For the last 15 years I have used tools derived from the creative and expressive arts to chronicle my work as a hospice nurse. What began as a stress reduction tool soon became a way to communicate with peers who were fascinated with their familiarity to the general situations that the art and stories related. Gradually I found myself with quite a collection of drawings (70), developed a story art slide show and presented it several times at state and national hospice conferences as both a stress reduction and communication tool. I felt this work really spoke to the art of nursing (literally) as it blends with the science of nursing practice.
Eventually I wanted to tell and show these stories to the general public. Living in a culture that denies death, I wondered if a lay audience would be interested in the stories that fill my everyday work life. I thought they might be fearful or traumatized by these stories, but on the contrary, I found people very open and full of their own stories and touched by my willingness to share the experiences of those times of crisis that touch all people alike.
I feel that story art speaks to the connection between nurses and their clients and to the material from which intuitive insights are drawn. I believe the quality and the reality of this relationship matters and defines outcomes. I have been blessed to attend to the needs of many people who are dying or in grief. The general public in turn wonders how I do this kind of work. My story art speaks to that question by presenting a more complete picture (literally) of the issues and insights that health care professionals draw on as they work with clients and families to develop a plan
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