The Impacts of Hospice Wellington’s Art Therapy Program Publication Now Available

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) is excited to announce the recent publication of a Research Shop project conducted in collaboration with Hospice Wellington. The article has been published in OMEGA Journal of Death and Dying and is co-written by Karen Nelson (Researcher Shop Manager), Elizabeth Jackson (Director), and graduate student researchers including Jessica Lukawiecki, Kieran Waitschies, and Chloe Zivot.

Hospice Wellington provides support and care to individuals in Guelph and Wellington who are living with life-threatening illnesses or experiencing grief and bereavement. The article focuses on Hospice Wellington’s art therapy program which uses the creation of art and accompanying written reflections to help participants explore their relationships with grief and find a sense of meaning in their experiences of loss. The article explores the grief experiences of participants during their time in the program, the nature, extent, and impacts of social and community connections that were made, how the program influenced grief over time, and the overall effectiveness of the program. The article concludes that art and narrative therapy hold great therapeutic potential as a tool to help individuals going through a grief or bereavement process.

In addition to the academic article, a blog post written by graduate student researchers involved in this project is available. This blog post provides insight on managing self-care while working on projects with potentially sensitive and intense subject matter.

See the Impacts of Hospice Wellington’s Art Therapy Program Article and the Managing Researcher Self-Care Blog Post.