Matt Frye/
Marilynn Demers, co-owner of Naturally Yours, provides art therapy for in-home hospice care residents through her Liberty business.
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Hospice art therapy
Liberty woman helps clients process grief through art
By: Natalie Shelton
A wheelchair-bound patient with ALS once told Kendallwood Hospice administrator Mary Reichert at his long-term care facility that people were probably wondering about his mobility.
“He told me, ‘I have two legs. One is this facility; one is hospice,’” she said. “It felt good to hear that. When you embark on alternative forms of therapy, you sometimes wonder if they’re truly making a difference.”
Therapists from Kendallwood Hospice in Riverside visit him throughout the week at his long-term care facility. One of those is an art therapist, and at the time he spoke to Reichert, they were both at a gallery showing of his art.
His progression as an accomplished artist was made possible by Kendallwood Hospice’s art therapy program, which is led by Marilynn Demers of Liberty, who co-owns Naturally Yours Inc. Traveling Art Therapy with her husband, Roland Demers.
“He’s been with our program the longest amount of time,” Marilynn Demers said. “He went from thinking he had no artistic ability — his first work was more primitive — and now he displays beautiful art.”
Reichert and Demers met four years ago at a conference and learned they shared a passion for developing traditional hospice art therapy programs — which focus more on allowing caregivers and family members, not the patients, to share their emotions through art — into a client-based program.
“It allows them to relive good memories and work through past bad memories,” Reichert said. “We’ve made it very client-focused so they can process their grief and help them enjoy their life.”
Demers, who has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Washburn University and a master’s degree in art therapy from Emporia State University, began Naturally Yours five years ago.
The business has blossomed in those five years, and she now employs two full-time and two part-time therapists. She’s a certified art therapist and is supervising them gain the hours they need to become certified as well. A new designation will soon allow persons to earn a supervisor certification, which she plans to earn.
She said the art therapists help their clients ease into art by starting with collages. Their work may then progress into drawings with pencils, including colored ones, and craypas. Some then master painting with watercolors, acrylics and oils. Their works range from abstracts, landscapes, flowers and animals.
Reichert said Demers’ program affects the patients as a whole.
“Some have anger issues from what they’re dealing with, and the art seems to make them more amiable to their overall care,” she said. “It seems to calm them and make them feel better. There’s a significant change in their overall quality of life.”
Reichert said one patient’s granddaughter took a leave of absence from work to care for her and couldn’t believe how her grandmother had changed after expressing her emotions through art.
“She started telling all these stories after she would have her art therapy,” Reichert said. “She gave her granddaughter a family history she wasn’t aware of, so the granddaughter started keeping a journal to pass on to family members.”
Staff writer Natalie Shelton can be reached at 781-4941 or nshelton@npgco.com.
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“He told me, ‘I have two legs. One is this facility; one is hospice,’” she said. “It felt good to hear that. When you embark on alternative forms of therapy, you sometimes wonder if they’re truly making a difference.”
Therapists from Kendallwood Hospice in Riverside visit him throughout the week at his long-term care facility. One of those is an art therapist, and at the time he spoke to Reichert, they were both at a gallery showing of his art.
His progression as an accomplished artist was made possible by Kendallwood Hospice’s art therapy program, which is led by Marilynn Demers of Liberty, who co-owns Naturally Yours Inc. Traveling Art Therapy with her husband, Roland Demers.
“He’s been with our program the longest amount of time,” Marilynn Demers said. “He went from thinking he had no artistic ability — his first work was more primitive — and now he displays beautiful art.”
Reichert and Demers met four years ago at a conference and learned they shared a passion for developing traditional hospice art therapy programs — which focus more on allowing caregivers and family members, not the patients, to share their emotions through art — into a client-based program.
“It allows them to relive good memories and work through past bad memories,” Reichert said. “We’ve made it very client-focused so they can process their grief and help them enjoy their life.”
Demers, who has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Washburn University and a master’s degree in art therapy from Emporia State University, began Naturally Yours five years ago.
The business has blossomed in those five years, and she now employs two full-time and two part-time therapists. She’s a certified art therapist and is supervising them gain the hours they need to become certified as well. A new designation will soon allow persons to earn a supervisor certification, which she plans to earn.
She said the art therapists help their clients ease into art by starting with collages. Their work may then progress into drawings with pencils, including colored ones, and craypas. Some then master painting with watercolors, acrylics and oils. Their works range from abstracts, landscapes, flowers and animals.
Reichert said Demers’ program affects the patients as a whole.
“Some have anger issues from what they’re dealing with, and the art seems to make them more amiable to their overall care,” she said. “It seems to calm them and make them feel better. There’s a significant change in their overall quality of life.”
Reichert said one patient’s granddaughter took a leave of absence from work to care for her and couldn’t believe how her grandmother had changed after expressing her emotions through art.
“She started telling all these stories after she would have her art therapy,” Reichert said. “She gave her granddaughter a family history she wasn’t aware of, so the granddaughter started keeping a journal to pass on to family members.”
Staff writer Natalie Shelton can be reached at 781-4941 or nshelton@npgco.com.