HELLO IN THERE

Hello In There uses the arts to combat the health impacts of isolation by supporting the social participation and inclusion of seniors through workshops that engage them in storytelling and memory-sharing activities. Participants are provided with creative pathways that validate their life experience, connect them to their families and community, and equate to numerous mental and physical health benefits. For nearly a decade, the Hello in There program has centered on a question: Can the lives of seniors living in care facilities be enriched through creative engagement and arts programming? Since 2013, Common Weal, Founder and Project Artist Chrystene Ells, and a number of local artists have worked together to support the social participation of seniors through storytelling and memory-sharing arts activities.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the massive cracks in Canada’s long-term care system, but the segregation of seniors from community consciousness is something that our team has been navigating since the program’s inception. With access to long term care homes restricted, the program adapted as we connected with seniors living independently who faced isolation due to cancelled community programs. Program artists connected with seniors by phone, mail, and parcel delivery. Hours were spent listening to the stories of seniors, which informed a personalized artistic exchange inspired by the senior’s life. This opportunity to intimately connect and create together offered new insights and beautiful relational responses. Mutual exchanges took the form of song, poetry, drawing, writing, painting, cooking, and photography and were documented through a blog.

In the fall of 2020, the project continued to evolve when Chrystene Ells began a residency at William Booth Special Care Home and Grace Hospice. Chrystene and Berny Hi served independent seniors through individualized art packages and phone conversations. Building relationships and trust over the phone was challenging work, but as the months went on the seniors began to open up, share their stories, and make requests for art supplies they were eager to begin creating with.

Additionally, Chrystene began an important collaboration with Recreation Therapist Linda Ostryzniuk focused on case studies of individuals in palliative care at Grace Hospice. Chrystene first worked with seniors remotely using video conferencing and was eventually granted in-person access to for compassionate care, allowing her to support three women in their end of life journey. The intimate programming Chrystene created was responsive to each individual’s needs. She supported Lori in her dream of learning silk scarf painting, leaving legacy pieces for her family and friends. She sat with Edwina and talked about Star Trek while they built Trekkie dioramas that lifted her spirit and honoured her “inner nerd.” She listened to the Beatles alongside Glenda as she painted her way out of anxiety and into a place of peace. 

Throughout this work, the team documented the program’s impact, exploring opportunities  to implement recreation therapy assessment tools and develop advocacy and education around the benefits of arts therapy in long-term care facilities. This included inservices for recreational therapists that focused on the approach to and benefits of the program as well as best practices in working with professional artists, allowing us to develop capacity for care homes to take over longterm Hello in There programming. Linda and Chrystene also created a legacy resource to capture this learning, which was distributed following the close of the program. This approach was in keeping with our model of mentoring artists and/or institutions to present well-established programs independant of Common Weal. We’re pleased to know that we’ve contributed to a culture in which long-term care homes understand the importance of arts engagement for seniors at all stages. 

Over the past few years, weaving intergenerational components into the Hello In There program has been a priority, giving seniors a chance to connect with students from local schools. Students from Ethel Milliken School and residents of nearby Extendicare Sunset came together through eight months of artistic exchange led by Yasmin Dar. To initiate the connection, students created handmade, personalized holiday cards for every one of the 142 residents of Sunset. 12 of these seniors then continued the relationship by sending back hundreds of pages of personal stories to Carlie Brentnall’s grade seven students. Using the longstanding Hello In There model as a template, seniors shared life stories and memories with students who were developing their capacity for deep listening and relationship building. "At the heart of this project,” explained Yasmin, “is a multi-generational bridge where all individuals benefit by supporting one another while reaching out to their broader communities."

Seniors and students also met virtually, and many students made deep connections with the seniors, finding commonalities despite the generational gap. With Yasmin’s artistic support, students created  a three-dimensional artwork made especially for their senior “buddy” which featured the stories they’d shared. Yasmin hand-modeled figurines and miniature accessories specific to each senior’s stories, including a pack of Uno playing cards, a team of female basketball players, and a fragile white ballet tutu. She compiled personalized kits of these handmade objects, printed photos, and art supplies for each student to use in the construction of their sculpture. 

Accompanying each artwork, Yasmin selected important excerpts from the senior’s lives and created a panel of text to accompany the artworks. During a virtual chat, Mary Elder sat reading over the stories she’d shared with the students, now beautifully scripted through Yasmin’s care, becoming emotional as she recalled her life on the farm when she was young. These reflections brought back waves of memories for many of the seniors, reminding them of all they’d experienced and often prompting them to share more stories. Students and seniors continued to connect after the artworks were finished, and they celebrated their connection at a virtual reception where teachers, care home staff, and participants were able to share their gratitude for the collective efforts of all involved.

As the program began to reach its natural conclusion, those involved were eager to share its impact with a broad audience. Thus, in 2018, when Project Artist Berny Hi began mentoring emerging filmmakers from the University of Regina’s Department of Film, student Matthew Ripplinger joined the Hello in There team. After a year and a half of gathering footage with Berny, Matthew began editing a short film featuring the stories of select senior participants, highlighting the importance of providing our elders with creative pathways that validate their life experience, connect them to their families and community, and equate to numerous mental and physical health benefits. 

In the summer of 2021, we were pleased to premier the Hello in There short film at the Regina Public Library Film Theatre, followed by a discussion with Matthew and Berny. Sharing the film alongside reflections on the program were part of advocacy to encourage the integration of the arts into long-term care practices across Canada. Attendance at the screening was heartening and, in addition to being the first members of the public to view Hello in There, the audience also viewed short films showcasing the work of other North American organizations serving seniors through the arts. These included work by  Arts for the Aging (Maryland, USA), the Centre for Excellence on Longevity at McGill University (Montreal, QC), and the Vancouver Park Board (BC), all of whom are committed to providing collaborative arts experiences for seniors. Following the premier, Hello in There short film was uploaded to the Common Weal YouTube page and shared via social media as well as with participating care homes, seniors, and their families. Looking forward, Common Weal hopes to support Matthew in distributing the film to local festivals and seeking additional opportunities for dissemination.