawings from his photos. Their session time was
often taken up by Harry sorting out his art materials and preparing
to start the session, though he often continued working on the activity
after June left.
On one occasion Harry ‘lost’ his new art materials
and he denied he ever had them, they were found the following week.
Another time He called Sharon the co-ordinator 5 times in quick
succession to check the time and date that June would be visiting;
he forgot the date before he wrote it on his calendar. On 3 occasions
Harry was not at home to meet his appointment with June.
Harry’s memory problems meant that the timing and running
of the sessions was problematic to arrange but it did indicate how
he coped with his problems.
The sessions revealed Harry’s memory problems were more advanced
than first surmised. This information was fed back to his daughter
and his CPN.
Other observations from artist:
Sometimes Harry recognised that he knew June but was not sure about
what context she was visiting him; he sometimes asked her “How
is the factory?” Harry talked about the work he made eloquently
and about his love of art and his past artistic experiences.
At the end of the sessions:
Harry talked positively about the sessions. They did have a positive
impact on him as he associated the contact with pleasure. June believed
that if Harry was helped to set up his art materials he could work
independently. 10 sessions were completed (including extra appointments
when Harry missed his sessions with June). The extent to Harry’s
memory problems was accepted by his CPN and Social worker and he
began receiving more intervention. Harry began attending a day centre
3 days a week. Attending the day centre was hoped to provide Harry
with more of a social network with some opportunities for him to
follow his artistic interests although not as intensively as with
one to one contact that was provided by STAA. back to top
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