Free pack for aged care teams
The 30-Minute Art Session
How to run a creative session that works with mixed abilities — written for lifestyle and activity coordinators, by an art therapist. No art training required.
Art therapy is now a funded therapeutic service under Australia's aged care reforms, and the quality standards ask for structured creative programs rather than ad-hoc craft.
Which is good news for residents, and a real problem for whoever has to run the thing on a Tuesday afternoon with eleven people of wildly different abilities and no art background. This pack is for that person.
What's inside
- The 30-minute session, minute by minute — setup, open, work, close
- Running one table with mixed abilities: tremor, arthritis, low vision, mild dementia
- What to do when the room goes quiet, someone dominates, or someone drifts
- Running it in-room when a group session cannot go ahead
- A one-page session plan to print, fill in and take to the table
Written by Debra Shapiro, art therapist and founder of Artful Connections. If you'd rather not source materials yourself, there's a page on how our kits work in aged care and support-at-home settings.