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Informed Aging
A podcast about health, help, and hard decisions for older adults.
Informed Aging
Episode 116: Caregiving Through Creativity
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Can art help reduce caregiver stress, improve communication, and create meaningful connections for people living with dementia? In this episode, Robin Rountree sits down with ADRC's new art therapist, Jean Taras, to explore the powerful role creativity can play in the dementia journey.
Jean explains how art therapy helps people express thoughts and emotions when words become difficult, why simple activities like doodling and Zentangle can ease stress and anxiety, and how creative projects can open the door to important conversations between caregivers and their loved ones. She also shares practical, low-cost ways to bring more art into everyday life—no artistic talent required.
Whether you're a caregiver, a person living with dementia, or simply looking for new ways to find calm and connection, this episode offers creative inspiration and actionable ideas to try right away.
Speaker 3: [00:00:00] Welcome to Informed Aging, a podcast about health, help, and hard decisions for older adults. I'm Robin Rountree. I'm a former family caregiver. I've worked in the home care industry, and now work for the Alzheimer's & Dementia Resource Center. The thoughts and opinions expressed on this podcast belong to me and my guest, not our wonderful employers and sponsors.
Before making any significant changes in your life or your person's life, please consult your own experts. Today we're gonna be talking with ADRC's newest team member, certified art therapist, Jean Terris. What is art therapy? I wasn't quite sure when she came to work here, so I figured I'd better find out, and she's gonna explain it to me and to you right after this [00:01:00]
Robin Rountree: We are back talking with [00:02:00] my new coworker, Jean Terras. How are you?
Jean Taras: I am good. Honored to be on the podcast.
Robin Rountree: Oh, well, I'm glad to have you here and for you to explain what you're bringing. I know you're bringing a lot to us, and just by working with you for the short time, I'm like, "Oh, she's good."
Mm. But yeah. So you're an art therapist.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: What does that mean?
Jean Taras: basically in therapy sessions, we're using art to communicate instead of relying on words. So it works really well with people with, who have had strokes, any kind of
brain injury, which leads to the dementia, Alzheimer's, because they struggle for words.
Robin Rountree: Ah.
Jean Taras: So that is something that we can communicate. It's really more about what was the process like? Did you feel relaxed or anxious from doing that? And then what is the story behind what you've created?
Robin Rountree: So you have, like, a degree?
Jean Taras: Yes. I have a double master's, in art therapy and clinical mental health, which I feel like [00:03:00] goes hand-in-hand because there is- Ah ... the psychological aspect to it, which really also helps with seeing people's triggers and finding out, you know, I don't diagnose, but I can certainly pick up on struggles that somebody is having.
Robin Rountree: So how would, how would that work? You would sit me down and put art materials in front of me? I have absolutely no idea.
Jean Taras: You're, like, my perfect person because I don't want an artist. I'm an artist myself, and we are the worst clients because we're perfectionists. Mm-hmm.
I would give you a directive, and that's what I'm similarly doing in my support groups now, which they love. And it would be something like, so say you were stuck in your career. It would be a directive that would be focused on that, and I would have you draw it, and usually with that, there's pieces to it that we would add and just discuss.
The best way I like to describe what I do is a father and son are outside playing ball, and they're throwing the ball, and they're talking, and nobody's focusing on the conversation, but the flow is there.
Robin Rountree: Oh.
Jean Taras: So when you're making [00:04:00] the art, like I play music with my art, it just relaxes the atmosphere.
It's especially great with people who are non-verbal and getting a response, and especially with kids as well. So art therapy isn't limited to kids.
It's especially for people with the brain injuries, with the stroke, the dementia, the Alzheimer's, and it also can be triggering in a good way depending on materials you use.
Robin Rountree: So I'm wondering- Mm-hmm ... if you've got a tough discussion to have, as we often do, we talk about those hard decisions in this podcast, would somehow working with art Be a way to enter into that conversation, like you're working on something else, but then you talk about this hard thing.
Jean Taras: Like if we go back to the career, so it's about decisions. So s- the directive I would use is it's called draw a road. And it's what does that road look like? Where do you find yourself on that road? What is in the horizon? And it's amazing what people do with that because some [00:05:00] people draw a road across the paper.
