Book Offers Hope for Change Through Research and Story, American Society for Clinical Pathology Features Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Special thanks to award winning editor, Ellen J. Sullivan, for featuring the recent article about the research text, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change, Editor, Cheryl McLean, Associate Editor, Robert Kelly published by Detselig Temeron Press, in the just released magazine Critical Values, Volume 3, Issue 3 pgs. 36 - 40.

Critical Values is the official magazine for The American Society for Clinical Pathology in Chicago and is sent to their 130,000 members across the nation working as pathologists and laboratory professionals. The article features news about the book and describes content referring to articles contributed by Johnny Saldana, a leader in the emerging genre "ethnodrama", Susan MacRae, formerly Deputy Director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics who uses narrative and story methods to help foster self expression and Kim Bullock MD family medicine and emergency room physician and Director of Community Health Division in the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington DC a physician who has used digital story methodologies as an approach for teaching and training medical students. The article also features a photograph of the collage installation that was used in developing "Remember Me for Birds" an ethnodrama about aging, mental health and autonomy.

A photo of the book cover created by artist James Dangerous is prominently featured and highlights the research text's contemporary approach and design.

"If you were to put your life under the microscope what would be the story behind the slide?"

The article begins with an interesting question, "If you were to put your life under the microscope what would be the story behind the slide?" This question opens the way for introspection and self examination through story to meaningfully and creatively explore the individual and the profession.

It is an unprecedented time of transition for the profession of pathology and laboratory medicine with an increasing demand for lab professionals to manage pivotal roles as scientists and creative problem solvers. Pathologists also take on additional roles as consultants, collaborators, teachers and communicators. This article featured in the American Society for Clinical Pathology magazine "Critical Values" helps demonstrate, through illustrative examples, the many ways the creative arts as applied in research and interdisciplinary practice could offer hope as the profession seeks to broadly communicate a multi faceted image while sharing the human stories behind the microscope and the lives behind the slides.


Check out the article now in Critical Values Magazine, American Society of Clinical Pathology

http://www.criticalvalues.org/cv_july-2010/index.html


use the navigation arrow and go to pgs. 36 - 40 to access the article. Or download the pdf at the website.



"Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change" published by Detselig Temeron Press will be released August 2010 to be followed by two additional research texts, "Creative Arts in Research for Community and Cultural Change" and "Story, Technology and Transformation" Ordering information: CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com

Cheryl McLean, Editor, CAIP Research Series.
CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com

Stories in Palliative Care, A Place for Creative Discovery and Self Expression

Posted by, Cheryl McLean, Publisher International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP
Editor, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice CAIP Research Series

It is well known that the creative arts can be helpful in health and healing in many ways.

How can drama and story help caregivers access and express stories for hope and change? In supportive work with caregivers and healthcare providers drama and story work can help facilitate a deep form of personal self discovery while fostering empathy and understanding. Performing drama influenced activities can also help caregivers and other healthcare providers reach within and access their own stories reflecting on the past while drawing actively on the creative and expressive capabilities of the body.

Through drama and story we be and we be/come, seeking to intimately know and understand, connecting with the sacred places of memory and the many stories that shape our present personal and professional identities. Embodied actions (drama exercises, enactments, performing monologues ) as well as writing personal narratives, may lead to epiphanies or resonating rediscoveries which awaken us deeply to new meanings and purpose. Narratives and stories that spring from this kind of active exploration often reflect a sense of discovery and immediacy and the process can be as rich and evocative for the writer as it is for those who are privileged to learn and witness through the performance experience.

I had a special opportunity on June 9 to present as a keynote speaker at the 16^th Annual Spring Palliative Care Conference presented by The North Simcoe Muskoka Palliative Care network. (NSMPCN) I have presented may times for palliative care professionals and bereavement organizations and I was most pleased to see that the North Simcoe Muskoka Palliative Care network was arranging a conference specifically around the theme,“Stories in Palliative Care”.

This conference, arranged by the Conference Planning Task Group of the NSMPCN Education Standing Committee and supported by the Ontario North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network, also featured speakers; Maureen Thornton, Nurse Educator and Practice Leader Geriatric Services, Challenges of Serious Mental Illness combined with Palliative Diagnosis, Kerry Berhalter-Whalen,Client Care Coordinator for the NSMPCN, Overcoming the Challenges, Making a Difference, Jennifer Jilks, (who provided palliative care to her mother at home and her father in long term care) Living and Dying with Dignity: A Daughter's Journey through Long-term Care" and humorist and cartoonist Mike Moore, "Laugh More Live Longer".

