Feelings of comfort and joy, increased confidence and self-esteem, stress relief – what simple activity could bring about such positive outcomes in our lives?
Just ask this group of Transition and Work Education students who’ve been harnessing their powers of artistic expression all year as part of a Creative Wellness Program – a new initiative to the Transition Studies curriculum in 2023.
Made up of more than 20 students, all with disabilities, the Creative Wellness Program was developed by our Foundation Education teaching team to help the cohort explore their creativity and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their environment.
Foundation Teacher Alvina Edwards said they couldn’t be happier with the results.
“There has been an amazing amount of growth in both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and general student engagement since the program began, so we’re very pleased with the outcomes so far,” Alvina said.
“The initiative we developed uses art, the creative process, SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) and art therapy techniques to introduce and expand wellbeing within our student cohort.”
With the power of creative expression long hailed as having a huge influence on our overall wellbeing and the development of physical, cognitive, emotional, social and vocational abilities, Alvina and her team were keen to explore the concept of art therapy for their students and see what level of skill building stemmed from it.
Not only was the program instrumental in bringing about positive changes to the way the cohort communicated with each other, it elicited enhancements in many other areas.
“Creative therapy focuses on the process rather the final product, so it’s usually about what it’s doing for you while you’re doing it that is the most important thing,” Alvina said.
“But there are definite tangible skills that the students have taken away with them as a result of participating like enhanced fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination and ‘doing’ skills like planning and organising, cleaning up and managing their environment.”
As a reward for all their hard work, the students were excited to showcase their pieces at a special art show in Morwell last month. Held at the Waratah Training Restaurant on 28 November, the exhibition of artwork and afternoon tea attracted staff, students and members of the public who were all just as excited to support the students in the endeavours and see what they had produced.
Alvina said they’re looking forward to continuing the Creative Wellness Program in 2024, so watch this space!