Some do it more like three-dimensional, and it really is telling where do they see themselves. Some people put them, they can't even put themselves on that road.
Robin Rountree: Hmm.
Jean Taras: And that's like, "Okay, so what is the direction?" That will take me into a whole other topic which is, all right, we need to figure out where your happiness lies.
Like what is your passion?
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: So it opens up doors.
Robin Rountree: So would that help with the conversation with, "Mom, you know, you're at a certain age. You're getting older. What do you see, what do you see your future? What does that look like?"
Jean Taras: but it's also important to dig into the past, like what did you enjoy?
Hmm. So I think I would start in like where is your happy place? And let's start there and see what elements are in that image that you're creating. and it can even be like, mountains. Okay, so from- Okay ... yeah, that's gonna lead me to where do you think you would like to live?
Or maybe they're isolated, or maybe they're in a big crowded city.
Robin Rountree: Right, and I think that could come out a lot better with the art-
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm ...
Robin Rountree: than, [00:06:00] "Mom, it's time to put you in a home. You're moving down the street." Yeah. that's a little abrupt.
Jean Taras: Yeah.
Robin Rountree: So that's a, a great idea to- Mm-hmm ... start the conversation, and you can say "Mom, I heard about this thing.
let's just both draw what we consider our happy place."
Jean Taras: Absolutely, and then, yeah, the collective drawing is even better where that if you are going in as a caregiver too, it's not so pressured. You know, if you're both creating art at the sa- I always create with my clients. Mm. So if we're sitting o- one on one, I'm making, and not necessarily what they're doing, but I feel like it just takes the pressure off.
So if you're going in with your mom, and you're concerned, I'm gonna give a, an assignment to both of you to do to work on. Nice. or do a c- a joint, image, picture.
Robin Rountree: Okay. And we're not judging?
Jean Taras: There's no judgment. It's not about skill set. It's what are you experiencing. So that brings me to why I didn't go into teaching, which is what my BA is in- Mm
fine arts and teaching, art education, my, I was [00:07:00] doing field work for my undergrad, and I was in the classroom, and I realized where my shift came. I'm watching the kids coming in from recess like Tasmanian devils, just absolutely crazy, and within 10 minutes of that art class, how quiet it got.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: So I was like, "That's what I'm interested in," , and I'm like, "There's something bigger here."
Robin Rountree: There is something bigger there. Mm-hmm. And, not too long ago, I dipped my toe into this art thing, and I got myself a very, very simple, watercolor book- Mm-hmm ... where it's already penciled in, and I just watercolor.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: and let me tell you, it helped me so much focus on something other than everything in my brain.
Jean Taras: Absolutely, and I'd like to share something that happened in my support group this morning, was we were talking about repetitive conversations. Mm. There was a lot of frustration with a few of the people that were talking about their spouses who just repeat, and we were doing Zentangling this morning, and I said, "See what I just showed you?"
Which is, Zentangle is just repeat pattern making, [00:08:00] and it really is a decompression tool that I like to give to my clients and just share that, especially with caregivers. So I said, This "This is the perfect example. Your husband is sitting here repeating the same story for an hour to you, and you're so frustrated.
What are you doing in that moment?" She's like, "Well, I've found if, if we're in the car and he's doing it, I can put the radio on really low and focus." I said, "So you're home, you're gonna take out your notebook and start drawing something." So it's that distraction which is so great. You're still able to listen to the conversation, but now I'm taking your brain, it's gonna relax you, it's gonna make you not hyper-focused on him, but able to still hear the conversation, but you're gonna be more relaxed.
Robin Rountree: And you said shapes, so it's, you're maybe just drawing a circle- Doodling ... over and over?
Jean Taras: Circles are really, really relaxing and calming, and you just do different color circles, and just you will create an entire page, and it's just circles.
Robin Rountree: Yeah.
Jean Taras: But at the same time you're like, "This is so..." It's [00:09:00] calming.
Robin Rountree: Yeah.
Jean Taras: No artistic skill, I think everybody knows how to draw a circle.
Robin Rountree: Right. It's the squares that are hard 'cause the straight lines.
Jean Taras: Squares are a little more challenging.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: I love bringing tools to the table and having like, yeah, try this next time he's in your ear and you don't wanna be rude and you, you are grateful for him being present enough to be talking, but you don't know what to do with this-
repetitiveness.
