Venita Currie (Host): If you are creative and you love to express yourself through the arts, you may be on to something. Today we're talking about the health benefits of creative expression. Even if you think you don't have a creative bone in your body, there could be a joyful healing process waiting for you. Here to talk to us today about how to add creative expression to your healing journey is Sara Moore, Supervisor of the Art and Spirituality Center at Dignity Health. Sara, welcome and thanks so much for being with us today.

Sara Moore: Oh, thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to talk to you about our programs.

Host: Well, the first thing I want to understand is, can you give us a quick definition of what counts as creative expression?

Sara Moore: So creative expression is a broad term, right? You can be creative in lots of different ways with movement, with painting and drawing, with writing, with music. There's so many different ways. I think people tend to think about creativity, maybe it's just arts and crafts, maybe a professional artist, but from one end of that spectrum to the other, there's so many things in between. So people can be creative, even with their meditation and reflective practices. It's really a wide range.

Host: Yeah, it feels like it's a wide gamut because when I thought about it, I thought about singing or dancing, but it's probably what anyone loves to do.

Sara Moore: That's right. And everybody's creative inspiration, I guess, is different. Some people are motivated or inspired by music and dance. Some people might enjoy watching or hearing that but that's not what they want to engage in personally. And so it's very broad and it's very personal and individualized.

Host: So when you do talk with patients about including creative expression in their healing journey, how do you introduce the idea?

Sara Moore: So we have a couple of different programs, I wanted to just make that differentiation. We have programs that are intended for the community members and then we have a series of programs that are intended for our patients here in the hospital. And they all are intended to offer the same type of experience, ahm healing through creative expression. So, to answer your question, when we're going into the hospital, we take all of the experiences that we would offer out in the center, in the art and spirituality center, to our patients in the hospital. So, we have what's called the art cart that takes any type of creative experience, probably you can imagine, to the bedside.

We've done painting, making clay ornaments or making clay objects. We've done watercolor, making origami. You know, there's lots of different things that we'll take to the bedside to really just allow the patients to take a break or distract them from what's going on with their diagnosis.

So we bring that experience to them. We also have a volunteer choir who comes into the hospital and sings to our patients at the bedside. And we have musicians who come and play live acoustic music, many of them sing as well. So there's a lot of different experiences that we bring creatively to our patients.

Host: When you were talking about clay, are you talking about Play Doh, or are you talking about like a real clay and paddle?

Sara Moore: We have a Play Doh that we use typically for the kids, but for our adults, or even for some kids who are interested, we have air dry clay, so you can make any type of figurine, or shape, or ornament, or earrings, any type of thing you can think of, just molding it with your hands. We have cookie cutters, we have those types of things, or we can make more, uh, specific or intricate shapes. But there's a lot of freedom in all it.

Host: So what are some ways that you help patients connect to their creativity, especially for those who think they're not creative at all? And they can't imagine being creative. How do you kind of bridge that gap for them?

Sara Moore: So, it's interesting that you asked that question because I was just talking to one of our facilitators about this yesterday. We hear a lot, well, I don't have a creative bone in my body, or I'm just not creative, whatever version of that they tell us. And so, our response to that is, well, how about just giving yourself permission to try something new?

And, if you can follow directions, you can create something. We don't often want to necessarily dictate people's creative journey, but sometimes people want that because they feel a little bit intimidated. So we'll just give some simple instruction. You know, maybe someone's looking at a blank sheet of paper, and that can be very intimidating.

So just throw some colors on there with no rules. And so if they're willing to open themselves up and give themselves permission, we'll kind of help guide that. Many times people say, oh, I'd love to color, I'd love to journal or draw, and many times, like I said, we're met with that resistance because maybe they're insecure with the creative process, they don't have a lot of experience, or they just think it's not for them.

But if they give us permission and a little bit of time to guide them, they're often surprised by what they can create.

Host: It sounds like you're like a tour guide to help people find some peace and joy in their day while they're trying to recover from a unhealth situation. But you tell me, how do these activities actually improve their health?