<sup>My keynote presentation (l hr. 15) “Living Stories of Hope and Change” is delivered in a narrative style , a collection of “tellings”…made up of illustrative and linked stories that draw on personal experiences as well as true stories of my clients and caregivers as well as other dramatic examples of story used in research and practice by researchers and health professionals. In sharing these authentic accounts and narratives through story with audiences I perform and show how personal stories and lived experiences can be communicated in multi sensory ways, embodied physically in role, performed in monologues and presented in poetry and through ritual. A Power Point Presentation and film clips from the research based performance, “Remember Me for Birds” support the presentation with dramatic examples and offer an intimate glimpse into the real lives of persons living in residential care and their caregivers. I also support the presentation with illustrative research examples drawn from the text, “Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change", (editor, Cheryl McLean, Associate Editor, Robert Kelly, Detselig Temeron Press). The goal is to help audiences directly experience how narratives and stories are shaped within a contextual framework which draws on past and personal history, life changing events and present environment while learning about the importance of accessing, expressing and witnessing personal stories to help illuminate the lives of individuals as whole persons be they patients, caregivers or other healthcare professionals. The talk concludes with time for closure, questions and discussion. This presentation is particularly well suited for healthcare organizations (palliative care, hospice, aging, mental health) and is followed by the workshop “Honouring Life Creating Your Own Stories of Hope and Change”…which is an experiential opportunity for health professionals to take part in “step by step” drama and story based activities while working together within a community of peers to access, create and express their own stories.


Cheryl McLean was recently awarded a Harrison McCain Visiting Professorship at Acadia University, Nova Scotia.  She is editor of the CAIP Research Series, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Creative Arts for Community and Cultural Change and Creative Arts in Humane Medicine, Brush Education, Edmonton.</sup>

Info: CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com

Presentation Raises Awareness about Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice for Change

Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Shaping Change, Transforming Communities

Presenter: Cheryl McLean

Cheryl McLean is an independent scholar, educator and executive editor and publisher of The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice IJCAIP and editor of The CAIP Research Series and books, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Inquiries for Hope and Change" and "Creative Arts in Research for Community and Cultural Change" (Associate Editor, Dr. Robert Kelly, University of Calgary, Published by Detselig Temeron Books, Calgary). In her current presentation Cheryl speaks about the vital role of the creative arts in contemporary research and interdisciplinary practice shaping change and transforming communities. Drawing on leading edged research and the creative arts in practice, this compelling talk demonstrates (through topical research examples, stories, narratives, monologues, poetry and film) how the arts applied across disciplines can help foster quality of life while addressing some of the most critical social issues of our modern times.

Cheryl McLean M.A. has a background in academic publishing and journalism,Adult Education and Social Sciences (Social Science, University of Western Ontario, London) mental health and the arts (MA Concordia University, Montreal). In her graduate work and research she studied Creative Arts Therapies and acting (Stanislavski/realism) under the mentorship of Dr. Muriel Gold, formerly the Artistic Director of the Saidye Bronfman Theatre, Montreal and worked as a group therapist with older persons in mental health in residential care with Maimonides Jewish Geriatric Hospital and The Rene Cassin Institute of Social Gerontology. She wrote the “ethnodrama” script “Remember Me for Birds” about aging, mental health and autonomy based on data gathered in research and true stories (a number of her clients were Holocaust survivors) and toured, performed as a solo actor, in keynote solo performances for national conferences, universities and medical schools in Canada and the U.S. (among them The National Association of Drama Therapy,Rhode Island, Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work Educators' National Conference,Congress of the Humanities, McGill Medical School, McGill Division of Geriatric Medicine) She has taught the course "Creative Responses in Death and Bereavement" at The University of Western Ontario, London and has presented about the creative arts in research and interdisciplinary practice for health research and university based creative arts programmes as well as organizations in healthcare, hospice,palliative care and bereavement and recently presented for The Dietitians' of Canada National Conference and The University of British Columbia, UBC, Okanagan. Her research based ethnodrama was produced as an educational film in 2006.

An agent of change and longtime arts advocate, as publisher of IJCAIP and Editor of the CAIP Research Series, Cheryl McLean continues to publish new research in the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice to help shape the emerging international field raising awareness about the vital role the arts have to play for hope and change in communities worldwide.

Information: CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com Booking now for 2011-12