What is PSP?
ImageThink partnered with a CurePSP, an organization that provides resources and support for patients with neurodegenerative disorders and their families. Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is a progressive brain disease that affects brain cells controlling balance, coordination, eye movement, speech, swallowing, and thinking. It has no known cause or cure and affects young people comparative to other neurological diseases.
PSP is one of a spectrum of brain diseases that often onset in patients in their 50’s and 60’s often affecting families, careers, and active lives. It’s thought that there may be a common pathology between PSP and more common neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, so CurePSP’s work has an even broader reach.
Learning through Listening
ImageThink’s client organized a virtual event with keynotes and activities to engage patients with suffering from a specific neurodegenerative disorder and to help link those patients to resources they might find useful in handling their disease as well as expanding their support groups and getting them to feel connected.
Throughout the day, ImageThink illustrated answers to a broad question, about patient experience, or their hopes or needs. The answers, when illustrated on the board, help to illustrate their challenges and hopeful spirit despite the mercilessness of their illness, through visual metaphor compassionate drawing.
Picturing Empathy
The illustrations helped attendees feel heard and seen, and inspired a sense of connection. What’s more, they help healthcare providers understand, empathize, and better serve their community of patients.
Often, we find that the ideas we visualize take on a more human life in the minds of our clients. Putting hand-drawn iconography and illustrated faces to ideas and plans and topics helps make them memorable and more importantly meaningful.