Sara Moore: Well, I love that, hearing that we're tour guides to helping people navigate their health. So, the whole idea of our programs, whether they're coming into the center or we're going to our patients at the bedside, is to help improve healing and wholeness. And as you know, I mean, healing can come in a lot of different forms.

Maybe it's physical, maybe it's emotional or spiritual, people have stress and anxiety, those types of things impact our mental health. So we don't necessarily have a goal of everybody we see today is going to physically feel better. Everybody today we see is going to feel emotionally better.

We want them to feel better in a way that's a natural and organic response to the creation, to the art, to the creative modality that they're engaging with. So, sometimes people will feel that healing because they were very insecure about being in the hospital. They're very uncomfortable in their environment. There's a lot of anxiety about their diagnosis and just taking a break from all of those things that kind of hold our minds captive and directing their focus and attention on something creative, that provides a lot of emotional freedom and healing. We've also had people, I'd like to share a story about a man who used to come to one of our painting workshops here in the center.

This was a long term series. Most of our workshops are just come on in, it's one workshop and then you can come again next time. And sometimes it's a series of workshops that go together. So this was a series painting religious icons. And this man, he was elderly. He loved to paint. He had very bad tremors, very bad tremors. However, everyone kept telling me what a beautiful artist he was. So I went into the center one day and was meeting him. I was fairly new in my position and I couldn't believe the beautiful artwork he was creating. And when he put that paintbrush in his hand and started painting, his tremors went away.

I don't know the psychology or the medical reason for that, but he was taking his focus on something positive and creative and it transformed him significantly.

Host: Wow. I mean, that's a powerful story. And I think it gets at how you are helping people shift their perspective and finding a positive avenue and outlet for them while they're going through the healing process.

Sara Moore: Yes, and you know, we've had a lot of people, especially after the pandemic, when the isolation affected so many people in so many ways. They felt maybe uncomfortable in a social setting. They started encountering some social anxiety; so just getting to the center maybe was a little bit intimidating, but once they got here, I have one girl in mind in particular.

She came to one session, something gave me the idea that I should call her and just ask how her experience was because she was new to the center and she was just so sweet. She ended up coming for months and months and then started increasing different types of workshops she was coming to and then sharing what she created with other participants and with us and different facilitators.

And that transformation happened again. She was really crippled by her anxiety and depression, but she just pushed through that enough to get here, and you could see this change start to happen.

Host: You know, it makes me think that there is some real power to being positive, to having that mindset when you're going through difficulties. It sounds like that's what you help patients do.

Sara Moore: That's right, and I mean, it's a coping skill as well, you know, it's not just, oh, let's do arts and crafts and create something pretty, it really is a healthy, productive and valuable coping skill to help people navigate those feelings of grief. Maybe it's anticipatory grief. Maybe it's a loss of independence or just uncertainty about what's next. Using creativity as a coping skill is powerful.

Host: So when a loved one does have to go into the hospital, usually the entire family is impacted. Is there an option to include a patient's family in these creative moments?

Sara Moore: Oh, most definitely, and we often do. Sometimes we'll go room and there's no family members present, but we're engaging everybody who's there. You know, when somebody's in the hospital, yes, that patient is the person who's being impacted the most, but they're not the only person that's being impacted, and we understand that. So, it's definitely something we want to include everybody in the room, and we want to allow them all to have that same experience, or their version of it.

Host: Sara, is there anything else you'd like to add before we go?

Sara Moore: Oftentimes a barrier to creativity or engaging in the arts, a barrier might be there of cost or materials. Maybe they don't have the resources. So I do want to make it known that all of the workshops and services that we offer in the center are completely free. All you have to do is call or email us and get registered and show up. We just need some of your time and we'll provide everything you need to enjoy the experience.

Host: Well, thanks, Sara, for the great information. If anyone wants to learn more about the services offered at the Art and Spirituality Center, Sara, where should they find more information?

Sara Moore: So they can always call me. Our phone number is 661-632-5747, or they can go online and access our information anytime. Our website is www.dignityhealth.org/bakersfield/artforhealing.

Host: Thank you so much, Sara. It's really inspiring to hear how you're helping patients find peace and joy in their healing journeys.

This is Hello Health, a Dignity Health podcast. I'm Venita Currie. Thanks for listening.