Jubair - Art and nature as therapy for stroke recovery
Jubair [not his real name] is a man in his late 30’s who is currently seeking asylum in the UK. One night since arriving in the United Kingdom, whilst sleeping in his bed, Jubair awoke and realised that he was unable to move normally, or to control the right hand side of his body at all. He had suffered a stroke. Luckily, Jubair was able to alert his roommate to what had happened and they were able to get help quickly and to get Jubair to a hospital in a timely manner. This has meant that Jubair’s cognitive functioning has been maintained and after a number of weeks as an inpatient in the hospital, Jubair was finally able to return to the Asylum Centre. This experience has not been without its challenges for Jubair, who has always been right-handed and who now has reduced functioning down the right hand side of his body. This has meant that Jubair must now learn to use his left hand as his dominant hand, whilst slowly rehabilitating his right hand, in the hope that most of the function and control he has over his right hand side will return, although this cannot be guaranteed.
Jubair is now a regular attendee at our ‘Journey to Wellbeing’ project which operates at the centre where he resides. He enjoys participating in arts & crafts using different mediums of art including painting, drawing and collage as a form of physical therapy to develop his fine motor skills with his left (previously non-dominant) hand and to rehabilitate his right (previously dominant) hand, as well as using the sessions as a psychological therapy to support his self-expression, communicating and psychological wellbeing during a physically and emotionally demanding time. Jubair’s ability to draw, paint and add fine detail is slowly growing each week, as is Jubair’s confidence and self-esteem in his ability to achieve the outcomes he has planned. He has been able to use his previously non-dominant hand to plant very small seeds whilst using his previously dominant but now rehabilitating hand to hold pots steady and pour water. Jubair shows pride in the work
that he produces during the sessions, showcasing his art and his home grown produce each week to staff and other service users.
Special thank you to Jubair for his hard work and commitment to engaging with Vanclaron and achieving his full potential.
