Thursday, June 30, 2022

How Does Art Therapy Help Those Dealing with Cancer?

It's been a special privilege to work with cancer patients with Kits to Heart during the art therapy wellness groups. I have already heard a number of testimonials how art therapy has met their needs in a way no other treatment or group they have experienced has thus far.  Here is an article that highlights why art therapy helps people dealing with cancer.



Why Art Therapy Can Help 

When Going Through Cancer

At War On Cancer we are all too familiar with the impact going through cancer can have on the mental health of those who have been diagnosed and their loved ones. Cancer is something that’s treated physically and therefore, the psychological impact often gets forgotten.

What else can be done to help those experiencing cancer look after their mental health during a time of great change and uncertainty? For this article we’ve teamed up with The Art Therapy Project, a US based, nonprofit, mental health organisation that provides art therapy to adults and young people affected by trauma to share the ways in which art therapy can help. 

What is art therapy? 

According to the American Art Therapy Association, Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches lives through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. 

Professional art therapists facilitate art therapy, supporting personal and relation treatment goals. It’s often used to improve a whole range of things including self-esteem, self-awareness, cognitive and sensory-motor function and emotional resilience. It’s also used to build social skills, promote insight, resolve distress and help people cope with change. 

Art therapists are master-level clinicians who work with people of all ages across a broad spectrum of practice. Guided by ethical standards and scope of practice, their education and supervised training prepares them for culturally proficient work with diverse populations in a variety of settings. Honouring individuals’ values and beliefs, art therapists work with people who are challenged with medical and mental health problems, as well as individuals seeking emotional, creative, and spiritual growth. 

Mental Health Benefits

Creating art alone, in any way you enjoy, is therapeutic in and of itself. Spending time creating helps to reduce stress, increase positive emotions and can be an outlet for anything we have been building up inside. Art Therapy simply takes this and pairs it with a trained clinician who can help you delve deeper and guide you in using the art to explore your feelings, things you have previously found or are finding difficult and work out your current strengths and needs.

We don’t give ourselves enough time or space to truly sit with and explore how we’re feeling, which often has a negative effect on our mental health. Art therapy gives people a chance to be their authentic, emotional selves, with the support required to explore and understand themselves. 

Going through having cancer – from diagnosis to treatment to its impact on life and relationships – can be very hard on people mentally. Feeling the need to stay strong, while facing a number of challenges, is incredibly draining and it can become difficult to acknowledge how we’re actually feeling – the good, the bad and the ugly. 


Art therapy gives people a safe space to process all the different emotions that come with going through cancer, without the need to ‘put on a brave face’. It can be an incredible support tool for anyone with and after cancer. 

But, do I need to know how to paint or draw?

Absolutely not! Art therapy is for anyone, no matter your skill set! Art Therapy is about the creative process and using it to get clear on your emotions, not about producing the next Louvre-worthy masterpiece.

To get the benefits of art therapy, all you really need is an open mind to allow yourself to try new things and accept the outcome artistically. It’s also important to remember that Art Therapists are trained clinicians and are skilled in using all different types of media, so they will work with you to find the right fit. 

Getting started

You can find accredited art therapists in the US here and in the UK here

“The goal of art therapy is to safely approach a traumatic event or experience and express it by putting it into imagery or language. This puts the trauma into a context and articulates its boundaries. Then, there is more of a sense of a continuous, consistent self and an instance of trauma, not the other way around.” – Val Koutmina, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT – The Art Therapy Project Art Therapist

Learn more about The Art Therapy Project via their website.


Wednesday, June 08, 2022

Relaxation Albums are Best-Sellers for Guided Imagery and Insomnia

I was very excited to discover that on Bandcamp, "Lavender Dreams" is a "Best-Selling Album" for Guided Imagery and "Lavender Destinations" is one of the "All-Time Best-Selling albums" for Insomnia! I am honored!





Art Helps Ukrainian Artists Express Themselves During War

Art is something that can express things beyond words and process traumatic experiences like war.  Ukrainian artists share some of their artwork made while their country is under attack to express themselves through creativity.

https://birdinflight.com/plitka/20220311-hudozhniki-zobrazhuyut-vijnu.html

Drawing is My Only Language: Ukrainian Artists Portraying the War

Ira Gryshchenko

March, 12 2022

While the war is still raging, there is hardly any time for reflection. But for many artists, creativity became their only way to speak out, even under these gruesome circumstances. Bird in Flight reached out to Ukrainian artists, asking them to show their works about war and tell their stories.

Kinder Album, artist

There will be a painting that shows our victory, for sure.

Drawing is my way to live through this reality together with all my people. It helps me to control my anxiety and panic, keeps me focused and channels my thoughts in a constructive direction. It’s my contribution to our common fight.

As for now, I have illustrated my experience of sitting in a shelter with young kids, elderly people, and pets. I have painted women, who stop armored vehicles with their bare hands, crowds of refugees on railway stations, burning houses — all the things that break our hearts. I’m planning to carry on with this series, and I’m sure that there will be a painting that shows our victory.





Vlada Ralko, artist

Drawing is not a weapon for me, it’s what keeps me alive.

I felt numb in the first week of war. I still have no words, except for a plea to close our sky and help us with weapons’ supplies. The whole world clearly sees what’s happening now. They see it in every detail. How many more murdered kids and mass graves in Mariupol do they need? How many Ukrainian cities have to be ruined for the world to join this unprecedented violence against our country with real actions, not just words?

Drawing is my only language now. This is how I’m saying what I want to say. It’s not my weapon, it’s what keeps me alive.









Anatolii Belov, artist

I have neither time, nor materials to create “works”. All I have is my sketchbook.

These sketches show my immediate reaction to the war. I draw them in my sketchbook, which I carry around and use it to put in my thoughts and to-do lists. I took this sketchbook with me, alongside other first-necessity things, when I fled Kyiv to a safer place. It contains all important addresses and phone numbers, so it’s a big help.

Now I have neither time, nor materials to create “works”. All I have is my sketchbook. One of the drafts is dedicated to Putin and all Russian people. I put an equation mark between them. I think that the war in Ukraine should be blamed not only on Putin, but on all the Russians, who let him rule their country. “It’s not Russia, it’s Putin who did it”. That was Kateryna Dyogot’s, a well-known Russian critic and art manager, comment on the shelling of the Holocaust Memorial Babyn Yar. Such a reaction of detachment and not understanding their own responsibility for the war in Ukraine says a lot. And I made a sketch of this episode, which shows Putin’s head growing bigger and bigger with rage and wickedness.

The second drawing is my curse for a Russian monster-soldier and his whole family. He stormed into a free country that didn’t call for him. My fury is encapsulated in this sketch. I don’t like to be furious, but that’s what I’m feeling right now and I have every right to feel this way.



Danylo Movchan, artist

I can’t say anything. I can only draw one watercolor a day. I have no words.