The quality time that clinicians and designers spend together is important too. Artists and clinicians might at first glance, feel like odd bedfellows, but in fact their combined knowledge and successful collaboration on a project can be critical to a successful outcome.
Clinicians understand the needs and behaviours of patients and service users better than most. If anyone knows what it is like to experience the hospital environment, it's them. Their work is founded on a deep ethical commitment: they need to be relied upon to make the right decisions.
Artists are creatives. Risk takers. Their work is mostly informed by a rich internal life, rather than a devotion to a formal code of ethics.
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“If we had more contact with designers, I believe we would have better buildings.”
Gerd Sortland, Head Occupational Therapist,
Highgate East Mental Health Centre
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So where is the common ground?
Arts projects enable clinicians to work with service users in a completely different way. Not therapy. Not treatment. Exploration in the here and now.
Working with clinician and client, Gerd Sortland at Highgate East is a great example.
Art in Site brought in Charlotte Mann, an artist deeply involved with the psychology and consciousness of drawing to run workshops with service users on the theme of ‘being present while drawing from nature’.
Participants were encouraged to explore (and draw) wild plants so they could be put on the wall. Real plants were pressed into plaster, leaving beautiful impressions.
The work has benefits, not only for service users, but also for staff.
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“I think we don't acknowledge enough how much the impact of what we see on a day-to-day basis actually affects our ability to be present and to be empathetic to people, because sometimes it gets to a point where you just see the problem, not the person.”
Gerd Sortland, Head Occupational Therapist,
Highgate East Mental Health Centre
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The artists workshop enabled the clinical team to be present in a completely different way. Remarkably, it also created a safe space where one service user felt ready to talk after a period of withdrawal. The finished work, displayed on the walls of the wards and entrance to the building is a source of pride for service users, as well as a positive and beautiful presence, manifesting the energy of the workshops.Working with clinicians, selecting artists and curating the engagement experience is all part of what we do at Art in Site. And it’s one of the reasons we’re often the clinicians' choice when selecting an arts consultant for a project.
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With thanks to Ryder Architecture and North London NHS Foundation Trust.
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