CREATIVE AGING AND CARE

I currently facilitate creative sessions and workshops within residential care settings in Wiltshire, alongside my broader creative and facilitation practice.

I am interested in the role that creativity and the arts can play in supporting connection, memory, wellbeing, and everyday quality of life for older people, particularly within residential care environments.

This work is grounded in a belief that creativity does not diminish with age, and that arts-based activity can offer important ways for people to express themselves, share stories, and connect with others. Often the value lies not simply in the activity, but in the process itself - how it enables conversation, reminiscence, and sensory engagement.

My approach draws on collage, image-based conversation, gentle making, seasonal and sensory materials, photography, storytelling and socially engaged creative practice. Sessions are designed to be calm, inclusive and adaptable, allowing people to participate in different ways depending on confidence, mobility, cognition, or energy levels.

I am particularly interested in approaches that position creativity not as entertainment or to fill time, but as part of the wider culture of care, wellbeing, and human connection within later life settings. My interest is informed by growing research into arts and health, including the work of Daisy Fancourt and others who explore the relationship between creative engagement, wellbeing, and social connection.

Current areas of interest include:

• collage and image-based reminiscence

• memory and identity work using photographs and personal objects e.g. for 1:1 creative engagement for residents who may not attend group activities

• collaborative creative projects within care homes

• intergenerational activities

• seasonal and garden-based creativity

If you are interested in discussing workshops, collaborations, residencies or creative wellbeing projects within care, or later-life settings, please feel free to get in touch.