Robin Rountree: Yeah, you don't wanna sit there and twiddle your thumbs- Yeah ... But yeah, I wouldn't be mad if you were doodling and occasionally giving me the eye contact and the uh-huh.
Jean Taras: Yeah. And think about it, like I always say, when you were in school, how many doodling on your notebooks did you have?
- It came to me in the group, like, this is a great resource for them to, to use,
That they're present, maybe not 100% mentally, but they're helping themselves as well, and that's caregiving is like we're trying to- Yeah ... navigate that.
Robin Rountree: Yeah. So if you can put a little bit of your brain focused on something else instead of something that makes your shoulders go up to your ears, then that's- I
Jean Taras: know
Robin Rountree: amazing.
Jean Taras: Yeah, and yeah, they didn't think about that, and I'm like, [00:10:00] "See?"
Robin Rountree: And everybody's got- Mm-hmm ... a pen and a back of an envelope or something. It doesn't have to be an easel and the whole art set up,
Jean Taras: And the, the envelope is a perfect example. Trace the folds in the envelope and just start doing lines.
Lines are the same thing as the circle. So if you're taking and just tracing where, you know, the seal is and then the connecting pieces, like, just trace it and you have a, an amazing design.
And that's what I talk about the artwork in my office that I have, that is years of the zentangling, and I can tell you where I was, at what time making that one. And it's like my journal. and what I did was, like going into a new chapter in my life, I'm like, "No, I'm gonna make some art out of it," and then I shredded them into pieces and did a little weaving.
And, you know, it's like upcycling, but it's like such a purpose for me. It was a new chapter. I'm like, "Okay."
Robin Rountree: Okay. So you said it was like journaling.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: So if somebody has a hard time, 'cause we hear journaling is so great, but you could have an art journal?
Jean Taras: Absolutely. [00:11:00] I have four of them.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: The difference is you have blank page versus lines on the page. There's tons and tons of, like zentangling artists. I like to incorporate my own, whether I'm using their pattern with my color. and just, I started creating.
And mainly, I have the TV on at night in the background, and I am drawing. Wow. And it is so relaxing, I have to say. Probably should take my blood pressure because it really does bring it down.
Robin Rountree: So rather than scrolling-
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm ...
Robin Rountree: and we all do it.
Jean Taras: Oh, yeah
Robin Rountree: Right. But when three hours have passed, not maybe the best use of your time.
Yeah.
Jean Taras: Yes ...
Robin Rountree: and then put that down
Jean Taras: Use your hands ... and make
Robin Rountree: something.
Jean Taras: And with the journaling end of it, which I tell, my patients in the hospital that I work at as well, i'm like, "Get it out of your system." So you're in this hospital, you're not able to make phone calls all the time, you have all of this pent up.
Write the letter you're never gonna send. Ooh. So that's is considered art therapy, is journaling as well. So writing that out, writing the words. What are the 10 words coming to your mind about [00:12:00] this person right now? Write it down. When you get out of here, you wanna burn it, run it over with your car, like, but get it off of you, and it's really powerful, powerful stuff.
Robin Rountree: That's incredible.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: And then when you came to work here, you did this wonderful flier about caregivers in the arts. And wow, because obviously at ADRC, the Alzheimer's & Dementia Resource Center, we're here for the caregivers, and we're trying to make their job easier. We can't take over for them, but trying to give them little tips, but art can really have an impact
Talk to me about that.
Jean Taras: I mean, I've seen it from all different angles. It's really powerful. it's tougher with an audience that isn't into the art, but I also say you have to try it. in the classes I just teach in general, it's always trial and error, so they may never have tried pastels, and they may hate it.
It's a sensory issue, so you get it, but it's trial and error. But I do think that anyone who [00:13:00] loves music, anybody who's creative and uses their hands for anything, I don't see a reason why art shouldn't be incorporated in some respect.
Knitting is considered a ... You know, think about this. Yeah. Gardening. Oh. That's all part of that creative expressive arts. Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: Okay. I hadn't thought about gardening, but I guess- Mm-hmm ... you're planning how you want it to look in the future.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm, touching earth.
Robin Rountree: Yeah.
