2 minute read
Adventist Health
Opening Colorful Doors of Hope and Healing
By Judy Leach
Afascinating kaleidoscope of artistry fills a hallway of Adventist Health Vallejo as Lauren Chester invites teenagers to transform ordinary wooden doors into murals. Doors leading into patient rooms provide a blank canvas for self-expression. This creative process is helping adolescents cope with behavioral symptoms, develop self-awareness, and improve skills to help manage traumatic life experiences.
The concept of creating murals to elevate the human spirit is familiar to the Atlanta native, who recalls painting a mural on a fence in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, showcasing a beacon of hope rising from destruction. She also created a mural at a hearing-impaired school in Kazakhstan that was designed to bring joy in the midst of chaos. But working with Adventist Health Vallejo as a volunteer artist in residence is the first time Chester has used her talents to work with teenagers.
“This process of helping patients create murals inside a hospital has been very meaningful,” noted Chester, who has been a conduit for their ideas. “Their concepts inspired my own creativity.”
The goal of art therapy is to utilize the creative process to help people explore self-expression and find new coping skills. Through elements like color, shapes, subjects, and scale, patients might uncover conflicts that
impact their behaviors.
As a creative art therapist, Chester is promoting health by encouraging teens to actively participate in their journey of healing. Art becomes a tool for insight and discovery. Therapists noticed that boys and girls demonstrated a sense of ownership and pride as a result of their artistic expressions. The process of painting helped some set better boundaries with their personal space. Others found a sense of calm and an ability to relinquish anxiety by watching patients create their murals on doors. “A patient told me she returned home
and began painting as a coping skill after having experienced the mural painting in the adolescent unit at the hospital,” said Chester. “This project allowed me opportunities to listen to the teenagers express their hopes, fears, anxieties, pain, and dreams. Patients open up to me more while engaging in artistic projects. Their art speaks volumes.”
“Patients come to us with their spirits battered and broken,” said Nelu Nedelea, director of mission integration at Adventist Health Vallejo. “This project has been an outlet to help patients find an open door to address their emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. Chester’s creative efforts have sparked joy among patients, visitors, and associates who are reminded that creativity is a form of healing.
