RECOVERY & REHABILITATION
Sex, relationships, consent and capacity: CAN THE ARTS THERAPIES HELP? An insight into how the arts therapies can help support vulnerable people when dealing with issues surrounding consent & capacity
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onsent and capacity have become the topic of conversation following recent cases brought to the Supreme Court.. Daniel Thomas, managing director at Chroma explains how the arts therapies may be able be used to support vulnerable Dan Thomas people when dealing with issues surrounding consent & capacity. ‘Capacity and consent’ has become the subject of debate since December 2021 following a Supreme Court case involving a client living with a brain injury, who wanted to access a sex worker. The ruling stated the client must be able to demonstrate the ability to understand, and be able to provide on-going consent and must have the capacity to do so. This raised many questions as to the implications for the client, the sex worker, his care workers and case managers.
Key questions to arise following the ruling were - can a care team be lawfully involved in facilitating contact with a sex worker for a vulnerable person; and does the client have the capacity to provide consent as well as the capacity for ongoing consent – understanding the needs of another person?
THE ROLE OF THE ARTS THERAPIES IN DEMONSTRATING AN UNDERSTANDING OF CONSENT Consent means giving permission to do something, and in these cases, refers to an agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. Capacity is the ability to understand information and make decisions about one’s own life. It can be difficult for traditional therapies to reveal such abilities in someone with impaired cognitive function, but the arts therapies may lend themselves well to creatively unlocking the capabilities of the brain. Music Therapy (MT), Art Therapy (AT) and Dramatherapy (DT) are all capable of finding out and demonstrating if someone has the ability to make decisions and choices, and, to work with cognitive abilities e.g. holding information in mind, looking at issues around memory, organisational/ problem solving skills, and sense of self. Dramatherapists, for instance, may implement role-play to help clients understand the feelings of others as well as how their actions may affect those around them. Role-play also provides a means to embody what it may feel like to start a relationship with someone. Art Therapy can help a client to understand how the world may see them, and how they may see themselves, helping the client understand themselves. This can be in the context of their personal safety and their possible vulnerability in the world around relationships. Music Therapy uses techniques such as song writing to help determine if someone has the cognitive abilities required to understand what consent and capacity entails. If a client can create, plan, execute a song, and then replicate the entire process the following session, it shows the ability to hold information in mind and supports the possibility that the client may be capable of giving and understanding ‘consent’, at least in the context of song-writing.
WHAT IS CONSENT AND CAPACITY IN TERMS OF SEX? Capacity means the ability to understand information and make decisions about one’s own life. If one cannot show one understands and retains the information, one is said to ‘lack capacity’ and deemed unable to make decisions about one’s own treatment or relationships, for example.
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