October 10, 2024
Healing vs. Curing: Art as Health Care
“Not all health care has to happen in sterile white rooms, sometimes it can be interactive and colorful and fun.”
Now you might be wondering, why does Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless have a free Art Program? What does that have to do with health care?
According to Sean Poitras, the ArtStreet studio assistant that runs the Pottery program at AHCH, it has to do with the difference between Healing or Curing, Suffering or Pain, Illness or Disease. “When you can begin to differentiate what these terms mean and the subtleties that each implies, then you can begin to understand what we do here,” he says.
And I couldn’t describe it better myself. Even though ArtStreet is a service that our Behavioral Health program offers and does formal Art Therapy, it is also art as therapy. Art as therapy doesn’t follow the formal medical model, like diagnosing and prescribing to treat diseases and pain. Elise Gill, ArtStreet Coordinator and certified Art Therapist describes it well. “It engages the creative encounter and appreciates the journey…You are meeting others with openness, without judgement, and without expectation of something new to be born.” This model of engagement comes from a deeply rooted belief that artistic expression, especially for those who are socially disenfranchised and would not normally have access to artmaking, is a form of social justice and community care.
Creating and expressing is an intrinsic human need and a basic human right. ArtStreet is a means to access artmaking supplies, an artmaking community, and a network of care regardless of the things you’ve experienced in your life, your socioeconomic standing, or your artistic skill level. ArtStreet understands that the title of Artist is not a privileged position and that self-expression and creativity should be available to anybody and everybody. And in that interaction emerged a powerful shift as people realized that their identity was not limited to “homeless” or “client” or “patient” but could be transformed into “artist.” That is the healing that ArtStreet provides.
Walking through the doors, people shed their alternate identities and have the space to dream and create. They interact with others in the community, not as housed or unhoused, but as artists, as equals. And in this community space, we also have the opportunity to build trust and familiarity with AHCH’s health care network and soften the barriers between client and provider.
But don’t just take our word for it, below is an excerpt of an interview with ArtStreet Artist Rudolph Serrano explains what ArtStreet means to him. You can read the full interview here.
“Reconnecting has been a long road.”
Rudolph Serrano, ArtStreet Artist
I use art to try and connect with people because it is really hard for me to connect directly.
When I first became homeless, I lived in my van. I used to call it my PTSD cruiser, because I would just move and move anytime I thought somebody was bothering me. With PTSD, I can sometimes be a little paranoid and negative, and I go in and out. Sometimes I think “oh no, all people are evil” or “nobody is going to appreciate what you do, nobody understands” and that’s the inner dialogue that I have when it comes to most people. But ArtStreet is always a safe place to go back, focus on the positive, and move forward. To have a place to go and just do something, without having to interact with anyone, but still being in community. It is just healing.
It’s been almost five years with ArtStreet, but the first year I would show up and I wouldn’t be able to focus, the attention span was completely gone. Five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and I would work on my focus—and then when you can focus and think, art happens as a result. For me, my Art is my Medicine.
And it’s therapeutic because I’m telling people my story. The media and the politicians tell a different story, and you can’t fight a system all by yourself. Nobody wants to hear you. All I can hope is that through my Art and My words my grandkids and my kids can listen and know my story, my truth. That is what art does for me, it is activism, it is change, it is my voice.
Ok so, I understand how art can be healing, but how does that tie into the rest of AHCH’s services?
To understand that we have to first establish the premise that healthcare as an institution has had a history of harm, discrimination, and exploitation, especially for vulnerable populations. This is most apparent when we analyze US health disparities and look at who experiences higher incidences of disease and illness, and track that with histories of systemic discrimination such as sexism, racism, ageism, and ableism. Due to this history, there is a large gap that has been carved by mistrust, inequality, and discrimination between the people who need health care the most and the people who provide that care. We acknowledge that AHCH, as a Health Care institution, is also part of that system–even with all of our good intentions.
“It has to do with the difference between Healing or Curing, Suffering or Pain, Illness or Disease”
That is why it is so important to have ArtStreet, a low threshold community-led program that promotes healing, and subverts the traditional health care models of curing, diagnosing, prescribing. Due to the organic, safe, and judgement-free nature of the studio space, it is natural for clients and artists to share their stories, struggles, anxieties in ways that they normally wouldn’t with a provider. With this added insight, studio assistants act as allies for the artist, connecting them with resources and referring them to other AHCH services to meet their needs. Having our staff and providers engage in the open studio space and get to know clients outside of the client-provider relationship and on equal grounds as fellow artists, helps build trust and familiarity with the AHCH network of care. In addition, ArtStreet studio staff don’t just teach art skills, but also are trained in Trauma-Informed care, harm reduction, and are de-facto resource navigators. Additionally, the value of problem-solving as a community of peers cannot be underwritten. Oftentimes Artists with lived experience will help guide other individuals who are newly unhoused towards the resources they need to help them exit homelessness. To learn more about the value of community in ArtStreet, read our blog post “Stronger Together: Building Resiliency, Making Connections, Crafting Community.”
Iz Ortiz, Studio Assistant – Elise GIll, ArtStreet Coordinator – Sean Poitras, Studio Assistant – C. Alex Clark, Art Therapy Intern
Ryan Delaware, Behavioral Health Director – Alina Pozas, Studio Assistant
