For people with Parkinson’s disease, the fine motor skills required in art-making may seem a daunting prospect, but in fact, art therapy has been found to be of great benefit.
Last Friday the Mandurah Parkinson’s Group had a special visitor, art therapist Susan Mason, to lead a clay workshop.
Ms Mason showed the group how to make pinch pots and plaster-pressed forms (which use a mold to produce a flower shape), which she said are both physically simple and aesthetically rewarding.
“The reason we used the clay today was for the sensory part of it, for people with Parkinson’s,” Ms Mason said.
“We used a very soft paper clay so it’s easy to manipulate, and to create a form, and you could see people start to push it into different shapes.”
She said art therapy is used to facilitate the communication process, and provide catharsis to the participants.
Research has shown multi-sensory stimulation – like working with clay – facilitates connections between key regions of the brain and is beneficial for people with Parkinson’s.
The support group meets on the last Friday of each month, usually at the Nellie Regan Hall, and draws quite a crowd.
“We normally have about 50, 55 to each meeting,” co-ordinator Joy Millar said.
“We have a different theme each month, and this one was an art one, but we’ve had a couple of ‘eating meetings’… we’ve sometimes had financial people come and speak, Centrelink, home options, or a Parkinson’s specialist.”
She said the meetings are not always focused specifically on Parkinson’s, since they want to provide both people with Parkinson’s and their carers with an opportunity to come out and be with people who they don’t feel embarrassed or different around.
The next meeting will be held on November 25.
For more information call Joy Millar on 95357219 or Sue Jolly on 0404 852331.
