Reflecting on the creative workshop and how it may influence future clinical practice.
The workshop consists of four parts.
Introduction (15mins)
The workshop will open with introductions of participants to create an open atmosphere. This will create a space where people feel comfortable sharing and reflecting potentially unfamiliar concepts.
An interactive lecture (30mins)
The lecture will begin with the history of psychiatry and the arts, using examples of well known artists such as Van Gogh and Edvard Munch.
We will then discuss how creativity and mental illness have a complex and often contradictory relationship however remain as involved and relevant as ever in today’s clinical practice. Examples will include the recent Bedlam exhibition at the Wellcome collection.
The workshop: “learning to look through a creative lens”. (30 mins)
Psychiatry is an innately descriptive speciality where pictures are often painted using words, especially when conveying a mental state.
The practical workshop will thus focus on conveying emotion through a creative medium. Participants will be divided into groups and given a creative piece, for example a painting or poetry excerpt. They will be invited to make their own artwork to make their own artwork in response to it. Materials such as paint and construction toys will be provided. Each piece will then be viewed collectively to allow an inclusive discussion on the feelings the work evokes, along with exploring the cues that may be driving the emotional transference.
Reflection (15mins)
The workshop will close with an opportunity for feedback including a discussion on the emotional impact of the workshop, insights gained and what this may mean for personal clinical practice.
