“Working in Health Care and Staying Sane”

…Did you know that doodling for 2 minutes increases neuroplasticity? Yes!

… Could drawing a picture during a clinical conference improve your comprehension? Yes!

Self-Disclosure

Ok, so I had to learn it the hard way! I was working as an Outpatient Therapist in a community mental health clinic, keeping up with productivity and practicing my due diligence to provide my professional best to my clients.  It started off well, but quickly, due to our underserved area and not being fully staffed, I was carrying a case load of over 100 clients.  I would work through my lunch and stay after to get paperwork done. Soon, I started to feel unhealthy effects in my life emotionally, socially, and physically.  I knew I had to make some adjustments before I imploded.  As a result, I requested a shorter work week with a lower salary but maintained my full-time benefits.  Also, in the meantime, I scheduled more frequent massages, got more sleep, increased my exercise, and drank more wine.  Between clients, I would kick off my shoes and engage in “Exalted Warrior” for energy and “Child’s Pose” for restoration on my yoga mat.  I also started to de-tox between sessions by removing unwanted energy by hand swiping my entire body, which I later found was part of the Reiki “dry bathing”. I even consulted with our resident psychiatrist about medications for anxiety and tried hydroxyzine. At year 4, with the adjustments made, I was still not in a healthy place.  I learned that I needed to make more changes.  Consequently, I took a new job with fewer demands in a much less demanding counseling setting atmosphere.  What I learned about my self-preservation is that it is important to be proactive and not reactive.  After the ‘burn-out’ had set in, it was very difficult to pull it back.  I knew that it was important not wait until I needed the massage but instead to schedule it preventatively. Also, I understand now that I need to find time to nurture myself and not feel guilty, or at least when I do, to do it anyway!

Hot, New Secret:  Do art; be well! 

In many areas of our work, we, as health care providers, often experience “vicarious trauma”, hearing stories of tragic experiences, watching patients struggle, and often succumbing to disease. As a trauma therapist, practicing Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), I have learned the value of bilateral stimulation to help the brain function more efficiently.  In many of my psychotherapy sessions, I invite my clients to do art.  I will often have clients draw a family constellation, abstract designs that represent feelings, or create secret containers out of clay to represent a safe place to store difficult emotions.  To access both sides of the brain, I have them draw with both the dominant and non-dominant hand.  It is amazing to see the organic, untainted, raw, and child-like revelations that emerge.  Thus, it was not long before I started experimenting on my own.  

Why does it take so long for us to practice what we preach?!  Starting with drawing free-hand mandalas, I eventually began d dabbling in watercolor (after the suggestion of my sister).  Using art as part of my self-care has become a life-changing event for me, so much so that I have started a non-profit corporation called Artwell3 Inc. to address community well-being through art. I collaborate with my business partners Julie Pyle-Childs, a university community arts coordinator, and Molly Heraty, a business-savvy gal with marketing skills.  Ms. Pyle-Childs has completed an Arts in Health Training through Penn State University and has supervised “Teaching Artists” who integrate art through community engagement.

As we forge this new venture, I am seeing the use of art emerge in several healthcare settings.  I recently accompanied my mother to a stressful oncology procedure at a large regional hospital where many patients are managing serious and difficult medical conditions.  In the vast, open lobby, a live pianist plays beautiful, contemplative music to calm the nerves of frazzled providers, patients, and their families. Art helps us to process life in all its parts: “good, bad, and ugly”.  We need art to nurture our souls, to express sadness, to experience joy, to be mindfully present, and even to disconnect from our present world and challenges.

Recently, I had the honor of presenting a workshop entitled “A trauma-informed Playbox for Self-exploration and Self Care” at a conference for mental health professionals sponsored by the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, directed by author and trainer, Dr. Jamie Marich.  She writes in her book, “Process, Not Perfection,” that not everyone benefits from “talk therapy” in dealing with trauma. Expressive art can be a potential solution to inner healing.

Art with Science:  Who knew?!

Revolutionary Brain Science is teaching us about the mind’s ability to “survive and thrive” stress and trauma by means of neuroplacisity. While we have discovered the effects of early childhood trauma through the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) project, we have also learned about resiliency.  Dr. Vincent Felitti, at Kaiser-Permanente, conducted a study of over 17,000 participants, finding a strong correlation between specific negative early life events such as “toxic stress’ and future negative health and social outcomes. Yet, we also know that certain activities that can reverse the effects include: creative activities to provide a healthy outlet for emotions and positive expression.  Art can teach the brain to function less from “fight, flight, freeze, and fawn (to please and appease) and instead to “rest and digest”.  Creative, self-expressive activities can decrease cortisol, increase GABA, instill mindfulness, and build a biophysiosocial space, suggesting a possible epigenetic shift reversing adversity in overall health and well-being.  For example, after the Tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004, teams of therapists through HAP led by Dr. Nancy Errebo worked with children who lost parents using group EMDR and art processes to address post-traumatic stress.

At a local university, where I served as a mental health counselor, during finals week, when students are stressed from demanding tests and sleepless nights, the counseling center offers craft night to help to calm nervous systems through creativity and free exploration. 

As Americans, and especially in corporate or high-stress health care settings, providers and professionals face daily demands of heavy productivity, deadlines, and technology fatigue.  Can you imagine what the results might be if health workers took a 15-minute break to write, dance, draw, sing, and view the arts?  Did you know that if you watch someone else receive a massage, you too will gain physiological and emotional benefits?  Self-expression appears in many different sensory mediums using music, fine art, physical movement, and singing. For example, during the atrocious American days of slavery, many African Americans created songs to express hope, faith, sorrow, and freedom.  Art can be a balm for healing.

Finally, we are learning that the body and brain are directly connected to well-being. Modern researchers, such as Bessel Van der Kolk, in his book “The Body Keeps the Score,” he shows us how we can heal the mind through the body.  In mental health, we call this the “bottom-up” approach.  Canadian author, Tabor Maté, teaches us how negative life experiences affect neurobiology and how we can reclaim damage and become balanced through therapeutic activities.  Brain science is discovering how to engage the vagus nerve to re-engage the parasympathetic nervous system to restore health.  Engaging in art helps to heal us.

Ideas to “weave” art into your work life:

• Provide arts supplies in hospital break rooms
• Engage in a departmental wall art mural
• Play classical music instead of the TV in ER waiting rooms
• Dance together for 5 minutes before a professional meeting: I recommend ABBA!
• Teach EMTs and First Responders “Ugly Art” 
• Arrange for a live sound bath or a drum circle in a hospital lobby
• Write yourself a letter of compassion after a difficult day at work
• Teach surgeons to crochet and knit
• Reward employees with complimentary tickets to art museums, ballets, and operas

How might you incorporate art for well-being into your professional work life?

Research and Resources

Creating Healthy Communities: https://www.njpac.org/event/creating-healthycommunities-2025/
NJPAC’s Arts and Well-Being work: https://www.njpac.org/arts-well-being

Penn State University Training https://sites.psu.edu/centerstage/arts-in-healthtraining/
Your Brain on Art: https://www.yourbrainonart.com/

Contact information for artwell3 inc: artwell3studio@gmail.com

“Art teaches us self-compassion.”