Maeve Butler, Assistant Director, Waterford Healing Arts Trust 

Maeve Butler is Assistant Director of Waterford Healing Arts Trust, which brings arts experiences to the bedside of patients at University Hospital Waterford and other healthcare settings, and has a national remit to develop arts and health in Ireland.  As part of her role, Maeve manages the organisation’s arts programmes with patients in palliative care, as well as programmes with older people in acute and community settings, and in their own homes.  Previously, Maeve worked in arts management and communications for 20 years.  Her interest in arts and health began with her experience of caring for her father for the final years of his life, followed by her MA research into arts in palliative care settings in 2011, which was, at the time, the first such research of its kind in Ireland.

Caroline Schofield, Visual Artist, Waterford Healing Arts Trust

Visual artist Caroline Schofield studied textiles at NCAD and completed a Master’s in Art & Process at Crawford College of Art & Design.  An Azure and TimeSlips facilitator, for Waterford Healing Arts Trust, Caroline delivers Open Gallery, a dementia-inclusive art project, supporting people and their family members/carers to chat about paintings from the University Hospital Waterford Art Collection, and Art at the Kitchen Table, supporting older people to make art in their own homes.  She recently worked with the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland on Narrative Tools, exploring the culture of making and the importance of handing down tools and skills within families and community.  Other work includes projects with Butler Gallery, Age & Opportunity and Open Circle.  Caroline’s work is found in public and private collections and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. www.carolineschofield.ie

Liam Merriman, Hospital Musician / Trainer, Waterford Healing Arts Trust

Liam Merriman is a Hospital Musician/Trainer at Waterford Healing Arts Trust.  He also works with Training Notes @Kids Classics, preparing and developing musicians for professional practice in the field of later years and geriatric care.  Liam successfully completed two nine-month international training projects led by Musique et Sante (France) in association with the Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Music Network (Ireland), Krakow Academy of Music (Poland) and Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland), which included practical on-site training in European hospitals.  He has worked in many sensitive settings such as ICU, oncology, renal dialysis, psychiatry, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s, end of life and bereavement support.

Maeve, Caroline and Liam will present 'In the Moment: Meeting the participant where they’re at' on Thursday 20th October. 

Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) brings arts experiences to the bedside of patients at University Hospital Waterford and other healthcare and community settings. This presentation and interactive workshop will demonstrate why kindness and patient centred care are essential to such arts initiatives.  Using examples from WHAT’s Art at the Kitchen Table and Healing Sounds on the Wards programmes, visual artist Caroline Schofield and musician Liam Merriman will demonstrate how responding to each person they meet “in the moment” is essential for a meaningful and sometimes transformative experience for the participant.  Healthcare partners Mairead Bluett, Assistant Director of Nursing and Leah Smith, Clinical Nurse Manager 2 of the South East Palliative Care Centre, along with WHAT Assistant Director Maeve Butler, will join the dots.

View the programme

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