Neither alone is sufficient. Interactions of the heart and mind, and the growth they result in at the deepest levels of human experience, have never been easy to measure'. Key points Artistic therapies can help patients explore many facets of their disease and of their personal relationships. The act of creating helps patients to explore feelings and thoughts, and can bring meaning to the end of life. Empathy is an important skill that professional carers naturally develop in their practice of caring for the terminally ill.
Terminal illness encourages a path of self-development for the dying, their family and carers alike.
The arts have a potential healing role in hospice care, and funding for them should be made available - quality of life research could reveal that art therapies are financially viable. This is a network of self-help support groups, developed over the last three years through the C4Ward initiative, an alliance of group members, supportive professionals and volunteers. The founding group in the network originated from the efforts of a woman who herself had secondary breast cancer, Alison McCartney, and her breast care nurse counsellor. They drew, in turn, on the work of Spiegel and his colleagues in the USA who had found evidence that participation in such groups significantly enhanced women's emotional wellbeing. Key points Collaboration between group members and women providing organisational back-up and input as professionals is crucial to a group's development.