CLEARWATER – Starting in 2013, Morton Plant Mease’s Cancer Patient Support Services will offer a new creative arts program to cancer patients and their families.
The program will focus on the connection between creativity and health and how tapping into a person’s creative side can impact the healing process and recovery.
The Art of Well-Being will tap into participants’ creative side through the arts and discover how creativity can help reduce stress and improve a patient’s overall health and well-being. Each month, a different creative experience will be offered in a safe environment for cancer patients and their families. Experiences such as painting, journaling, poetry, music and movement will be explored.
“When a patient has the opportunity to be in a comfortable environment and focus on a creative process, it can help reduce stress and gain focus that can lead to calming the body for mental and physical recovery,” said Dr. Ben Yan, a Morton Plant Mease oncologist, in a press release. “There have been several recent studies done showing how the arts can benefit the healing process, and mental well-being along with a regular exercise regimen is extremely important for patients undergoing treatment for cancer.”
Morton Plant will offer The Art of Well-Being program once a month facilitated by Diane McMillen, a nine-year breast cancer survivor, co-facilitator of the Tampa Bay Breast Cancer Support Group and recent graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design Arts and Healing Certificate program. All supplies will be provided. The classes are scheduled on the following dates:
![[Image]](/content_images/070312_pco-01z_front.jpg)
