"Since it was becoming both increasingly funny and troublesome to say my last name, the mother told me and her daughter that they will just call me the 'Art Doctor'."
Today, a mother and daughter arrived in the oncology unit for the mother's treatment appointment. I had worked with the pair the previous week and when I saw them today the mother told me how her daughter was so excited to come to the hospital with her because they had had such a great time making art the last time. This week, they both were interested in making jewelry and the mother began choosing beads in purple tones and the daughter created a necklace, bracelet, earring set all in blues. The girl told me the jewelry set was going to be a gift for her grandmother and when she tried thanking me for my help, she had trouble pronouncing my last name--the mother insisted that she address me like she would address her teachers. Since it was becoming both increasingly funny and troublesome to say my last name, the mother told me and her daughter that they will just call me the "Art Doctor". I joked that I would have to give them written prescriptions for art & creativity!
I have written about this idea before-the idea that an A.I.R. in fact does an assessment of a patients' needs from a creativity point of view and then follows a course of action to both nurture the patient’s creativity as well as design a course of creative “treatment” that will help get them from day # 1-when they first come in and see the environment as foreign and perhaps scary-to day 30 when they will have a portfolio of work and be old hands at any medium. In this respect, an A.I.R. tends to aspects of the patient’s creative soul; while supporting the medical and healing process."
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