During her residency, Sarah Jane Richards worked one-to-one with patients and their families for six weeks across three wards at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, including General Surgical, General Medical and Oncology.
Painting and mark making in sketchbooks and on canvas, Sarah Jane demonstrated paint and colour techniques for patients to create sky, land and seascapes and to develop silhouettes shapes and contours.
Sarah Jane was supported throughout the residency by Play Specialists, who identified daily lists of patients who would like to work with her. Key outcomes emerged throughout the residency: the sessions were a great distraction from being in hospital (many commented on how boring it was to be there until Sarah came along), how the sessions made patients feel happy and have a sense of achievement, and how the sessions made patients more resilient and able cope with pain or treatment better.
“I thoroughly enjoyed painting because it was fun and it relaxed me. It made me feel like I was not in hospital. I felt very happy and it made my pain better. I learnt new techniques about how to paint and I will definitely use these in the future.”
“I really enjoyed making the blobs on the painting. I had so much fun. I am having an operation and I was scared, and this made me feel better.”
– Alder Hey participants
“I was thrilled to be asked to facilitate these sessions and wanted to provide an activity that would brighten up the ward, that would be engaging and a little challenging, with an end result that had the wow factor…
This was a very special experience for me, I am so very touched with the feedback and feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to help the children create beauty and brightness in a time that must be so difficult for them.”
– Sarah Jane Richards
