This week in my art therapy internship class we went to Candy’s Place, a holistic wellness center for cancer patients. It was my week with a partner to come up with an art directive to do. I thought of turning a DIY decor craft I do personally into an art directive with meaning. I planned to make yarn hangings/tapestries that can represent their strengths and maybe the people in their life that are their support system; it was to represent empowerment overall. I wanted to have the directive be something the group could take with them as a reminder of their strengths, maybe something they could put in their hospital room to liven it up if they ever have to stay there for a while.

I had read a couple articles on art therapy with cancer patients when thinking about this and some of them mentioned that it’s helpful to give them options since they don’t exactly get an option in life. Therefore, I bought a bunch of different yarn colors as options and my partner bought a bunch of different bead colors as options to add to the hanging as well. I also figured this was a very versatile directive; it can be used with many different populations with similar objectives.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do the directive with the group because it was a slower day for the facility due to most activities their happen on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; we were there on a Tuesday. We made the best of the situation and made yarn hangings ourself for the facility to give to the patients or sell since they are a non profit organization. I hope to one day do this with a group because I believe this will be successful.