Patients who are in the oncological process and undergoing active treatment in the Oncology services of Mataró Hospital, Terrassa Hospital and Althaia Hospital of Manresa, can benefit from Art Therapy in some new weekly workshops.
This initiative is being fostered by Nous Cims in cooperation with the Kalida Foundation, following the line of promoting projects that have positive effects on people living with cancer, as well as on their relatives and care givers.
The project referred to is called Art Therapy: we’re any colour. According to Marta Mosquera, the Director of the Emotional Well-being Area of Nous Cims, the initiative was christened with this name after “thinking about the different experiences that people in the disease process go through, including support during the greyest moments of cancer and, humbly, in the colourful spaces and settings that can appear”.
The sessions follow a structured process, first of all, by initial contact, in which the participants’ concerns are resolved. Then a relaxation and introspection activity takes place. Subsequently, art is produced, whether plastic arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage, etc.), written expression (poetry and/or narrative) or music, self-expression through movement, theatre and others.
The last part of the session is dedicated to reflection: participant share their experiences, putting them into words, talking with the art therapists and finding new meanings for the emotions they’ve felt. The final objective of these sessions is for these people to find greater well-being, improve their mood and decrease their level of fatigue, anxiety and stress.
Multi-centre study on Art Therapy
The Althaia Hospital of Manresa, the Mataró Hospital and the Terrassa Hospital join the Nous Cims and Kalida project with a view to conducting a multi-centre study to assess the impact of art therapy on the lives of persons with cancer.
Specifically, the support provided through art therapy is based on an actual involvement in art, which helps people to very quickly and profoundly come into contact with their inner world. It is a therapy that is empirically proven to aid medical treatments.
To be precise, this therapy opens up a symbolic way to talk about all the concerns and fears that any person may have during a cancer process. In fact, cancer is considered to be a high-impact event in the lives of people, and leads to the appearance of fear and uncertainty, among other emotions. These emotions can all be embodied through artistic works, and sharing them with a group and receiving the support of art therapists helps provide another way to manage experiences.