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"Walking together in kindness" artwork produced for Gold Coast Health by Riki Salam, We are 27 Creative.
Gold Coast Health’s Creative Health Hub has once again collaborated with the team at the Interdisciplinary Persistent Pain Clinic (IPPC) to deliver two creative patient workshops.
The engaging sessions help IPPC patients explore creative techniques that can support the management of their persistent pain.
The Creative Connections workshops bring together occupational therapists, psychologists and creative health staff who connect with health consumers who have engaged with IPPC’s four-week pain management program, PACE.
Through social connection and creative engagement these workshops help participants build new skills, focusing on practical ways to self-manage their pain and enhance quality of life.
The first workshop guided the participants though a collaborative music-making exercise to create a soundtrack for wellbeing. The result is a unique 6-minute sonic journey that takes the listener from a summer Qld thunderstorm, through a gentle hinterland creek, to a collage of meditative spoken word reflections on how pain affects daily life.
One patient reflected on the collaborative exercise noting a significant shift in the mood and wellbeing of the group.
“It bought joy and happiness to the group through sound scaping and creative lyric writing. I am using it to add to my learnings at PACE,” they said.
The second workshop explored kinetic art and ways in which our bodies can be used to make visual art.
Participants were guided through a variety of visual art and movement exercises that challenged them to rethink how art is made and to give themselves over to new creative processes, which for most participants was both challenging and rewarding.
Creative Health Hub facilitator, Fletcher Babb, said the carefully designed workshops are more than just a pain management tool, they offer social and wellbeing benefits too.
“These workshops take participants through creative exercises that bring social connection, build confidence, and offer distraction from day-to-day pain.
It is amazing to see the group give themselves over to new processes and build meaningful connections throughout the day”, Fletch said.
A participant reflected on their learnings from the workshops and the importance of being able to find calm amidst the pain.
“It’s helpful to teach you to be in the moment, sit with discomfort and find peace in the everyday”, they said.
The collaborative efforts from these workshops will be featured in the National Pain Week exhibition at Robina Hospital in July which will also showcase a series of poems created by participants in the Poet in Residence program as part of PACE.
Find how you can get involved with the Creative Health Hub by visiting the website.
