Using art and poetry with terminally ill children in the hospital

Abstract

A Note: For two years, I worked as a Child Life Specialist in a children's hospital. My responsibilities included maintaining a playroom with toys, books, games, and other media and having craft and activity sessions with the children, both in groups and individually, encouraging them to participate and interact with one another in the playroom setting. I also developed a supportive relationship with the children and their parents, aiding the children in expressing themselves and what they were experiencing within the hospital, and providing input to nursing and medical staff on the children's progress within the playroom. I played and worked with patients having a variety of medical illnesses and ranging in age from two to twenty-five years. During this time, I learned much from all, but I became deeply attached to and involved with those patients having terminal illnesses. In writing this article, I want to share some of my experiences with those young who were dying so that others in the field of the arts in therapy might be able to use and learn from them as I have.