Why Support Arts in Healing?

When patients and their families go to the hospital for care, they can feel stress, anxiety, depression or even anger related to their medical condition and its treatment. Left untreated, these stressors can actually interfere with their healing and recovery.

We created Arts in Healing to alleviate those feelings and bring the healing power of the arts into our hospitals and other patient-care settings.

How it works

Led by a team of board-certified art and music therapists, Arts in Healing works to help children and adults of all ages identify, explore, and transform emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual difficulties associate with their health care journey.

Working at the patient’s bedside or in schools and other community-based settings, our team provides an outlet for expression within a therapeutic relationship. In doing so, they are able to enhance the healing process in an innovative and safe manner, especially when words are hard to find.

Proven effectiveness

More than an art class or musical performance, creative arts therapy is a research-driven, clinical intervention with a proven ability to:

• Promote emotional well-being
• Decrease feelings of depression and anxiety
• Develop coping skills for stress, trauma and loss
• Strengthen family communication
• Normalize a patient’s experience and hospital stay
• Build physical and mental strength, flexibility and awareness
• Support pain management

Supported entirely by compassionate donors like you

Arts in Healing would not be possible without your gifts. Donations make it possible for us to provide these important services at no cost to hospitalized MUSC patients and their families, as well as to local schools and other community-based organizations. They cover everything from the salaries of art and music therapists to art supplies and musical instruments.

Our vision for the future

Demand for Arts in Healing services has grown dramatically since it began in 2018. The MUSC Health Charleston campus includes four hospitals with more than 700 beds. Today, we have just six art and music therapists to serve these patients, their families and their caregivers. The need is especially high at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, where there is often a waitlist of children and families who need our help. With your support, we can continue to heal hospitalized patients, their families and our care teams through the arts. Your donation, combined with others, will also help us meet our greatest need: hiring more creative arts therapists, so we can reach even more patients in our hospitals and in the community.

Additional therapists would allow us to offer art and music therapy to patients outside of the hospital, including those in treatment for cancer, or receiving palliative or hospice care. It will also allow us to continue providing needed mental health services for our children in our local schools.

Ways your gift could make an impact

• $34 = One hospital visit.
• $68 = Two group therapy sessions to help prevent care team burnout.
• $102 = Three family therapy sessions.
• $154 = One creative arts therapy session for outpatient cancer patients.
• $200/month = If 30 people each gave $200 a month, we could hire a full-time creative arts therapist for the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

Donate to MUSC Arts in Healing today!

These are just a few examples of how gifts can impact Arts in Healing. We’d love to hear your ideas. To discuss how you can help shape or even transform this special service, please contact Lindsay Finneran at 843-792-4489 or finneral@musc.edu.

Donations of Art or Supplies

If you are interested in donating artwork, art/craft materials and/or musical instruments, please contact artsinhealing@musc.edu.