My name is Olwen Minford and I am an Integrative Psychotherapist and End of Life Care Facilitator. I began my career as an RGN working in Intensive Care in Belfast at the height of “the troubles” in Northern Ireland before moving into palliative care and later completing a Masters degree in Integrative Arts Psychotherapy.
Currently based in London, I am a committee member of the Royal College of Nursing Pain and Palliative Care Forum[i], United Kingdom, which seeks to improve the skills and confidence of nurses to support people in achieving their end of life wishes and provide optimal care. Over the years I have held a variety of nursing, psychotherapy and training roles, having worked for Marie Curie Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Care, NHS trusts, Royal Society of Public Health, Cambridge University Counselling service and as a psychotherapist with primary school children in Hackney, London. I have extensive experience facilitating end of life care in care homes, hospital, and community settings in North and East London.
I have a passionate belief in the transformational power of the arts and whilst interested in all aspects of arts in healthcare and education, my specialist interest is the application of the arts in End of Life Care education, to which end I have been running experiential workshops in Dismantling the taboo around Death (http://www.olwenminfordtherapy.com/-dismantling-the-taboo-around-death-workshops.html).
Death is a notoriously difficult subject for most people to discuss and not being open to or able to have conversations with those who are dying and who wish to discuss their wishes and preferences can have serious consequences and can result in people feeling increasingly lonely, isolated and cut off. The problem is we don’t have a language for death.
The workshops incorporate the arts (visual images, poetry, role play, creative writing, video clips) and they provide a vehicle to allow translation of thoughts and feelings around death, and the language to enable all grades of staff to discuss death and dying creatively. My belief is and the outcome evaluations show, that if people (especially healthcare professionals) are enabled to reflect on their own beliefs about death and dying, then much of the existing fear and taboo will be lessened and an open culture towards discussing death is fostered. The safe environment of the workshop allows “the elephant in the room” to be tackled and workshop participants report having expanded perceptions of cultural, religious, spiritual beliefs, values and practices and of the “other”.
The following visual image was selected by a male carer with an afro caribbean background, working in a care home, to symbolise his thoughts and feelings about death. He pondered deeply about the importance of his cultural roots and how he would wish to return to his own country if he were dying.
Doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals and who are able to sensitively and confidently engage in discussions will assist more people to achieve their wishes and preferences at the end of life.
Recently I have been running workshops on “Supporting the patient with anxiety” in a hospice setting and have used visual images to help staff get in touch with and reflect on their own experience of anxiety. Creative supervision workshops have also successfully enabled hospice supervisors to reflect on their experience of supervision using music, reflective writing exercises and collage making.
In 2014 I was very fortunate to be awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship which has enabled me to visit USA and Australia to research “Improving communication training and compassionate care using arts based methods”. In Melbourne I met with colleagues with similar interests and presented on “The Application of The Arts in End of Life Care Education” at the The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, 6th Annual International Arts and Health Conference International Arts in Health conference in November. I enjoyed this opportunity to share stories of best practice and innovative arts and health programs, effective health promotion and prevention campaigns, methods of project evaluation and scientific research
By Olwen Minford (Integrative psychotherapist, London, UK)
For further information please contact :info@olwenminfordtherapy.com
www.olwenminfordtherapy.com
-
Music as Medicine http://nursingblog.rcnpublishing.co.uk/music-as-medicine/
-
European Journal of Palliative Care. Olwen Minford. 9.12.2012. ” Pain and Palliative Care Forum: improving palliative nursing”.
-
Banishing winter Blues, http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/…/Bulletin_Jan_14_
-
http://www.artsandhealth.org.au/conferences/the-art-of-good-health-and-wellbeing-melbourne-2014.html
La Trobe Arts and Health 