Keep calm and carry on

Buddha head

 Its been another weird week, with more reminders of the dangers inherent in life on our planet. Meanwhile at home, things have been breaking down (fridge, internet, inbox) and I have been feeling irritable and unsettled at times. So this week's theme is the importance of two things: keeping calm and carrying on. 

I keep thinking about the horrific series of recent (mainly) natural disasters in Japan, the aftermath of which is still unfolding. Its too early to tell what the final analysis will reveal. Its clear that thousands of people have died, most drowned by the tsunami, and the threat of a nuclear disaster has been real enough to scare many more. The Japanese have been praised for their stoicism. The kiwis, too have been praised, by Prince William, no less, in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake. Similar comments were made after the floods in Queensland, bush-fires in Victoria two years ago, etc. etc. It seems that we need to reassure ourselves that we humans can cope with tragedy, and that part of coping well is being stoical and keeping calm. 

Some of you will know that I am a fan of Oliver Burkeman's column in the (British) Guardian. Funnily enough, this week he argues that keeping calm is overrated. He thinks being calm is ultimately boring, and does not lead to happiness. However, as a person with a tendency towards anxiety, I don't really agree, in fact I think its underrated.  Keeping calm is amazing! Also, as an art therapist, I work with a lot of clients (adults and children), who find it difficult to regulate their emotions, due to previous trauma. In their case, learning how to be calm is a quality of life issue - it represents a huge improvement on being on an emotional roller-coaster, much of the time. Whilst we all need a certain amount of stress, to get us through the day, enough is enough! 

Its all relative, in other words. Perhaps this explains the popularity of this poster (mug, t-shirt, etc.):

  

The poster was initially produced by the British Ministry of Information in 1939 during the beginning of World War II. It was intended to be distributed in order to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime disaster. Two-and-a-half million copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers. The designer of the poster is not known. (from Wikipedia).

Keeping going

The second phrase, 'carry on', whilst making me think of silly Ealing comedies with Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams, is just as important as 'keeping calm'. Often interpreted as being about being British and 'keeping a stiff upper lip', it actually suggests the need to remain active, and to try to retain an element of normality, in the face of disaster. Or in other words, 'doing what matters'.

 Hope

This is something else I have been thinking about - see this blog by Jonathan Jones about public art and private grief. The question of public and private art is relevant to art therapists, since most art is made with the assumption that it will be seen, but this is not the case in art therapy, where the art is usually only seen by the therapist and the client. (This image is from the book I made while my father was dying in hospital last year, which I wrote about in my previous post...)

I was interested to hear of a current exhibition in Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art called 'Let the Healing Begin' . The review in the Australian says the exhibition: 'is rooted in art therapy. As the artists explore the therapeutic, they toy with making and undoing the self' - fair enough. But then...'Featuring a video in which Mike Parr chops off his arm and puts a knitted sock in its place...' I'm sorry, but what exactly does this have to do with art therapy? 

Of course, I have not seen the exhibition, so I should withhold judgement. However, alarm bells are ringing. I vividly remember being traumatised as a young child, by seeing a film of a severed limb (on the science show Tomorrow's World, which is like Catalyst), and recently I was involved in debriefing a colleague, who had seen a graphic image which upset her profoundly. Art therapy is about being very careful around imagery, and celebrating the work of a deliberate self-harmer (albeit also an artist) would seem to me to be the absolute opposite of art therapy. Or am I overreacting? - I'd like to know what others think about this...

Meanwhile I am exhibiting some art myself this week - in an exhibition about culture and identity, 'Cultural me, cultural you', at the Mater Hospital, opening today 21st March, as it is Harmony Day. I will include photos in my next post.

(NB I thought the fridge and internet were fixed, but there were more problems with the internet connection, whilst I tried to post this, last night. However, it seems to be working again now. Note to Telstra technician: thanks for the spiritual advice, I know that you are concerned about humanity, and that you believe that god can replace people's bad thoughts which result from stress, with better ones, but next time, please stick to fixing my broken internet).

more later.

opening up

Journal page - 'be present, open up, and do what matters'

I made this image in a studio-based experiential art therapy workshop I set up with my second year students this week. It is a combination of paper collage and pastels. I added the text later.

It is taking me a long time to get started on writing this today. The reason is, that today is the first anniversary of my father's death, and I decided to write something about that here. Knowing that sad feelings will come up, often leads to 'experiential avoidance', which means doing anything else that will distract us from our feelings.

Obviously, the internet is the perfect tool for experiential avoidance. I could call it research, and it may well lead to some useful artist links to share, however it is basically a way of blocking uncomfortable feelings and thoughts, and this is not always helpful.

