Another Interlude: Therapeutic Photography
'Even' by Alfred Drury,
City Square, Leeds
When we first started taking woodland walks and felt better for doing so, albeit in an undefined way, I took notice of reports about green therapy in social media. Subsequently, I learnt a bit about the Japanese practice of forest bathing and about several NHS mental-health initiatives based on outdoor, nature-based therapies. I discovered enough to know that the benefits we were experiencing were ‘real’ and, somehow, that knowledge seemed to make them more beneficial, more substantial. But, unusually for me, I didn’t dive further into the written research, I stuck to the practical! I wanted to experience the benefits, rather than spend time with my head in a book or on the internet, learning about their potential. And something similar is happening with my photography and the mental-health practice of Therapeutic Photography.
Initially, I realised that my photography has a feel-good factor, more than I could attribute to just taking nice pictures of nice places; then I saw an item on the BBC website about the way photography was helping former soldiers with PTSD; next I read an article by practitioner Judy Weiser, paying attention to her belief that photography can increase awareness of the way one’s “inner value system, beliefs, expectations and attitudes shape how one communicates” and that it can help one “make sense of the world and one’s place within it.” (The latter is certainly happening for me; I do feel photography is helping me make more sense of the world around me – a valuable outcome amid this pandemic). And again, like green therapy, I've chosen to dive in – to start experiencing the benefits – not delay them by simply reading about the potential.
But I feel there’s more I can learn from these past examples …
My photography in the 70s/80s was self-taught and self-explored whereas I decided to learn from the experts when I took up digital photography, to learn it properly, and I benefitted massively from this decision. So, taking this pattern and applying it to the therapeutic possibilities, whilst my approach to green therapy has been self-taught, maybe therapeutic photography will deliver greater benefits if I learn from experts.
Well, that’s the decision I’ve come to. And I’ve signed up for short, online course with Ruth Davey, starting in October, aimed at 'Mindfulness Photography for Mental Health and Resilience'.
Fingers crossed it's …
#Art For Recovery