Creative caring

Suffolk Artlink manages a series of projects aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable people in Suffolk. A number of these projects are aimed at older people and their carers. Suffolk County Council identified the need to improve the skills of care workers in delivering activities in 2003. The ‘Creative Carers’ programme evolved from research and pilot work carried out by Artlink in 2004. Creative Carers is a professional training programme devised by Suffolk Artlink and artists Caroline Wright and Helen Rousseau, for working with older people in residential and day care settings. The programme focuses on the benefits of process over product, and takes into account the limited time and resources carers have to work with, to ensure the training is as relevant as possible.
It focuses on training staff in order to enable them to deliver high quality, stimulating creative activities with the older people in their care. Staff from residential homes, day centres and, in the most recent programme, occupational therapy assistants, have all taken part in the programme, and Artlink has now worked with a total of 15 centres across Suffolk. In 2008, the programme focused on dementia in order to meet the growing demand for suitable activities. The relevant sections of this pilot will now be incorporated into the programme as a whole. The programme starts with a training day on creativity and planning, which is followed by three artist-led best practice workshops. The workshops are delivered in-house to ensure that the programme is tailored to the facilities of the centre. Two trainer-supported sessions are then carried out, with the carers planning and delivering an activity of their own design. Finally, all the carers get together to share their experiences and initiate a self-supporting network.
 

The programme benefits both the older people in care and the care workers themselves. Managers have reported a decrease in requests to see the doctor and less attention-seeking behaviour such as requests to go to the toilet. There is a more humanised relationship between carers and cared-for, as both parties are able to share in creative experiences. Carers have also reported an increase in confidence, job satisfaction and greater creative skills. Suffolk Artlink has also recently worked with the Alzheimer’s Society to provide creative activities for people with dementia and their carers, usually family members. Artist-led creative activities provide a platform for carer and cared-for to explore their creativity and reclaim their original relationships. The shared experience creates an equal environment, allowing members of the group to express themselves as individuals. Dementia mapping, an international approach for measuring well-being in people with dementia, was used to evaluate the sessions, and all participants in the group had an increased well-being score at the end. Artists who were experienced in different media led the sessions, and they introduced ideas for how to continue the work at home. The work was successful in starting a support group in one location which now meets twice a month to take part in activities or just have a coffee. Suffolk Artlink is now fundraising to continue these strands of work, and is in talks to roll out the Creative Carers programme to other counties in the region.