'Visible mending'

Last year, when dad was dying, I managed to spend some time in Cornwall with him, and to say 'goodbye'. One of the things I did whilst I was there, which helped me to both express and contain my feelings, was writing and making art in this handmade book, which I called 'Visible mending'. I wrote down things I wanted to remember about this time, which was very intense and sad, but which was also a unique experience, which I will always be grateful for. 

'Jazz musicians never die, they just turn to soul'

Dad died soon after I returned home to Australia, and I went back to Cornwall for the funeral. At the funeral, my brother Stephen spoke about finding a mug with the slogan 'jazz fans never die, they just turn to soul' in Dad's studio. This had multiple layers of meaning, as our generation related to soul music more than jazz. As dad was a jazz musician, as well as a fan, I adapted it a little. Also, astonishingly, the handmade book I wrote and drew in turned out to have 79 pages, (the 80th was the back cover) and I put this image (above) on the final page. Dad was 79 when he died.

'Release'

So there were a number of goodbyes. Being there was very good for me, as it enabled me to connect with my feelings, and to connect with the support that was there, from family, especially my siblings, and friends. I also had a strong sense of how music, images and words can help to manage and contain emotions. One song on my i-pod that I listened to a lot at the time, and which can still easily lead to tears, is Throw your arms around me by Hunters and Collectors. Its the line 'we may never meet again' that gets me every time. Luckily I am not a Freudian, or the fact that this song is about a one night stand would freak me out..

the colour purple

I dyed some clothes purple yesterday - this is a good thing to do when you are not allowing yourself to buy new clothes. Then I remembered reading somewhere, that in Victorian times, purple was a later stage mourning colour, after black and grey.

I have been keeping a gratitude journal this month. Aiming for 5 things a day I am grateful for.

I haven't written much about dad, but maybe I'll leave that for another day.

more later.

Centenary of International Women's Day on 8th March

A 'Mater heart' biscuit

Its was a huge week last week. It started on Saturday (over a week ago) with a journalling workshop, and continued on headlong into the start of semester. I had a one day orientation for new students workshop on Monday, and on Wednesday started teaching 'Art Therapy in Clinical Practice' with the second year group. I also have a student in my workplace, and her placement started this week as well. This Saturday it ended with a half day training with the Pyjama Foundation to be a 'pyjama angel' - reading stories to foster children to improve literacy amongst other things. Now I just have to be assigned a child to read to...

'three fruits'

I made this drawing at the journalling workshop. It shows how the 'seed' of my art therapy training almost 27 years ago yielded (at least) three fruits: being a clinical art therapist (seeing clients), becoming an artist (and seeing myself as one) and becoming a teacher of art therapy. All three roles have brought me much pleasure - and a fair amount of anxiety at times!. I realised again this week that in teaching, the issue of assessment does affect the relationship with students quite drastically. There is always going to be this power differential because I give grades to students and make judgments about their skills in a way that is almost at odds with being a therapist. This seems somehow unavoidable, but it seems important to acknowledge.

International Women's Day - why it still matters

A male colleague said to our (apart from him, all female) clinical team last week: 'Its a great time to be a woman!' I am not sure where this thought came from. I had a sudden fit of uncontrolled coughing. However, although things are better than they used to be, there is clearly still room for improvement, as Lucy Mangan argues here. 

Having a female Prime Minister, for example, seems like a reasonable signpost of positive change. But Margaret Thatcher proved, in the eighties in the UK, that being a woman was no guarantee of being a feminist, socially progressive, or at all different from male politicians. Most of us thought she was worse. I am intrigued at the thought of Meryl Streep playing Thatcher - that will be something worth seeing. Likewise with Julia Gillard. Her rise to power was so ethically dodgy that her Prime Ministership is always going to be associated with the fact that she did over a colleague, and then failed to get an absolute majority, in the process. Once goals are achieved, they quickly become tainted by the dirty reality. 

IWD is also Shrove Tuesday, traditionally the day before fasting for Lent, which in my unreligious household means Pancake Day. Hopefully the man of the house will be making the crepes...and a nice cup of tea to go with them. doing what matters, in other words...

still life?

I heard the other day that the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has now listed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as an empirically supported method as part of its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP).

It is now available on the NREPP Web site. This means that ACT now has joined the ranks of other EBP therapies (ie Cognitive Behavioural Therapy  or CBT). It took over three years and a great deal of hard work for ACT to be approved. The studies submitted as evidence were in the clinical areas of depression, psychosis and general mental health.

I wonder if Art Therapy will ever gain this status?

more later.