Beyond the Veil

Beyond the Veil offers an Expressive Art group therapy experience for persons with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers.

Organization:

Lutheran Community Services Northwest

Lutheran Community Services Northwest is a nonprofit human services agency serving communities throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The staffs provide a wide variety of services to adults, adolescents, children, families, schools, businesses, congregations, neighborhoods and communities. Each year they serve more than 120,000 people of all ages, cultures and faiths.

Location:

Boise, ID

How does it work?

Expressive art groups are offered in three care facilities in Boise, Idaho. The group emphasizes on expressive versus representational art, which encourages participants to express their feelings and create art based upon mood. Groups run for 12 weeks. In these groups, caregivers, through expressive art activities (such as "meaning" and "acceptance"), associated with their caregiving experience.

Why is it successful?

The program began with one group at one site. Over the course of three years, it expanded to four groups at three sites. The number of volunteers increased dramatically to the point of having a waiting list for volunteering for the program through the service learning department of Boise State University. In addition, the volunteers and family expanded services by carrying on the caregiver group beyond the initial offering, arranging informal meetings between participants, redecorating the sites to incorporate art created by family members, and helping to create a video documentary of participant art combined with music and interviews with the artists talking about their process and experience of creating.

For more information: www.lcsnw.org