By Mikayla van Loon
Crafting has been known to reduce stress and provide a moment of relaxation, so mental health nurse Emma Smith has taken that creative philosophy to help her patients find an outlet.
Mostly working with mums two years postpartum who may be anxious or depressed, Ms Smith said the mindfulness techniques associated with crafting can be so useful to relieving those feelings and emotions.
As someone who has always been a crafter herself, dabbling in crochet and drawing, Ms Smith said an American invention known as Cricut, a cutting and writing machine, took her crafting to a whole new level.
Initially making things for herself and her friends, Ms Smith approached her Lilydale mental health unit noticing so many blank walls and asked if she could brighten up the place with quotes and images made from vinyl laser cuts.
Her messaging mainly focused on “it’s ok not to be ok and sometimes good things come out of that. You just have to wait, go through the process and then you’ll find your place.”
“I ended up taking it to work with me and during some of our sessions we’d just sit down and really just create some things,” she said.
“We’ve done mindfulness crafting and quite a lot of mental health units use this approach because there’s quite a few studies that show the effectiveness it has on people.”
Patients and staff were so intrigued by the designs and materials able to be used with the machine that eventually it became one of the primary mindfulness tools, steering away from the traditional colouring that is often used.
“Mindfulness really involves being fully present in the moment. So you’re not worrying about the past or the future, you’re really trying to focus on what you’re doing at that time and that can be really quite helpful for some people,” Ms Smith said.
“From a mental health point of view, there’s so many benefits to it because mindfulness can lower stress hormones.”
For some people, like herself, Ms Smith said are “born to be crafters” others can be a little bit apprehensive about trying something new or making a mistake which can “be quite overwhelming.”
“Some may be feeling that they’re not in a place to be able to cope with something like [craft]. So often people will just sit there and watch and then by watching, they’re gaining a bit more confidence as well.”
Ms Smith said starting with simple designs or crafts can help people who are struggling take that leap to feel more comfortable about taking up a creative outlet.
“Even if you think that you’re not very good at something, often people would kind of shy away from it and then I’ll show them quite a simple thing then they make it and they’re like, ‘Wow, I did that’.
“They get quite surprised at what they can do. It’s relaxing as well, mostly unless you get something wrong. But it’s fun, it’s relaxing, it’s rewarding.”
Throughout the pandemic Ms Smith said her crafting also became her saviour, something she is still grateful for.
“Even for health professionals, certainly at the moment, you need your own form of relaxation as well, somewhere where you can go to your own little space and just do your thing,” she said.
“When you can’t go out and you’ve got that stress and worry, then in those times, you can do your own mindfulness just centering on that moment in time now rather than worrying about all the other things.”
Another thing Ms Smith really likes about crafting is that it is no longer something you only hear about from grandparents and the older generation.
“Now I think crafting is really a young person thing, it’s also gender fluid. There’s lots of men who knit, crochet and Cricut, who do that designing now. So it’s for everybody.”
