Written by Carissa Hodgson, LCSW, OSW-C, Program Manager at Gilda’s Club Madison
I remember summer days home alone while my single mother was at work, getting out every art and craft I owned to create my way through the day. I loved having space to work. It was a chance to get out of my head, practice new techniques, tantrum over more than a few failures, and express myself in the safety of stillness. While my art didn’t always draw a straight line back to the death of my father from lung cancer, it was clearly an expressway to my emotional processing and a means to cope.
“Creativity in and of itself is important for remaining healthy, remaining connected to yourself and connected to the world,” reports neuroscientist Christianne Strang. Most of us have heard how art and writing can be therapeutic, especially when faced with something like cancer. More and more, science is showing us just how powerful it can be.
Check out this NPR article about how art helps your brain, and then register for one of our upcoming art or writing classes–Art Journaling, Drawing, Therapeutic Art series, Write to Heal, and our social art group Construction Zone. Check out our calendar.