Comfort Collage

Title: Comfort Collage

Purpose & Goals

  • Therapeutic Aim: Encourage movement and engagement, promote creative self-expression and autonomy through art-making centered on personal sources of peace and joy.

  • Emotional Goals: Promote sensory mindfulness, comfort, and increase self-worth

Theoretical Rationale

  • Draws from person-centered, narrative therapy approaches

  • Uses imagery to externalize internal states and create a visual affirmation of safety, beauty, and identity.

  • Helps patients reclaim control by choosing what brings comfort in an environment where much may feel out of their control.

Target Population

Hospice patients of all ages and alertness levels; adaptable for individual or family use. Can be facilitated at bedside, in group rooms, or mobile art carts.

Materials

  • Tissue paper (various colors and textures)

  • Mod Podge or glue sticks

  • Brushes or fingers for applying adhesive

  • Magazine clippings, collage books, nature and travel images, calming word cutouts

  • Scissors (or pre-cut imagery for accessibility)

Art-Making:

a. Introduction

  • “Let’s create a collage that reflects what brings you comfort, peace, or happiness — it can be anything from a warm blanket to a walk in the woods, a childhood memory, or your favorite food.”

b. Image/Material Selection

  • Provide a wide selection of imagery and textures.

  • Invite touch: “Feel the textures. Is it smooth, rough, soft, dry?”

  • Prompts: “What looks cozy?” “What reminds you of home or joy?”

c. Collage Assembly

  • Layer imagery, textures, and words on top, guided by the patient’s instinct or with verbal support.

  • Encourage personal rhythm — there’s no right or wrong way.

d. Creating the Mosaic/Collage

  • Patient can press leaves, petals, shells, etc. into the surface of the clay.

  • Encourage arrangement by color, texture, memory, or intuition. There is no “wrong” way.

  • Optional: write or dictate a word or phrase into the piece (e.g., “peace,” “home,” or a loved one’s name).

Prompts for Gentle Exploration

Gently invite conversation about the process or the images:

  • “What feelings come up as you look at your collage?”

  • “What do these images say about what comfort means to you?”

  • “What does comfort feel like to you — in your body, your heart, your memories?”

  • “Would you like to add a word or phrase that sums up how you want to feel?”

Emotional Safety & Adaptation

  • Provide varied imagery — not all patients will resonate with the same themes.

  • Normalize ambivalence: “It’s okay if comfort is hard to imagine right now.”

Expected Therapeutic Outcomes

  • Supports autonomy and identity through personal choices

  • Offers a tangible, visual representation of comfort and inner resources

  • Stimulates gentle cognitive and emotional engagement

  • Creates an artifact that can be kept bedside or shared with family as a conversation starter or reminder of joy

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