Art Heals: How the therapeutic nature of art inspires patients

There are so many ways hospitals can promote healing — in-patient care, out-patient care, rehabilitation and physical therapy to name a few. But one program that sets Baylor Scott and White Health apart is the Arts In Medicine program.

Arts In Medicine was started in 2015 to provide a healing environment to patients — a kind of healing that does not use methods typical of a hospital. The program employs “healing modalities that have nothing to do with medicine but have everything to do with the healing experience of an individual,” said Susan Sayles, MS, RN, practice administrator of the program.

The program encourages patients to use creative expression to not only cope with the wide-ranging emotions that come with living with an illness, but to discover or rediscover activities that bring them joy.

“The art making process can help the individual explore and master feelings associated with their medical journey,” said Ashley Jones, MS, LPC, ATR-BC, supervisor of the Arts In Medicine program.

Creative expression encourages self-reflection and body awareness, which helps patients reflect on their experiences and manifest their feelings in an inventive way.

The Arts in Medicine program offers several modules a feature that makes the program unique.

• Artists In Residence: professional artists who share their time and talents to create a healing environment within common spaces of the hospital
• Music Practitioners: trained professionals who come to the patient’s bedside and play live music that promotes healing, relaxation and reduces stress
• Music Therapists: board-certified behavioral health professionals who engage in music making as a therapeutic tool to enhance healing in a clinical setting
• Art Therapists: licensed mental health professionals with specialized training in the therapeutic qualities of art making to achieve clinical outcomes

Arts In Medicine also runs an art studio at Baylor University Medical Center in downtown Dallas. Patients, their families and even hospital staff are invited and encouraged to express themselves by painting, drawing, printmaking, jewelry making and even working with fabrics. Run by art therapists and enthusiastic volunteers, the space is open for all patients, family/caregivers, and staff to express, decompress, explore, enjoy and heal through the art making process.

Igniting passions is the very essence of Arts In Medicine. “When you begin to remember who you are — not your diagnosis or the reason you’re entering a cancer center — the things that make you uniquely you, like your creativity, like your love of music, like what a song can do for you, like what a creative process can do for you, real healing can occur,” said Sayles.