Youth
It has been illustrated in international clinical research, that arts programs can assist in healing the spirit and mind of the ill patient. Newly diagnosed patients, suffer from a variety of feelings associated with psycho-social distress, such as anxiety, depression, a loss of confidence, feelings of vulnerability, and body image disruption. In addition, they can be apprehensive about their treatment. In the teens years these feelings can appear magnified and can be complicated by anxiety about returning to their social network of friends and school. In the outpatient clinic setting, the patient suffers uneasiness and boredom while waiting for the treatment sessions to begin.
The teens' sense of isolation can be overcome by their participation in an art project either with an artist in a quiet setting, at the bedside, or in a group interacting with others. Whether it be musical, literary or visual, the arts act as a mediation tool to communicate openly, to ease anxiety and to build self esteem.
Sheltered Dreams 2002
A healing arts project for at-risk youth
Art reflects the society in which we live and addresses relevant issues in an attempt to mediate and challenge public values. In order to facilitate this, we build sites that publicly represent the beliefs about the order of the world and the individuals’ place in it – the most costly of these is the public art museum where we lead people through our constructs of a cultural universe. However, in order to reach the public that do not attend these institutions it is becoming necessary to find new ways of engaging people in dialogue about art within their own environments.
An arts project entitled Cuimhne an tSaoil (Life Memory) saw students, patients and staff create a permanent art exhibition at Clonakilty Community Hospital earlier this year.
Youth and the Sri Lanka Tsunami
Youth confronted with a natural disaster benefit from participating in a hands on arts activity as evidenced in post tsunami Sri Lanka.
