Residents Flourish Through the Healing Power of Music and Art Therapy

Music and Art Therapy Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hu7teBtfugsSS4S4IVUSYKIY7m-Ix4MH/view?usp=sharing

Susie Redd started out singing in church when she was five years old. She continues to this day, participating as part of a choral group, and in music therapy at Kempton of Charleston. The premier senior living community in Charleston, South Carolina, offers assisted living, memory care, respite care, rehab, and skilled care.

Music and art therapy are each offered at Kempton of Charleston as ways of helping seniors improve their emotional well-being, stimulate their minds, reduce stress, interact with others, and provide joy through self-expression.

“With music therapy, there is lots of movement and cognitive stimulation to help with memory, recollection and lots of opportunities for socialization,” says Jessica Zieche of Charleston Music Therapy, who provides the therapy.

The choral group, which residents spearheaded, recently sang a program of holiday tunes for their fellow-residents and staff. The group is made up of singers like Redd, who reside in assisted living.

With a guitar strung around her neck, Zieche also visits memory care, short-term rehabilitation and skilled care areas of the community, where she sings one-on-one with residents. Residents request such familiar tunes as “You Are My Sunshine,” and “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” which Zieche happily sings and invites residents to join.

Even if residents in memory care are non-verbal, Zieche can see that hearing music enlivens them. “Music helps them to be social,” she says. “They get up and dance. There is a lot of exercise in doing that.”

For members of the senior living community’s choral group, which is currently planning their next performance, their participation gives them a sense of purpose and benefits their overall well-being. “It gives them an opportunity to be part of a social group with a collective purpose,” Zieche says. “Before the holiday performance, they all were talking about what they were going to wear.”

Another member of the group is resident Richard Donohue, who has played the English horn and traveled the world singing in a choir. He was a member of the Huguenot Church Choir and for the Welsh North American Association. He enjoys being part of the singing group and remembering the happiness music has brought him throughout his life. “It’s fun to sing old songs that I grew up singing,” he says. “I remember singing with my family in the car on road trips as a child.”

Art Therapy

Art therapist Madeline Centracchio, program coordinator with the Arts and Healing Division of the Medical University of South Charleston, is also a frequent visitor to Kempton of Charleston. There, she holds weekly 45-minute art therapy sessions with residents of memory care.

“Each week is different,” she says. “Some weeks, we do an individual art project; sometimes, we do a group project such as a mural.”

Working on a group project builds a sense of unity and accomplishment among residents. “It creates a sense of community because you are all working on a common goal, but you leave your own mark,” she says.

Centracchio uses various materials including markers, oil paint, pencils, watercolors, clay, and pastels. The residents choose the colors and materials which helps them feel empowered. “You can’t always choose the medicine you have to take, but you can choose the colors you want to use,” Centracchio says.

Concentrating on creating an artwork also helps residents forget any stresses they may be feeling. “Their focus is on something different [than their worries],” she says. “They are able to set those worries aside for a little bit.”

Centracchio, like Zieche, sees the transformative power of art as residents tackle new projects. She appreciates how they support one another, even if it is just by noticing the work another person is doing.

“If they are sitting in a group sometimes they really notice each other,” she says. “I will see someone looking at another person’s drawing and smile, or they will say ‘Wow.’”

Seeing them interacting is one of the benefits of art therapy. “It’s so sweet to see them engage in the art process and to engage with each other,” she says. “You can feel that sense of community and joy that comes with playing with art materials.”

Kempton of Charleston

Kempton of Charleston is nestled amid the charming environs of Charleston, South Carolina—named by online financial firm WalletHub as the top place to retire in the U.S. With a range of amenities under one roof, and close to Charleston’s many cultural offerings, dining and shopping, Kempton offers premier assisted living, memory care, respite care, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing. Kempton of Charleston is owned and operated by Liberty Senior Living, LLC, a division of Liberty Healthcare Management that specializes in senior living and retirement communities. To learn more about Kempton of Charleston visit www.KemptonOfCharleston.com. To learn more about Liberty Senior Living and the communities they offer, please visit www.LibertySeniorLiving.com