Art With Heart » Volunteer

Promoting Healing Through Creativity at Swedish Medical Center

Zandi — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:23:51 +0000

On Tuesday April 27^th, a wonderfully diverse group of participants gathered for a workshop led by Evi Feltus (Childlife Specialist at Swedish Medical Center) to learn about using creativity with hospitalized children and their siblings.

Participants gained an awareness of the hospital experience from a child’s perspective, and engaged in writing, drawing, and collage exercises to deepen their understanding of how to use Art with Heart’s therapeutic books in ways that build trust, encourage creativity, and help reduce fear of the hospital experience.

All workshop attendees are eligible to become Art Buddies at Swedish Medical Center. Art Buddy volunteers work under the leadership of Evi Feltus, and spend time creating art with patients and their families.

Art Buddy workshops at Swedish Medical Center are now held quarterly, so if you weren’t able to join us this time, you’ll have 2 more opportunities this year! The next workshop date is TBA, so now is the perfect time to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, to stay informed for all upcoming events.

Child Life Month

Steffanie, Founder — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:20:39 +0000

Celebrate those who help hospitalized children cope

In March we celebrate women’s history and basketball. It is also Child Life Month – an opportunity to recognize and honor those who provide special services for hospitalized children suffering from health-related challenges.

Children aren’t equipped to cope with traumatic health challenges like adults. That’s where Child Life Specialists step in. Terminal illness, loss of a family member or other serious hospital events can cause kids to feel frightened or confused. Before there were Child Life Specialists, they often faced these situations – and their emotions – alone. The sights, sounds and smells of a hospital or watching a sibling undergo a painful procedure can create severe stress for a child, but with the help of these certified professionals, kids can better understand and manage these experiences.

The Child Life Specialist is a true hero who helps ease the burden of a child’s trauma with targeted interventions and creative tools that allow kids to work through their anxiety and express their feelings. Hospital preparation, creative play and therapeutic art workbooks (such as those created by Art with Heart) are some of the tactics they use to help children understand what’s happening around them, foster an environment of emotional support, and help them cooperate with the medical services they need. Research shows that the services a Child Life Specialist provides can help children through the stress of trauma and pain, causing them to actually heal faster – both physically and emotionally.

A while back, my own son received special treatment from a Child Life Specialist before his ear surgery, and I found that he wasn’t the only beneficiary. Both my husband and I found our anxiety levels decreased exponentially as we watched her demonstrate what was going to happen during the surgery in child-friendly terms. While in the waiting room, he happily worked through his “Oodles of Doodles” (Art with Heart) book and by the time they wheeled him off, he was happy and content.

So this month as we’re honoring women’s history and watching basketball, let’s take a moment to recognize Child Life Month. While we all hope to avoid the need for these services, it’s nice to know that truly heroic professionals are there for our most vulnerable if they ever do.

Steffanie Lorig
Executive Director, Art with Heart
www.artwithheart.org

Volunteer Spotlight: Jennifer Scholbohm

AnneBasham — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:58:52 +0000

Jennifer with Oodles of Doodles

Jennifer Schlobohm was living in Portland, Oregon when her husband brought home an article from Horizon Air Magazine about Art with Heart, and suggested that Jennifer look into getting involved.

Jennifer had a strong art background in art – and had even taught art at an elementary school – but had never before heard of anyone validating of the therapeutic value of art. She was intruiged and traveled to Seattle to attend an Art with Heart training session. Shortly after that, Jennifer and her husband moved to Seattle. Wanting to be involved in the community, Jennifer went to Swedish Hospital, where she knew, as soon as she saw the art on the walls that she had found the perfect place to practice her newly-learned skills from Art with Heart.

As an Art Buddy, Jennifer volunteers 4-8 hours each week, using Art with Heart books to engage the children in conversations outside of “hospital stuff.”

“The positive coping skills and self-confidence that they gain are very evident,” says Jennifer, “Its such a great feeling to see the change in the kids and help them be at ease. They now also have a piece of art that helps them stay positive if they get scared later.”

Jennifer also seeds parents engage with their children in new ways because of the books and the art. As the parents discover their child’s creative talents, some of the stress of being in the hospital seems to disappear. Even the hospital staff joins in, bringing donations of magazines and art supplies that Jennifer can use with the kids.

“Spending several hours with the kids here makes up for years of being at mediocre jobs,” she observes. “Swedish is a great place to use my skills. The only thing missing is MORE Art with Heart volunteers!”

If you would like to learn more, come to our training on Wed., Jan. 27! The training, led by Certified Child Life Specialist Evi Feltus, will cover usage of all three Art with Heart books. The training will help potential volunteers feel comfortable using art with hospitalized children. Jennifer knows that her work would not be possible without Evi’s enthusiasm for the Art Buddy program. For more about Evi, follow this link to our BLOG. To register for the workshop, or get more information, visit www.artwithheart.org/events.