Using Art and Creativity to Explore Dying, Death and Grief in Residential Care
How can we use art and creativity to explore dying, death, grief, and loss in residential care?
This question was at the heart of Irish Hospice Foundation’s 2024 Seed Grant programme.
Led by our Arts and Cultural Engagement and Caru teams, Irish Hospice Foundation funded six artists to design and facilitate creative projects in nursing homes across Ireland to spark conversations about dying, death, and grief, and to ease the impact of losses associated with residential care.
The projects developed between June and November 2024, with artists using a wide variety of creative practice to encourage and facilitate these conversations. Song, drama, painting, LEGO building, and storytelling are just a few examples of the creative media used.
Here are the project summaries:
- ‘Moving Forward with Grief’ (Esker Lodge Nursing Home, Cavan): Multi-disciplinary community artist Helen Keenan facilitated drawing and movement classes with residents, including those living with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, aimed at engaging the mind, body, and spirit to process emotions.
- ‘Healing and Remembrance Space’ (Ennis Road Care Facility, Clare): Lisa Hester (PhD) collaborated with residents and staff to re-purpose an underused prayer room into a therapeutic multi-purpose area for the whole community. This followed a series of workshops using multiple artforms, from patterning to painting to LEGO to montage. Relatives also attended these workshops, including grandchildren.
- ‘Roots of Remembering’ (Brindley Manor Nursing Home, Donegal): Led by artist-facilitator Rebecca Strain, residents and staff collaborated to create a ceramic memory tree while exploring experiences of dying, death, grief, and loss. This has been installed at the entrance to the resident’s sitting room for all to enjoy and appreciate.
- ‘Unveiling Shadows’ (Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services, Dublin): Performance artist Gabrielle Breathnach facilitated drama-based classes for residents to prompt conversations about memories, dreams, and aspirations. These were turned into performances directed by residents and acted out by Gabrielle.
- ‘In My Thoughts’ (Sunhill Nursing Home, Louth): Director of Nursing, Elaine Moloney, commissioned a painter and writer to work with residents and staff in exploring the impact of the myriad of griefs and losses associated with nursing homes, and in particular the death of a resident.
- ‘Milford Voices Choir’ (Milford Nursing Home, Limerick) : Activity Coordinator Michelle Clifford formed a whole community choir led by residents to share experiences of dying, death, grief and loss through song choices aimed at fostering wellbeing.
These projects had a profound impact on residents, staff, and loved ones. As the daughter of one resident told us:
“It’s probably the first time in seven years I’ve seen my mom be so happy in terms of being part of something because, you know, you lose that when you come into a residence home sometimes. And she did, she loves singing. So, while she was not as engaged as she used to be, she fully partook as much as she could, and it was lovely. Like my mom has dementia, so she doesn’t hold memory.”
In this video, Sharon O’Brien from our Caru team explains how these projects allowed residents to tap into their creativity and brought them together in a safe space to collectively explore death and grief.
Short documentary films were created to capture each project, demonstrating how arts and creativity can enhance the lives of nursing home residents, including those living with Alzheimer’s, and their loved ones. These films can available to watch on website at: Seed Grant Projects 2024 – Arts in Residential Care.
To mark National Arts in Nursing Homes Day, organised by Age & Opportunity and Nursing Homes Ireland, we’ll be sharing each of the six projects on our social media channels over the coming days. So follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to learn more.
