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The Creative Arts in Dementia Care

The Creative Arts in Dementia Care

Practical Person-Centred Approaches and Ideas

Jill Hayes
With Sarah Povey
Foreword by Shaun McNiff

Paperback: £18.99 / $29.95

2010, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 160pp
ISBN: 978-1-84905-056-2, BIC 2: JKSG MQT MQTC

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The physical care of people with dementia is of vital importance, but so too is their emotional, social, mental and spiritual wellbeing. The creative arts are gaining increasing recognition not only as a tool for delivering effective person-centred dementia care, but also for attending to soul as well as body.
 
Encouraging those who care for people with dementia to develop their own creative skills, this book provides a creative map of care with easy-to-follow examples and detailed case studies. After explaining why adopting a creative approach is central to effective dementia care, the authors go on to discuss meditation, singing, movement and storytelling, describing the therapeutic benefits of each and giving practical examples of how they can be used with individuals or groups. They also look at the importance of creative supervision in promoting creativity and creating a safe space for honest interpersonal connection: an essential foundation for effective teamwork.
 
This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone involved in the care of a person with dementia, including professional staff in residential and nursing homes, hospitals and day centres, families and other non-professional carers.

Blog posts

JKP authors abound at the 5th UK Dementia Congress

18 November 2010

Last week, JKP attended the 5th UK Dementia Congress in Bournemouth. As the largest dementia-focused annual event in the UK, the congress offered an exciting mix of plenary sessions, lively workshops and debate, as well as plenty of opportunities for networking. JKP authors were out in force, with Jackie Pool, Diana Kerr, Pam Schweitzer and[... read more]

‘Creative Care and the Capacity to Play’ – An excerpt from The Creative Arts in Dementia Care, by Jill Hayes with Sarah Povey

6 October 2010

"In working in dementia care we need often to let ourselves become foolish, unconventional, stop making sense. I have been thrilled to meet staff who at the drop of a hat will dress up, play the guitar, sing uproariously...or who have the capacity to sit quietly with someone without an agenda. It is this joy of the crazy and the still, this lightness of being, which is refreshing and life-promoting in the work that we do. We can play with balloons, blow bubbles, doodle, improvise. We don’t have to make a finished product. By creatively and somatically being with a person we can instil a sense of safety, of physical and emotional security."