Jean Taras: There's a lot of benefits to gardening, planting, things like that.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: Seeing things grow. Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: All right. So on this flier, you put that research shows that creative activities can help caregivers. 80% of studies reported improvements in stress.
Jean Taras: Yeah, and that's part of the Zentangling thing, and I speak from my experience, 'cause I don't do things that I haven't tried once.
but the Zentangle, like the repetitiveness, it's kind of mindless. Once you get down what you wanna do, like the pattern making, it's ... It doesn't require a lot of thought, and then it's like the same concept as the journaling where you're [00:14:00] writing out. You're releasing it, that physical ... Don't type the letter.
Mm. Physically write it. I don't care if you can't do script. It's something with the movement but that, those are true statistics. I mean, they- Yeah ... I worked with a group , and we're doing, a s- like a emoji check-in. What are you feeling right now? And then at the end of the class, what are you feeling now?
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: So it's more like, let's focus on your emotion-
Robin Rountree: Right ...
Jean Taras: and how are you feeling after you've made this art?
And I've used it with kids as well, and that's the part of the non-verbal, which is so important. I also adapted it for Spanish-speaking as well, and you know, it's just, it's across the board.
People know what an emoji is, and it's like- Right ... let's focus in.
Robin Rountree: Okay. So that may be a good check-in for yourself, at the start of the day. What's my emoji?
Jean Taras: Yeah.
Robin Rountree: And then as you go through the day, what am I feeling?
Jean Taras: Absolutely. And the creative lens, too, going back to the hospital, in s- a psych ward it's a little more difficult.
Robin Rountree: Hmm.
Jean Taras: I will challenge them in a group and ask them, like, [00:15:00] "What does your weather look like today?" So it's pause for thought, because they're like, "Well, what does snow look like?"
And I'm like, "Well, what does that feel like?" You know, so it opens up the conversation. Or, like, if you had to pick a color today to name your mood, what color would it be?
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: And, somebody may say gray and explain it in one way, and gray feels like this to me. So it's really, like, that's where your creative juices are flowing.
Like, wow, I never thought about that. Okay.
Robin Rountree: . So in another study, 69% reported improvements in anxiety.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: That's beautiful. 57% reported reductions in caregiver burden.
Jean Taras: The burden and the guilt.
Robin Rountree: Mm.
Jean Taras: So the burden is, like, the everyday stress that goes along with it. But I think etching out, I mean, 10 to 15 minutes a day, whether it's, you know, they're sleeping, and you're able just to doodle.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: I mean, you've seen movies where there's just like these people are just scribbling and scribbling. Like, there's a, there's a reason for it.
Robin Rountree: Okay This is a tough [00:16:00] question.
But what's happening in our brain? Is it a different part of the brain being activated by looking at art and doing art?
Jean Taras: definitely. It's something that's, it's not woken up. So it's like the difference between looking at a math equation and then shifting over to a Monet. It's like, it's almost like a softening-
Robin Rountree: Hmm
Jean Taras: doesn't require a lot of thinking. I don't have to get that other thing, you know, the wheels turning.
Robin Rountree: Right.
Jean Taras: And then it's just, like, peaceful and easy. But that's not everybody either. Some people find math peaceful. So it's finding your, where's your happy place, really.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: And especially if it's something that, I like to equate it that, what were you happiest doing in your childhood?
Robin Rountree: Hmm.
Jean Taras: So that's why sometimes, like, I'll bring out the crayons.
Not my favorite medium to use, but sometimes... And I always get, "This is bringing me back."
Robin Rountree: Mm-hmm.
Jean Taras: Play-Doh is another one of those that you can use with clients, Oh, the smell, I remember. You know- Yeah ... things that you remember. Yeah. So it's the sensory end of it.
Robin Rountree: . So, art making for the person living with [00:17:00] dementia.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: Is it more than just a, an activity to pass the time?
Jean Taras: I like to look at it as, like, memory making.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: And that's something we're trying to get together, is an art box that I will be initiating. and I think I'm gonna do it seasonally.
but it's really about the engagement, and it'll be mixed-up materials and how they're able to share with each other.
And I also say if you fail the first time, please go back, because it is ... It can be mood based. I know for myself as an artist, I'm tonight not going home and making art. I have to be in that mindset. I think it's the same with the caregivers, and that let's find that 10 minutes. Or maybe they know a time of the day where their person is, is more relaxed, or, you know, when can I sit and actually, like, focus on this with them?
