Building resilience: a pilot study of an art therapy and mindfulness group in a community learning disability team

ABSTRACT

This article describes findings from a pilot study for a new art therapy intervention designed for clients attending an Adult Learning Disability Service. The intervention consisted of an art therapy and mindfulness group for clients, for 90 min per week over an initial 6–8 week period, with the aim of improving group members’ resilience and ability to cope with difficult life experiences. Clients completed questionnaires about their experience of the group sessions and a thematic analysis was conducted to identify three main themes. The results suggest that the clients who received this intervention experienced improvements in their clinical presentation as well as in their quality of life, an increase in joy and positive wellbeing, and a decrease in low mood and social anxiety.

Plain-language summary

This paper describes an art therapy group run for adults who have learning disabilities. In the group people used mindfulness practices as well as art making and discussion. This helped people to notice and share their thoughts and feelings. The paper shows the results of a questionnaire completed by the group members. It shares group members’ comments about how they found the group and how the group helped them.

KEYWORDS:

• art therapy
• mindfulness
• learning disability
• groups
• resilience
• quality of life

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Siobhán Burns qualified as an Art Psychotherapist at the University of Sheffield in 2000. She has worked as an Art Therapist with Looked After Children, in Adult Mental Health services and, for the last 13 years, had worked with adults who have Intellectual Disabilities at the Rotherham Learning Disability Service. Siobhán is a guest lecturer on Art Therapy and Intellectual Disability on the Art Therapy Foundation and MA Course on The Northern Programme. She is an active member of the ATLDSIG (Art Therapy and Learning Disability Special Interest Group).

Mike Waite has worked within adult learning disability services since 2001, initially working as a Support Worker within an acute respite service in Oxfordshire. Mike completed his postgraduate diploma in Art Psychotherapy in 2004 and spent five years working within Adult Learning Disability Day Services in Sheffield. Mike’s been in his current posts within Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber (RDaSH) NHS Trust since 2009. His work is divided between two roles, firstly as a Specialist Child Mental Health Practitioner in the Rotherham CAMHS Learning Disability team (three days per week) and secondly as an Art Psychotherapist in the Rotherham Adult Learning Disability Service (two days per week). Mike is an active member of the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) Art Therapy Learning Disability Special Interest Group and has guest lectured on the MA Art Psychotherapy course run by the Sheffield Art Therapy Northern Programme.