Day Three

My earplugs were useless and what irked me most was the fact that they cost £2!!! and 5 pence - these were the cheapest, the others were twice the price. London... what a rip-off. (I could have very big ear canals, or the earplugs could just be too skinny, I am thinking it is the latter, as I've never had this problem before). So, again I didn't sleep for ages. I was really tired as well but just lay there listening for the next person to go up the stairs. I had added an extra layer on my bed, by using the three towels from the bathroom and although I still felt a bit cool when I woke up, I think they did the trick. I had allowed myself an extra 15 mins in bed this morning because there would be no enrolment (sticky badges) this morning, hence a later starting time. Yesterday's adrenaline hit was missing and I felt tired, with a bit of a cold and achy (from all the walking). After the normal ablutions I trudged down the pink staircase to see which table I would be on today. I had been moved to a larger one where a couple were already eating cereal. Yesterday I had walked into the room and announced 'good morning' at no one in particular, out of panic and self consciousness at trying to find my table without looking like I was inspecting people's plates (the table numbers can be a little hard to spot) and this morning I did the same, only facing in a different direction. On both occasions I got a half-hearted mutter in response, which I suppose is all that could be expected as nobody knew who I was talking to. I got my cereal under the watchful eye of the bored staff girl (a different bored staff girl to yesterday) and took my place. The couple on my table were from Australia again and unlike yesterday's chatty ozzy lady, these two were grunting about jam etc. all the time chewing what seemed to be grit. (from the noise of it - they really could do with some music in there - everyone goes into library mode and tries to whisper whilst being aware that there's no point cos everyone can still hear. Even a new group of rowdy Dutch couples had been subdued to polite english levels in only a couple of minutes). I didn't make any attempt to join in the grunting. I was feeling mopey and they were at the other end anyway and then we were joined by yet another Australian lady who liked to respond to everyone else's conversations (she had done it the day before with me and the white haired lady) but didn't seem to want to talk when I spoke to her directly. I made my bacon sarnie quickly and excused myself. She warned me not to wonder what was going on if it started to snow and the bus I was on suddenly stopped and threw everyone off, saying it would go no further (they had done it to her 3 times the other day apparently) I thanked her for the advice and set off on my walk. It wasn't as much fun today (i was in a crappy mood, I know). I decided to listen to my ipod cos I sometimes like to listen to certain music in a certain place and form an association, so when you hear the song again later you remember the place. My battery was flat. And anyway, my abnormally large ears mean that I have problems with headphones popping out of my ears when I turn to look for traffic, so I stuffed it all back in my pocket and carried on. I got to 'school' with about 15 mins to spare, got some hot water and sat down, still feeling tired but consoling myself with the thought that at least I wouldn't need to contribute anything for a good while, that it would mostly be listening, like yesterday, when virtually the first thing the speaker said was, "I want you to get into groups and discuss what you think it would feel like to be forced to go into a mental hospital" - I nearly gave him a demonstration right there on the spot. The morning was all about art therapy in psychiatric services, but the speaker had a much duller style, with the odd stutter accompanied by a variety of nervous bodily habits and I couldn't help wondering how his patients had affected him. He presented a couple of case studies and while I was impressed that he was actually using a projector, instead of yesterdays bits of paper stuck to the wall, it turned out to be more of a distraction as slides were never in the right order and he repeatedly woke the laptop, even when he wasn't showing anything. Even yesterday's 'chipper-iners' were bored to silence. Of course some things were interesting, although I would have liked to know what, if any are the differences in the practice of art therapy in this field. About the most interesting thing he said was that mental illness is just an exaggerated form of what we all experience in normal life, paranoia, projection of emotion/feeling, misunderstanding etc.
After lunch the speaker mysteriously didn't turn up, so the director of the course stepped in and shared a case study about a girl with eating disorders, showing work etc. She was much more interesting and engaging, (despite my trying to decide if she had a French accent or not the whole time she was speaking). Some of the things she said were "medical notes can be informative but what is really important and interesting is getting 'the story' from the client (aka Donald's theory). There is a reality of ordinariness - letting clients know if you are moved, or angry etc. Listening and looking is very important for clients. Sometimes it is important to help develop a client's skills in order to develop their self esteem. Therapy is wonderful but it should not be the only thing - the art therapist's input is time limited - we help people on part of a journey."
To finish the day we had an experiential workshop with a lady who is 81! (i would have guessed 70) We basically could use materials and had to make an image of where we felt we were at this point in our lives. It was quite weird. There's always this pressure to be good and unspoken competition to see who's the best at drawing etc. (which i'm pretty sure I won by the way), and the whole thing for me is a bit fake in that I wouldn't normally use those nasty paints etc.or be so constrained by time. Its kind of hard to say what you want without feeling like you're going to be judged or monitored in some way. We then got in small groups and shared what our pics were about. (i'll write about mine later and hopefully remember to take a photo). Then she asked how it felt, and said it was supposed to help us identify with what a client would feel undertaking art therapy.
The snow is supposed to be on its way tomorrow and if we all make it there we have her all day doing more of the same, I think. I just have a feeling she's going to be a bit of a controversial old bird. Might be interesting.