I think the key, like we have with the music box, is doing it as a connecting piece.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: So now we're hoping that with the art end of it.
Robin Rountree: Yeah. And so music and arts kind of definitely go together.
Jean Taras: [00:18:00] Absolutely.
Robin Rountree: And you are taking over, the Music Box Initiative.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: Mm-hmm. What, what are you getting from that so far?
Jean Taras: So putting together playlists for people, so we go to when they were 15 years old, what year was it? Then I usually just ask what were some of their favorite artists. But, I'm going and compiling a list of 20 songs.
But, and then I create a playlist in YouTube for them, which is something I just added this week, and it's already people are like, "Thank you for doing that." Yeah.
... And now I'm just trying to expand it where what other instruments can we incorporate in that? 'Cause I do think, like, something piano, like keyboardy would be really handy. Yeah.
Robin Rountree: All right. Complete this sentence: If I want to incorporate more art into my life and I have $5, what do I do?
Jean Taras: I'm going to Dollar Tree.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: You could buy literally, a can of, shaving cream.
Robin Rountree: Okay. [00:19:00]
Jean Taras: You can buy one little thing of, the paint, so now we're up to, like, 2.50.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: Tempera paint 'cause you can wash it out. You do a couple of drops into the, shaving cream, and you kind of do, like, a swirl. You can use, like, a skewer or a chopstick. So you could ideally spread it. A tin is good.
Robin Rountree: Okay.
Jean Taras: You buy, a little tin, spray the foam all over it, drop the paint, and then you're using a pencil, a chopstick, a skewer, and you're drawing in that.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: It smells great.
Robin Rountree: Yeah.
Jean Taras: And it actually'll dry, it's kind of funky when it dries, but if you do do that and you put a piece of construction paper underneath it, when it evaporates, you'll have, like, color onto the paper.
Robin Rountree: Oh, that's cool.
Jean Taras: So it's really cool. It's a lot of fun.
Robin Rountree: All right. So it's not, this does not take genius level.
Mm-mm. And again, we are not looking for perfection.
Jean Taras: Nope.
Robin Rountree: It's just the experience of creating.
Jean Taras: We, when I was working with Share the Care, we were trying to bring some art. This was clay-based. I work with a [00:20:00] friend of mine. and I said, "No, we need to do, like, w- a break from clay one week." We brought in Matchbox cars, and we would have them dip it in paint and dr- like drive the cars on the paper.
Oh, wow. I used to do that with little kids. Sometimes with this population you need to kind of think that, like, capability wise and not overwhelming. Um, loved it. Nice. And they made such amazing pieces of art with it, just driving their car on the paper, dipping it in different col- yeah. Wow. Could do with a golf ball, too, and you kind of maneuver a golf ball around, marbles.
Robin Rountree: Wow.
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm. Simple drips of paint.
Robin Rountree: So everyone needs more art in their life.
Jean Taras: I can't speak for everybody, you know? Right. There's World Cup, there's art. No. I mean, there's just different personalities. It really is. But I think you should try it. That's all I would say is give it a shot.
Yeah. Even today in my group, reluctant. I had a couple, couple reluctant people, and I never push. I'm like, "You know what? You can just observe."
Robin Rountree: Yeah.
Jean Taras: And even in the hospital where I was, they ... I'd [00:21:00] have people just come to group to listen to music, and you'd be amazed how many people would pick up that pencil after they heard the song they loved.
Robin Rountree: Really?
Jean Taras: Mm-hmm.
Robin Rountree: Yeah. All right. So more music, more art.
Jean Taras: Absolutely.
Robin Rountree: We might get those shoulders away from our ears.
Jean Taras: I know.
Robin Rountree: And if you wanna know more about her, keep an eye on the ADRC website. once we have these new programs up and running, you can find out more.
Jean Taras: Thank you, Robin
Speaker 2: Please make sure to subscribe to our podcast, Informed Aging, and tell your family and friends about us. Also, in our show notes, you're gonna find out more information on Zentangling and the Music Box Initiative. Today's episode was recorded at ADRC's podcast studio. You can find us at facebook.com/InformedAging.
That's it for now. We're looking forward to our next visit