Finding Flow Through Art and Music: Mind in Motion

This week at Minehead Road Day Centre, we had the pleasure of facilitating a joyful and meaningful occupational therapy session. 11 participants joined in actively, and others observed from nearby. The session was grounded in creativity, choice, and connection—three of the core ingredients in building occupational wellbeing.

We began with a simple orientation exercise—writing the date and time on the whiteboard—before inviting the group to create their own identity by choosing a name (Red Roses) and a theme song (Show Me the Way to Go Home). Everyone joined in singing with tambourines and maracas, creating a lively and inclusive atmosphere.

Next, we introduced a creative collage and painting task based on the Kawa model (Iwama, 2006), a powerful metaphorical tool used in occupational therapy to help individuals reflect on their life journey. Participants painted a river, added rocks to represent challenges, logs for hobbies, and flowing water to describe positive qualities about themselves. All were able to contribute with encouragement and adapted support.

Sessions like these support emotional expression, social inclusion, and a sense of identity—key goals in occupational therapy for people living with Dementia (Clarke et al., 2018). Music, in particular, is known to stimulate memory, enhance mood, and support engagement (Särkämö et al., 2014), while creative tasks can promote a sense of accomplishment and continuity of self (Phinney et al., 2007).

References:

• Iwama, M. K. (2006). The Kawa Model: Culturally Relevant Occupational Therapy. Elsevier.

• Clarke, C., Wilkinson, H., Watson, J., & Wilcock, A. (2018). Involving people with dementia in occupational therapy groups. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 81(2), 98–105.

• Phinney, A., Chaudhury, H., & O'Connor, D. L. (2007). Doing as much as I can do: The meaning of activity for people with dementia. Aging & Mental Health, 11(4), 384–393.

• Särkämö, T., et al. (2014). Cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of regular musical activities in early dementia: Randomized controlled study. The Gerontologist, 54(4), 634–650.