Inside The Brain of an Art Therapist: Alice Springs Edition

Hi all!

Can I even still call this a blog? I drop in once a year when I remember to update it…Well, I guess here’s your annual post update. Ha. Better some than none.

Some of the light installations in town as part of Parrtjima light festival. Saw this during a prayer walk: a group of us walked around town praying for business, for families, for locals, for safety.

I am currently in Alice Springs! Actually, it’s a bit of a story as to how I’m here. My church back home partners with Desert Life Church out here, and the pastor came to preach late last year, and during his sermon, a little light bulb went off in my head. Something dinged. A little spark. A little ‘Ooh…Alice Springs’ thought. A little God-Idea.

I ignored it, putting it down to ‘another one of my hare-brained adventure ideas’ (I’ve had a few) and then, the same week this happened, people were coming across my path who had just been in, or lived in, Alice Springs. It remained on my mind for afew weeks after, so I applied for one job even though I didn’t have the qualifications for the job advertised (I’m a clinical art therapist, and the job I saw posted was for an occupational therapist).

I got a prompt phone interview, and the response was ‘How long do you want to come for?’

My pastor also got in touch with the pastors of church out here and helped me to sort out easy accommodation and set me up to meet people, and just like that, blessing after blessing has followed, and door after door has opened! (One example: I needed a car… and a cheap one became available right when I needed, and a really generous mechanic from church came with me and gave me the all-clear that it was decent and serviced it for me)

Went 4WD up at Widowmaker for sunset/ to catch some of the lights of Parrtjima on the hills.

I’m here for three months (and keep being told “that’s what they all say..” by locals)

I just wanted to share a few things I’ve learned while being here, as well as share a snippet of some team building I ran recently (I take for granted how fun/ different the work I get to do is, and when I tell people about it they tend to light up so I’m sharing for the purposes of giving everyone a glimpse into what I take for granted…)

Things I’ve Learned:

1. Government business hours are generally 8am-4:21pm. 4:21 is Beer O’clock, and I’ve been told that 4:21 usually translates to more like 4:10 ha.

2. I have generally felt safe being by myself in most parts of town during the day, but after dark haven’t been out alone. It’s a super lovely, interesting, pleasant place with an undertone of risk and danger.

3. People coming through Alice tend to be missionaries, mercenaries, or misfits (lol been told this a few times).

4. People have so much more time here. ‘Work commute’ unless going bush is about a 5 minute drive. It’s more relaxed. I do NOT miss the Brisbane traffic!

5. There are SO many things to do here. So far I have been invited to: salsa dancing, to see a Muay Thai fight, there’s film festivals, lots of hiking, biking, walking tracks, cute cafes, always art related events on (look, I haven’t taken up the salsa or muay thai fight offer yet, but the point is, there’s stuff to do ha)

6. This a town made up of lots of ‘subcultures’ and cultural groups: indigenous groups and families, white hippies probably escaping the rush of big city life, young adults who bring good coffee and birkenstocks to town, locals who will never leave here and who have huge hearts for improving the quality of life for people here.

Black fineliner and white gel roller on kraft paper

Reflecting on things I have learned/ experienced in my first month here.

Team Building:

Each month, we do staff team building, and this one was my turn to give my colleagues from other disciplines a little taste of what art therapy is about.

We checked in using items from my sensory kit (not pictured) and that was helpful for us all to put off the rest of the day and share with the group how we were currently feeling.

Then, we engaged in playing the Squiggle game. I really love this intervention, and in a team building context it helped us to build collaboration, to share an enjoyable activity together, and to ‘up’ the morale of the team. It really does change the tone, I noticed we were laughing alot, and as we shared our drawings it lead us to learn about each other in ways we otherwise just wouldn’t during a regular work day.

Team Building: construction kit

Then, I gave the directive to use craft/ construction materials to conceptualise how we each see ourselves within the team (I’m new, of course, but the team here in town has only recently been established as well)

In my construction kit I usually keep:

• feathers

• cardboard

• zips

• pipe cleaners

• sticky tape

• googly eyes

• felt

• glue

• stickers

• paddlepop sticks

• leathers/ materials

My creation: conceptualising my role as holding my clients jagged edges while here working with them. I wanted to capture the whimsy of what I get to do as well so I made my creature look cute. And the bag is not sealed, there’s more learning to add in there.

I noticed my colleagues expressed how therapeutic it was to sit and relax and use these materials, and it reminded me that yes, though i work with challenging clients at times and don’t always get that verbal feedback, it is inherently therapeutic to work with different art materials.

Time crept away and we ended up having to hastily finish but I noticed I wanted much longer to continue working. Being in that ‘flow’ state of making can be really hard to exit out of!!

It was great to share each of our creations with the rest of the group, and we each made quite meaningful little pieces that we decided to keep at our desks as reminders of what we made and shared.

I don’t know about other art therapists, but the majority of my time at work is spent coming up with plan a, b, c, d, e, f…to engage my clients in ways that are suitable, and so facilitating an activity with my colleagues was different, and enjoyable, and really helped me to remember that this is powerful work.

As for the rest of my time here: I am really enjoying the challenge of more rural based work, and enjoying how many new things I am learning. Life is great, adventure is everywhere, and there is always more to experience.

The Squiggle Game (created by Donald Winnicot)

This activity is a favourite of mine; it is unexpected, it is fun for clients, it adds to a good working collaborative relationship, it gives insight into client’s thoughts, and doesn’t require ‘talent’ of any kind. We did this together as staff and it lead to really interesting conversations as well as laughter.

Well…

If you made it this far, thanks for being here.

I guess we will chat again in about 2022 sometime for my next post! Haha. x