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"A Little Bit of Each" brings together talent exhibition at the Academic Unit Brotas
Elderly and mental health groups rescue their self-esteem with artistic activities promoted by SerTO.
10/11/2016
Depressed by depression after being laid off from his job at the beginning of the year, João Marinho, 87 years old, rediscovered his self-esteem and the will to live after attending the elderly group at the Occupational Therapy Service (SerTO) at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública. For two months now, he has participated in weekly meetings with other participants and has already resumed activities that were previously forgotten, such as writing poems, playing the harmonica and drawing, activities that he practiced throughout his life as an architect.
Along with dozens of other seniors and members of the SerTO mental health group, João Marinho participated, on the morning of November 9, in the Soiree and Exhibition “A Little of Each One”, which took place in the courtyard of the Pavilion of Classes of the Unit academic Brotas. She recited poems and performed MPB “pearls” with her harmonica set. On the occasion, the other members of the groups also recited poems, sang songs and were able to exhibit the handicraft and cutting and sewing pieces produced during the therapeutic sessions.
rewriting life
“I was laid off from work and that is sorely missed. To recover from this, I have to fill the time with something, so my doctor recommended this therapy to me. I keep hoping that Tuesday will arrive soon so I can meet Ana Cláudia Braga (Occupational Therapist at SerTO). On Tuesday, I fill a very big void in my life. Therapy is resurrecting the things I used to write”, says João Marinho, who was accompanied by his daughter, Berenice Conceição Ferreira Santos, and three grandchildren.
Berenice says that her father was always a very active person and seeing him with a beginning of depression shook the whole family. “He even started to have an onset of dementia which shook me a lot. I confess that, at the beginning, I was reluctant to accept the situation, as we are not prepared and we do not have the culture to accept psychotherapeutic treatment, as we associate it with a 'mad doctor'”. But, seeking information about the condition, he reached a geriatrician who indicated the therapeutic service. Today, in addition to attending the occupational therapy group, he has sessions with a psychologist.
According to SerTO's coordinator, occupational therapist Sofia Campos, “our work is mainly aimed at promoting people's health by rescuing their daily activities. They are people who, for some reason – due to illness or the aging process – are affected by a weakening of their affective, family and friendship bonds, in addition to the loss of some of their activities”. She highlights that, by resuming these activities and these relationship ties, people are able to reorganize their lives autonomously and independently, remaking their daily lives, despite their limitations and illness.
“Our proposal is that, in these meetings, they can exchange knowledge with people who are in a situation similar to theirs and discover their abilities through mutual help. Thus, they recover forgotten skills and relearn new skills”, explains Sofia, pointing out that the therapeutic process through practical activities leads them to express their feelings.
“I am very happy, because I see the result of a rescue. All that we have seen here, theater, music, poetry presentations are actually the result of a rescue through a therapeutic process. We emphasize what the person likes to do and what is a little forgotten in the past, but who is able to continue doing it. It's like a rescue of identity”, explains the coordinator of the elderly group and occupational therapist, Ana Cláudia Braga.
Jaciara de Jesus Borges has been a member of SerTO's mental health group for two years. She sought therapy to reduce the effects of the anxiety attacks that left her feeling depressed and irritable. “I feel like I'm more patient. I have a lot of irritability and after my sessions I go home calmly. I never had an anxiety attack again”. In group sessions, she develops artistic pieces and declares her preference for painting, an activity she had never experienced before therapy.
Psychologist Simone Lopes Ferreira says that the mental health group's exhibition had the objective of only presenting the products without their sale. “Our objective is to do it, to be active, because, in this way, we therapeutically work on several issues that are lost, out of step. That's why they often cling to the product and don't want to get rid of it”.
Production and independence
Sofia Campos tells that, in addition to the therapeutic issue, another point that emerged as a demand from the group itself was income generation. “They started to produce parts, people started to want to buy, which mobilized this issue. For some of them, this is the first time they are managing the fruit of their own work. It's even a time to learn to count”.
This maturation of the groups' artisanal and artistic production is already drawing the attention of people outside the Bahiana. “We formed a partnership with a company that donates to us retail and we also started to work with the concept of sustainability. This company is interested in offering our products for sale in their store, which leads us to discuss the implementation of an association or cooperative. This idea converges with the logic of Bahiana that works from the perspective of sustainability and social responsibility”, declares Sofia Campos.
Check out the photos.