A Crochet Program Created for Young Psychiatry Patients Is Weaving a Healing Community

You might be surprised to find children, teens, parents and grandparents gathering at the Moses Campus Child Outpatient Psychiatry Division (COPD) to learn, teach and collaborate in the heritage art of crochet.

The crafting is happening through the Montefiore Einstein Community Crochet project, part of Montefiore Einstein’s Arts and Integrative Medicine (AIM) program. AIM promotes the inclusion of art and integrative medicine to engage patients and the community in equity-focused, collaborative healthcare programming.

Piloted last summer, the crochet project grew out of an idea by Attending Psychologist Gifty Ampadu, PhD, who thought the calm, soothing activity she enjoyed, might translate to the patients at the COPD. “I brought the idea to AIM,” said Ampadu, “a program that just seems to make dreams come true.” It’s been so successful that pop-up crochet experiences are planned for other locations at the hospital. The final piece—a banner made of 250 crocheted squares—will weave together stories of transformation from community participants.

“The focus of this project is to connect people in a meaningful way,” said Jenny Seham, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Founder and Director of AIM, Montefiore Einstein. “One day, I watched the grandmother of one of our patients teaching another woman how to crochet. Neither of them understood the other’s spoken language,” Dr. Seham said. “They were literally holding hands, communicating through touch, working on the square together. They smiled, laughed and very clearly understood each other.”

AIM, in collaboration with the Fine Art Program and Collection at Montefiore Einstein, is looking to install the collaborative crochet piece near the existing Youth Empowerment Series (YES) Gallery, a rotating exhibit of art by patients at the Moses Campus COPD, located off the main lobby at Montefiore Medical Center at 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY. “We will conduct a survey to evaluate the community experience,” said Dr. Seham. “Our research shows that healthcare workers and patients who walk through the YES Gallery report a decrease in stress and negative mood states and increases in positive mood states such as ‘happiness’ and ‘connection.’ We are excited to see and study how this collaborative crochet project impacts the healthcare community.”

To participate or donate yarn and crochet hooks to this project, contact Dr. Seham at jseham@montefiore.org.