We asked our volunteer Soo, who is training to qualify as an art therapist, to share her experience of volunteering at Clifford House and why she joined our team...
“I came to Clifford House because I was doing lots of art in schools and in other community settings, and then I was planning to do an Art Therapy qualification. I wanted to get some experience working with adults, as that can be quite difficult to find.
“I was especially interested in Clifford House as I've always had an interest in the hospice movement. I thought it would be really good to come here, see what happened, and to do some art with the clients.
“Recently I’ve been leading the Crafternoons sessions each week on a Wednesday afternoon. It's been great as I've been able to plan my own sessions and let people try things they may not have done before. Recently we've made cacti stamps on little tote bags, cardboard birds, nail art and today we're making decorated fish.
“It's a really lovely group - everybody is of different ages and abilities but we all help each other out. It's great to see some clients grow in confidence too; for example one lady who needed a lot of reassurance when she first started later ask ed to see all of her work. When she looked at them again, it was so lovely to hear her say things like, ‘oh that's really good isn't it, I could use that for a card…’
I’ve now enrolled in my MA in Art Therapy, which started this September. I'm planning to continue volunteering at Clifford House too; I'd love to start working on bigger projects, perhaps something collaborative or a big piece of artwork that we could put up somewhere in the building!"