Not all ill The arts as counterpoint
Authors: Zigmond Helen 
Published: March 2010

There are a number of strands that reflect on the complexities of practicing arts in health in this article, which could be referred to as a servant with two masters. For the practice to be sustainable, it requires a coming together of two disciplines that were once synonymous in Greek
times, when science, philosophy, art and politics were interwoven and combined into one worldview but now appear to often be in opposition. Yet it is not unusual to find medical practitioners engaged in the arts, as music lovers or musicians, or as frequent visitors to art galleries and owners
of good art, and as theatregoers and readers of literature. Is this an indication of an educated person open to ideas and, therefore, is it fair to say that, art is good for us and good for our health? If so, how do we marry that personal awareness and knowledge in the power of the arts to
the discipline of medicine and the practice of health?

When so much control is taken away from the individual with the onslaught of serious or chronic illness, what the arts can offer is a choice of expression. The range of media in the arts provides a broad spectrum for engagement to find
a personal or universal narrative, a point of comparison or juxtaposition and the use of the metaphor. The challenge then for the health professionals is how to facilitate this opportunity and strike a balance between constant assessment, and the opportunity to have some ownership in the healing
process.

It takes courage in a hospital setting to say I'm not all ill. The Creative Well project was designed for the Children's Hospital at Westmead to offer children and young people with serious and long-term illness the opportunity to access their creative language of wellbeing
providing a safe space away from the often exhausting therapies. Using the currency of creativity rather than illness, it can shift the focus of the environment, offer points of reflection, and expand the type of dialogue between patients, health professionals and carers allowing the personal
voice to emerge in an often depersonalized landscape.

Considering broader implications, the notion of health as a cultural context, which is the basis of both the Creative Well and Clacia (Creatively Linking A Community through Its Arts) programmes, is reinforced by the health delivery
perspective of the Swedish Quilturum programme, transforming health care in the region of Jonkoping which is also cost effective. Quilturum in Charting the Way to Greater Success: Pursuing Perfection in Sweden. Institute for Healthcare Improvement, speaks of Healthcare as a values based
system provides ways for articulating, agreeing on and including values that focus on the patient.

One of the startling revelations working with some very seriously unwell children and young people is their desire to be engaged in the creative process and to be involved in continued development
in their art form, in spite of their destabilized conditions. Why is that? What does this engagement offer? Can a single story illuminate both the practice and the complexity of the arts and health discipline? Ultimately to see this area develop, we need to return to the question of how we
marry personal knowledge of the power of the arts to the discipline of medicine and practice of health, for the benefit of the community.