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Engaging in the Arts Leads to Quality of Life

The thought of “Engaging in the arts” while being a caregiver for a person with dementia, can sometimes stop people in their tracks. This video will put your mind at ease and help you to add this powerful strategy to your toolbox of caregiving super powers.

You’re Not Alone if You Shy Away from Using the Arts in Your Role as a Caregiver

The majority of caregivers I’ve had the pleasure of working with, did not consider themselves to be creative when we first started our work together, but they do now and they’re very proud of it! I’m going to show you how to add this very important strategy to your caregiver toolbox.

The 3 Plagues of Eldercare are:

• loneliness
• hopelessness, and
• boredom.

Engaging in the arts with your loved one, is very effective in reducing and eliminating all 3 of these plagues.  So please stay with me here.

When I casually mention to family or professional caregivers, that I...

People living with Dementia require a high level of support for their physical health needs.  But what about their mental, emotional and spiritual health needs?  In this video, you’ll learn some valuable tips to enhance quality of life for your loved one by taking a holistic approach to care.

Learning together, creating together and playing together are the 3 primary “areas of impact” that will support you in enhancing quality of life for your family member with dementa.  Let’s break each of these down a little, so you can get started with these Artful Connection strategies right away!

Learning Together:  Are people ever too old and frail to learn something new?  No way!  Not even when Dementia is a factor.  The secret to encouraging interest in something brand new to them, is to:

• engage their curiosity
• make the learning fun
• work together as an equal partner.
  

Stimulating the mind, goes a long way to decreasing boredom, a...

Are you feeling discouraged by decreasing engagement and connection with your loved one or client living in a Long Term Care Home?  If you would like to move from a frustrating, deteriorating relationship, to having creative and playful interactions, I would love to share with you, the magic and power of puppetry.

At Artful Connections, what we do best is teach others (that’s you) how to make and use puppets as a tool for:

• communication
• problem-solving
• conflict resolution
• storytelling
• educating
• building relationships
• advocating for social change
• enhancing creativity, and
• simply having fun and playing.

If you don’t have a puppet, don’t let that stop you.  You can click here for a download on how to make a super cute and creative sock puppet to get you started!

“Why puppets?”, you may be asking.  Here are just a few answers to that question.

• puppets create an atmosphere of playfulness
• puppets add a sense...

The Magic of Collaborations

Collaborations between creative people are such a magical thing!  There’s nothing like the synergy created between people who care about the same things but create something brand new together based on their unique experiences, talents and backgrounds.  I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of a wonderful collaboration with Anne Taylor, an amazing and talented storyteller, artist, knowledge holder and leader in her community of Curve Lake, Ontario.

Anne and I were brought together as the result of a grant from the Ontario Arts Council received by the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre in Peterborough, Ontario.  Over a 2 year period, Anne and I will perform and facilitate “The Legend of the Strawberry” workshop for a minimum of 4 different indigenous groups in Eastern Ontario. 

While Anne tells the Legend of the Strawberry, as learned by Anne from the elders and...