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Abstract
Transparency has become a catchword for proper governance in contemporary organisations, affecting the buildings arts therapists work in, the equipment they use and the way staff communicate with each other. Hence the move to open plan working in a mental health care setting for older people (‘Cloffaugh’), a popular environment for the NHS, provides a touchstone for this article: namely a detailed study of collaboration between an anthropologist (Ruth) and an arts therapies manager (Angela) that invites readers to look behind the surface appearances of everyday inter-professional interaction. Using an ethnographic approach, it follows their journey through three different office settings to show how working transparently across disciplines is harder to achieve than policy exhortations imply. Too sharp a division between what is and what merely seems, though clear, may mislead. While open plan working has many virtues, it is not simply a variable for management to manipulate. It is also an image. Transparency has to come in the right amount if it is not to be exclusive. In the spirit of ‘positive risk-taking’ often advocated, we believe the article will interest arts therapists and managers who work in organisations, large or small.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the support and collegiality of the Project Director, Professor Roland Petchey, and the research team, especially Jane Hughes, Ruth's co-ethnographer. ‘Ayaka’ has agreed the presentation of vignette 3.
Notes
1 The term ‘Cloffaugh’, and the names ‘Trudy’, ‘Craig’ and ‘Ayaka’ are all pseudonyms.
2 The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR SDO Programme or the Department of Health.
3 ‘Shower over Nihonbashi Bridge' by Hiroshige (c. 1834) (Woodblock print) is similar to the original image that was sent to Ruth by Angela. It can be viewed online at http://roningallery.com/0/0/hiroshige-1797-1858/0/0/0/0/.
Additional information
Funding
Ruth Pinder (PhD) was one of two Senior Research Fellows on the wider project from which this article derives. She has taught anthropology and its research methods at the Open University for many years and has practised it in the fields of disability, medical education and the environment. She has published extensively, and was lead author/researcher of ‘Talking About My Patient: The Balint Approach in GP Education’ (Royal College of GPs Occasional Paper 87).
Angela Byers worked as an art therapist in an NHS Mental Health Service Unit between 1988 and 2005. She was a visiting tutor at the Goldsmith's art therapy training course for four years. In 2007, she completed her MSc in Social Research Methods with an ethnographic study in Cape Town. Returning to London, she worked as an arts therapies manager in an NHS Mental Health Service for Older People, before retiring in 2013.