Christmassy intervention in Greece

Happy new year!

Hello everyone! It is officially the first blog of 2020 and before starting I would like to wish you a happy, healthy, and productive year. Therefore, I wanted to share with you a very heartwarming Christmas-related intervention that I helped coordinate during my second clinical practice.

Clinical placement

During my second year, I went to my second clinical practice in a day center dedicated to socially rehabilitate people with psychiatric disorders. Since I was still attending as the holidays were approaching I was able to take part in events/ interventions regarding Christmas celebration such as decorations, baking goodies (melomakarona, etc.), and gatherings.

X-mas decoration

http://simplecraftidea.com/christmas-decorations-recycled-material/

The first thing we did was of course get as many of the placement attendees for setting up the Christmas tree and hang the decoration while we were listening to some ol’ classic Christmassy songs. It was great seeing all these people interact and forget their worries or maybe even sharing them while celebrating Christmas (some for the first time in years). After using all of the existing decorations we decided to make a themed workshop, where people would use both their imagination and recycled materials to make their own, unique crafts in order to decorate the streets nearby and spread the Christmas spirit. They were all so happy to contribute and compliment each other for their creations that we (OT practitioners) were totally moved and proud of them.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from that day but the picture above should give you a more general idea.

The next day they took all their crafts and hang them on the trees outside of the center, on railings, and pretty much anywhere possible. They were extremely motivated and happy to be a part of it and they would usually greet any passing by wishing them a happy holiday.

Holiday goodies

https://www.travel-zone-greece.com/blog/christmas-challenge-kourabiedes-vs-melomakarona/

It is a tradition in Greece for people to bake melomakarona and sugared buns, and that is exactly what we did! We usually have cooking groups twice a week, as part of the rehabilitation, which we utilized for adding to the holiday spirit! We provided all the materials and the recipe and we supervised and guided the teams when needed, while they were baking together. The results were amazing, both taste-like and cooperation-wise. The ‘aftermath’ was really the cherry on our cake since almost all of the participants stayed patiently afterward to taste their makings and have a chat about it. Seeing them feel proud of their work was something else! One of the greatest weeks I have experienced when in clinical practice.

For this year..

.. I would love to learn about your clinical practices, your favorite experience or memory of them, and pretty much anything else you want to share with us! Getting to know you and reading all of the amazing things you are doing has been the highlight of 2020 and I am looking forward to more of this in 2021!

Warm regards,
Emmanouela Kanetaki | Blogger

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