Art Therapy And Creative Aging

Art Therapy and Creative Aging offers an integrated perspective on engaging with older people through the arts. Drawing from the author’s clinical, research and teaching experiences, the book explores how arts engagement can intertwine with and support healthy aging. This book combines analysis of current development theory, existing research on creative programs with elders, and case examples of therapeutic experience to critically examine ageism and demonstrate how art therapy and creative aging approaches can harness our knowledge of the cognitive and emotional development of older adults. Chapters cover consideration of generational, cultural, and historical factors; the creative, cognitive and emotional developmental components of aging; arts and art therapy techniques and methods with older adults with differing needs; and examples of best practices. Creative arts therapists, creative aging professionals, and students who seek foundational concepts and ideas for arts practice with older people will find this book instrumental in developing effective ways of using the arts to promote health and well-being and inspire engagement with this often-underserved population.

This book constitutes an important step in demonstrating that art therapy is a unique offering for persons aged sixty-five years and older, giving the potential for enrichment and healing in those lives. Describing the various ways in which art therapy can be used in the treatment of mental and emotional problems of older adults, the editor encourages the reader to use the suggestions and concepts within or tailor them to suit one's own specific working environment or population. Divided into three sections, this book proposes creative art therapies interventions, directives, and ideas along with model programs and examples of work in different settings. Section I discusses art therapy interventions and ideas for treatment, including working with ceramics, sandtray, memory books, and directives. Section II deals with working with specific populations of older adults, caregivers of older adults, and older adults in long-term care and residential settings. In addition, working with older adults with Alzheimer�s disease is addressed in this section. Section III focuses on working with individual older adult clients, home-based art therapy, grandmothers raising troubled teenagers, hospice patients, and mentally ill geriatrics. Readers will find this book to be a sourcebook of information. It will have great appeal to human service practitioners, health and mental health practitioners, and educators in social work, psychology, nursing, and counseling.

This text explores how art education can meaningfully address the needs of older adults as learners, makers, and teachers of art in formal and informal settings. It combines perspectives of museum educators, teacher preparation professors, art therapists, teaching artists, and older artists on what is meant by Creative Aging and the ways art education can support the health and well-being of this population. Most importantly, the book discusses what the field of art education can gain from older adult learners and creators. Chapters are organized into five sections: Creatively Aging, Meeting Older Adults’ Unique Needs, Intergenerational Art Education, Engaging Older Adults With Artworks and Objects, and In Our Own Voices: Older Adults as Learners, Makers, and Teachers. Within each section, contributors investigate themes critical to art education within aging populations such as memory loss, disability, coping with life transitions, lifelong learning, intergenerational relationships, and personal narrative. The final section focuses on accounts from older adult artists/educators, offering insights and proposing new directions for growing older creatively. Though ideal for art education faculty and students in graduate and undergraduate settings, as well as art education scholars and those teaching in multigenerational programs within community settings, this book is an expansive resource for any artist, student, or scholar interested in the links among health, well-being, and arts participation for older adults.

"Don't let therapists and counselors keep this unique book to themselves! Every man and woman who feels 'the first cool winds of evening' can take heart from this visionary yet down-to-earth exploration of creative potential in the later years of life. This is a book that can change lives." --Robert Kastenbaum, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, The Encyclopedia of Adult Development

Actively engage older adults and help preserve their cognitive functioning using this innovative, integrative approach to therapeutic art and recreation. Use Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP(TM)) to create an enriching environment that effectively meets older adults' cognitive, emotional, physical, and social needs. In a clearly outlined nine-step process, Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming involves exploring a broad theme through a range of artistic expressions, including music, dance, poetry, sculpture, and photography. Stimulating all areas of brain functioning, the TTAP method promotes older adults' creativity and encourages them to exercise their remaining strengths and abilities. The approach also increases social interaction with its focus on dynamic group interaction. While providing structure to creative art therapies, the TTAP method also allows for flexibility and individualization, allowing individuals within a group to have unique person-centered experiences. Appropriate for working with both well elders and those facing illness or disability, this integrative approach is solidly grounded in brain health research, biopsychology, and humanistic aging theories. Full of suggestions for themes and activities, Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming will serve as a valuable manual for recreation therapists and activity professionals. Additionally, the book's discussion of current brain research, aging theories, and the benefits of creative art therapy make it a useful resource for instructors and students in the aging field. TTAP(TM) is a trademark of the author.

This book outlines a framework for art therapy with older adults rooted in a belief in the autonomy and self-efficacy of older adults, including those with dementia or other diseases of later life. Advocating for a more collaborative approach to art-making, the author presents approaches and directives designed to facilitate community engagement, stimulate intellectual and emotional exploration, and promote a sense of individual and collective empowerment. Relevant to community, assisted living, skilled nursing and dementia-care environments, it includes detailed case studies and ideas for using art therapy to tackle stigma around stroke symptoms and dementia, encourage increased interactions between older adults in care homes, promote resilience, and much more.

This engaging and practical book shows how older people who are disoriented or depressed or socially excluded by the process of ageing can experience a renewed sense of connectedness and life-affirmation through the expressive arts and arts therapies.The contributors combine a thought-provoking analysis of theoretical considerations around the themes of aging, society and dementia with practical applications in a diverse range of creative arts including drama, music, art, dance and creative writing. They also include descriptions of innovative inter-generational and cross-cultural projects.Professionals working with older people in a range of settings including residential homes, community centres and psychiatric care will find this book to be an indispensable guide to their practice.Review of the first edition;This book is comprehensive and program-oriented and will be of immeasurable help to professionals in the field of ageing. It is a lucid guide of successful and creative artistic programs which points the way to new dimensions in the field.'- Jacqueline T. Sunderland, former president of the National Center on Arts and Ageing

This volume explores the strengths and opportunities of old age as these are manifested by the accomplishments of aging artists, late artistic works, and elderly arts audiences. It critically examines the psychology of creativity, cognitive development, and gerontology, and will be of interest to a wide range of professionals and students in these fields.