The integration of arts and healthcare is essential to the sustainability of our society. Art has an incredible capacity to heal the self and others.

In creating art of any kind:

It is a meditational tool; the mind can be turned away from pain, sadness, or anything else in the surrounding world; it can focus instead on the beauty that is being created

One can be filled with an indescribable feeling while in the process of creation

Insights can be further realized and abilities formerly unknown can be discovered

In looking at visual art:

            Can serve as a meditiational tool to gaze upon

All colors are healing in some way or another, for example green is healing, and yellow stimulates the mind. People react to various combinations of values and tones.

Art brings character to a room

In listening to music:

Music can actually alter vibrations in the body and therefore enhance the mood or feeling. There have also been studies that certain sounds will cause molecules to behave in a chaotic manner, while others will cause them to harmonize.

When the mind is at peace, the body can operate at the fullest capacity to heal itself as well as respond positively to outside medicines or treatments.

There are many avenues in which we can incorporate art and healthcare. There are artists working in various healthcare scenarios, such as providing workshops for the terminally ill, playing music for the elderly in nursing homes, and displaying works on hospital walls. There are art therapists trained specifically in using art as therapy. Some healthcare facilities are recognizing art as a tool to aid in healing and introducing it to their regime.

I was introduced to concepts about arts in healthcare while working for the Washington State Arts Commission. One of my assignments was to gather and input information for the website for the Washington Arts in Healthcare Network (WAHN). As I researched this topic, discovering programs across the nation, I was inspired to apply this to my own life, as I’d also done work for people with disabilities.

This manifested when I initiated a series of art classes for people with developmental disabilities, working with the local non-profit organization Kokua. The people working with Kokua were wonderful; they provided support as I was putting together the program, and were uplifting and positive to work with. The Olympia Community Free School offered me a very affordable place to base the classroom, were we did various arts and crafts, including painting, beading, and clay. The students had various disabilities of differing severity. However, art had a positive effect on each person involved.

For people with limited mobility, the process of doing art promotes skillbuilding with fine motor skills. When done in a group situation, it provides opportunity for social interaction. Also, each person at the end of each class can go home with the satisfaction brought by creating something. This opportunity provided a chance for some people to do certain activities that otherwise would not have been possible for this population, and it allowed for others to expand their skills if they’d had classes before. It promoted confidence in the self. It also built a community between the staff and the clients, as they were all on one level together while they were creating.

Some of the participants absolutely couldn’t wait until the next class came. Others were more aloof, but became engaged in the activity as the class went on. When people are immersed in art projects, they sometimes can achieve things that they are otherwise unable to do.

Art is a powerful tool. I look forward to each moment when I can experience it heal.


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