Health Matters with TSET: Healing through art

There are art programs at about half of hospitals in the U.S., including at least one here in Oklahoma.

Research shows that patients who engage with the arts have a higher sense of control, reduced anxiety, and sometimes, even shorter stays in the hospital.

In today's Health Matters with TSET, Amy Slanchik takes us to a splatter room and learns how art can provide healing.

A Room for Expression, not Expectation

A spatula, whisk and toilet bowl cleaner hang on the wall in a room inside the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health.

They are among the tools ready for children to choose from, along with brightly colored paint, inside what’s known as the “splatter room.”

"Having a safe place to express yourself, I think that's great for everyone, but especially in the hospital. We have kids who have been in their rooms for long periods of time, maybe holding on to a lot of big feelings that we have no place to put them,” Art Therapist Brittany Dray said.

Those feelings are across the spectrum, from anger to joy. Sometimes patients find themselves laughing, a sound you might not expect to hear at a children's hospital.

But in this room, there are no expectations.

It's a space where medical talk is kept to a minimum, and where the only thing PPE protects anyone from is paint.

"I like throwing the paint, so it goes like, everywhere,” eight-year-old Ameila Franke said.

Getting Creative with Care

"Being creative is something that's helpful in many aspects of our lives,” Dray said.

Dray said art can activate the feelings portion of our brains, help with memory, and it can have a positive impact on our health.

"Often, if we're feeling better, it really affects how we are in our spaces, but it affects how are you gonna follow through with our treatments or take our medications,” Dray said.

Franke has Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. She lives at the hospital for a month after each round of chemo.

Her mom, Tricia, said Amelia's latest biopsy results show no cancer, but she still has more treatments ahead of her.

“The Zone,” a 6,000 square foot space at the Oklahoma Children's Hospital at OU Health, is a place where patients and their families can take a break with art, poetry, books, toys, games and more. The hospital also offers options for patients who can’t leave their rooms.

"Just makes me feel a little less stressed…just takes my mind off of everything,” Amelia said.

The Mayo Clinic has a Humanities in Medicine program, which offers things like bedside art, creative workshops and performances in certain states.

The Mayo Clinic reports, “Research studies show that arts engagement can have a profound impact on patients, including by reducing patient suffering and need for medicine.”

For more research on the topic from the National Library of Medicine, click here.

To learn more about Art Therapy in Oklahoma, click here.

Art for Anyone’s Health

News On 6 stepped into the splatter room to give it a try, with help from Amelia.

AMELIA: "And then you just throw!"

BRITTANY: “And then you just throw.”

AMY: "Ok. Everybody watch out!"

"It's so much fun,” Franke said. “You get to do whatever you want with the paint, and nobody tells you to stop getting messy and stuff. You can just do whatever you want."

Brittany said art can help anyone, whether they are in the hospital or not. She said don't get too caught up in trying to be perfect – think process over product.

“Think about what feels good to you,” she said. “If you feel like you need to move, sometimes you can just put big paper up and just do big, wide scribbles. And so if you feel like you just need to sit and be calm, you can just kind of look at some little doodles you're doing, you can just squish up some paper."

And remember: there are no expectations.