The Many Ways Art Therapy and Therapeutic Art Can Support Senior Care Residents

It’s no secret that making art can be relaxing and enjoyable. But art offers many other valuable benefits to senior care residents. Through facilitating art therapy sessions and therapeutic art groups, senior care communities can support residents’ creativity, offer an entertaining and engaging activity, and even help residents deal with complex emotions.

How Art Therapy Helps Residents

Dr. Maria Knobel, Medical Director and co-founder of Medical Cert UK

Dr. Maria Knobel, medical director and co-founder of Medical Cert UK, is internationally board-certified in lifestyle medicine. She explains that art therapy offers numerous benefits to residents in senior care communities. “Art therapy offers a non-pharmaceutical way to enhance emotional, mental, and even social well-being, particularly for senior residents and those in memory care,” she says. Since art can have a positive impact on cognitive function, emotional expression, and social interaction, it’s a valuable tool for senior care communities.

Art therapy can help residents enhance their emotional expression. Since many residents experience feelings of loneliness, isolation, and depression, art therapy can offer a safe and creative outlet. The therapy allows residents to express the emotions that they might not be able to communicate verbally. “The act of creating art allows them to channel complex feelings, such as using different colors, textures, or shapes,” says Knobel. “This process can be therapeutic in reducing anxiety and promoting emotional well-being. It’s not just about creating something beautiful; it’s about the emotional release that comes with it, offering a sense of peace and satisfaction that verbal communication might not achieve.”

Art therapy can also be beneficial in memory care settings, as it helps stimulate cognitive function. “The process of creating art – whether through painting, drawing, or sculpting, stimulates different parts of the brain,” says Knobel. “Studies show that such activities can tap into memories and improve brain plasticity, helping individuals to recall moments or experiences they thought were lost.” Although art therapy doesn’t reverse memory loss, it can help slow down cognitive recline and help maintain a level of mental engagement that can benefit memory care residents. “It can even improve attention span and concentration, allowing these residents to focus more deeply on tasks for longer periods of time, which in turn can help with other cognitive challenges,” Knobel explains.

In addition to art therapy, therapeutic art also offers numerous benefits to senior care residents. While art therapy is facilitated by a licensed and certified art therapist and is personalized to each resident’s specific needs, therapeutic art focuses on the enjoyment of the creative experience. Since therapeutic art doesn’t require facilitators to have specialized training, it’s an accessible option for many communities and is often completed in a group setting. Therapeutic art offers many of the same benefits as art therapy.

Structuring Therapeutic Art in Senior Care

Mary Beth Flynn is the founder and owner of Artfully Aging

Mary Beth Flynn is the founder and owner of Artfully Aging, a therapeutic watercolor art program that is contracted by senior living communities to run art sessions with resident groups. Groups are scheduled regularly, and group sizes are limited to 10 residents or less. Therapeutic art specialists guide each session and use reminiscing and storytelling prompts to encourage socialization.

In addition to these in-person sessions, Flynn also offers an art program that senior care communities of all settings can access, nationwide. “Life enrichment staff can purchase ready-to-paint projects from a website menu,” she explains. The projects come with “how to” videos that teach senior care staff how to lead a therapeutic art program. The projects also include prompts and often ideas for activities or songs that relate to the projects.

The option for senior care communities to have their own staff conduct the painting projects means communities can bring the benefits of art to residents, even if they don’t have the budget or staff to run more frequent art sessions.

Flynn explains that participant feedback of the in-person sessions has been very positive. Participants have praised how the sessions make them think and are relaxing, as well as how the time goes by quickly. “I didn’t know I could do this,” “I like this because it’s good for my brain. It makes me think,” and “When are you coming back?” are just a few of the comments she has received.

The impact of the art goes beyond the sessions, themselves. In addition to conducting sessions, Artfully Aging has organized community art shows, complete with wine and cheese. “We have aided in providing ongoing art displays within various senior living communities,” says Flynn. Artfully Aging has also participated in local memory care art shows.

How Senior Care Communities Can Implement Art Therapy and Art Programs

Flynn notes that the biggest challenge in implementing an art therapy program is budget and knowledge of what a quality therapeutic art program looks like. “A quality therapeutic art program does not necessarily require a professional art therapist to implement it,” she explains. “It does require an individual with a level of professional training in art, how to work with seniors of various care levels, and last but not least, a desire to provide a meaningful experience through participation.”

Flynn encourages senior care communities to learn about the meaning of art therapy versus therapeutic art, and to define the specific resident needs that they want an art program to meet. “Define the goals of having an art program and determine a budget,” she recommends. She notes that communities can find many art programs on the internet or through local arts organizations. Whether communities decide to implement an art therapy or therapeutic art program, these activities offer valuable benefits to residents.

Paige Cerulli

Paige Cerulli is a contributing writer to i Advance Senior Care.