Reimagining Creativity After Stroke with Dr. Jess Johansson
episode
On the tip of my tongue - talking about Aphasia
28 min
2 speakers
3 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is aphasia and why is it often overlooked compared to other conditions?
I think people sometimes think that's not for me because I'm not creative. It's very fascinating how that can actually help in terms of the brain, which is very important, as you'll know, after stroke. So we can support the brain to actually build new pathways and doing things that we love and looking and thinking about things that we want from the future, even if that's a different future from what people might have imagined before the stroke.
Hi and welcome everybody and we hope you enjoy this podcast called On the Tip of My Tongue. Now I'm Rob Edwards and I'm Jonathan Hirons and this podcast is a follow-up to a film which Jonathan made about aphasia. So what is aphasia? Well it's a condition caused by some kind of injury to the brain which is often could be a stroke or could be just falling off a bike. And it affects your ability to use language in all its forms. Speaking, writing, reading, sending texts, whatever. 350,000 people in the UK suffer from a debilitating condition called aphasia. Fewer than half this number suffer from Parkinson's. And yet, most people have heard of Parkinson's, whilst almost nobody has heard of aphasia.
Hi, I'm Dr. Jess Johansson. So I'm a senior researcher at the University of Leeds and I spend a lot of the time at the Bradford Institute of Health Research as well. So I have worked in stroke research for 13 years now and I'm very passionate about supporting people in life after stroke. I've always had an interest in the emotional aspects of stroke and then more recently, very passionate about weaving creativity into stroke recovery as well.
Thanks for coming on the Tip of My Tongue podcast. It's great to have you with us. Tell me a bit more about what you're doing at the moment.
Definitely. So at the moment, I'm actually putting together an application. So it's for the National Institute for Health Research, and it's to go for a big fellowship. So that will be, if I'm awarded this, it will be five years of funding. And I'm really interested to focus on using creative approaches within stroke care systems. So taking quite like a wide scale approach to this so that people, so that this can be integrated into systems, not only when people are within the systems that exist, but so that people have something that they can reach out to or do in terms of something creative once the other care stops. Because I think it's really important from the people I've met over the years, I've met many stroke survivors and
in one-to-one situations and interviews that I've done and also at groups and people are always wanting to find new things to do that are meaningful to them. And I think I would love to do something that allows people to be able to access that stuff. So that's what I'm working on.
One of the things that we do on the podcast is obviously talk about other people's experiences. And one of the things we haven't really done delved into is the creative side we've had a couple of people on had a musician on and somebody does some does singing but but obviously this is something you major on don't you with what you with your work
I just find it really fascinating in terms of the creative aspects of things, in terms of how that can support the brain, because I think a lot of people think that to engage with creative activities, whether that's arts or music or singing or dancing or whatever, Those things I think people sometimes think that's not for me because I'm not creative. It's very fascinating how that can actually help in terms of the brain, which is very important, as you'll know, after stroke. So we can support the brain to actually build new pathways and doing things that we love and looking forward. and thinking about things that we want from the future, even if that's a different future from what people might have imagined before the stroke.
Arts is a way of doing that and people can actually feel quite relaxed in the process. Like yesterday when I went to a local stroke group and did some crafts with them, they all created what we call a vision board.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What is aphasia and why is it often overlooked compared to other conditions?
0:00–14:19
2
How is Dr. Jess Johansson planning to integrate creativity into stroke care through her NIHR fellowship?
14:19–24:24
3
Why does creative activity like vision‑board making help the brain after a stroke?
24:24–28:21