About Art Healing Hearts 

Arts Healing Hearts is a non- profit to provide skills to people of any background to come in and learn different art forms. This is to create mechanisms to balance and channel any overpowering emotion, using the skills of origami, oil painting, crochet, water painting, sketching, bracelet weaving, and sculpting. When feeling stressed, upset, or angry people tend to take it out on people who do not deserve it. These people could include your kids, parents, friends and even yourself.  This foundation is to give somewhere for you to turn to and take out these negative emotions in a positive manner, instead of taking it out on anybody else. We are here to help people to be in control of their strong emotions, and help guide them in their emotional journey.  

This will be an event held for people to come in and learn all different types of art forms from volunteers held on July 12-13 from 2:00-5:00pm (MST)  we hope to directly affect anyone who attends the workshops to give them a strategy to take out any negative emotion in a positive way. This foundation also hopes to make an impact on their lives and for them to use the skills they have learned in their everyday lives, affecting not only them but their friends and loved ones around them. 

The Origin

Arts Healing Hearts started because of the Dragon Kim's foundation. The Dragon Kim's foundation was started to help make dreams come true, and to turn young minds into great leaders. I applied with a vision of creating a happier living environment, and bettering the world by creating Arts Healing Hearts.  The experience of a lost loved one, stress due to school, being overwhelmed in tasks, or just having the sensation of going in a spiral and having nowhere to turn, can cause one to take it out on people who do not deserve it. People can take out their negative emotions on their parents, kids, friends, or even themselves. Seeing people go from a 4.0 GPA to a 2.1, yelling at their friends, and isolating themselves just because of built up emotion that has not been expressed, and does not know how to. I created this foundation to help people going through any hard time to have a safe space to express anything, while creating a beautiful outcome. Seeing people around me experience adversities, and having their whole personalities change in the blink of an eye is heartbreaking. With Arts Healing Hearts, I hope to provide the tools to help others balance their emotions while still acknowledging they are there. 

Statistics

Arts Healing Hearts hopes to provide a mechanism so whenever feeling any strong emotion, that people have a way to cope with it while also getting to express it. 

The scary truth of our world today due to people with the feeling of worthlessness and grief are frightening 

"In the year 2020, approximately 1.53 million people will die from suicide based on current trends and according to WHO estimates. Ten to 20 times more people will attempt suicide worldwide (2). This represents on average one death every 20 seconds and one attempt every 1-2 seconds" (Fleischmann). That is overall and the amount, and the percetile due to feeling of worlessness is about 75%  according to studies. 

"About 7 out of every hundred men and 1 out of every hundred women who have been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime will go on to complete suicide. The risk of suicide in people with major depression is about 20 times that of the general population" (American Association for Suicidology).

Effects

"Increases mindfulness – When we are creating art, we are engaged so fully that it shifts the focus on whatever is going on around us and it brings us into the present moment. It is difficult to dwell on other problems when we are immersed in creating artwork

Reduces stress – Studies show that both creating and observing art can reduce cortisol*(the stress hormone). Doing something we love also releases endorphins which are the feel-good chemicals. Endorphins help combat stress and even reduce pain.

Builds self-esteem – I have met so many people that tell me they just “aren’t creative” or they don’t do it because they aren’t “any good” at it. Don’t let the fear of not being “good” stop you from creating. Creating artwork, no more how “good” or “bad” it is, has a tangible result. The more we engage in creating, the more improvement we see so it provides a sense of achievement.

Creates a healthy state of mind – Participants in a 2014 study** who produced art demonstrated ‘a significant improvement in psychological resilience’ as well as increased levels of 'functional connectivity' in the parts of the brain responsible for introspection, self-monitoring, and memory" (DeNeal).

"Craft’s particular benefits for mental health are backed up by the results of the BBC Great British Creativity Test, published in 2019. Textile crafts such as crocheting, and origami  have the highest participation rates of all the arts – more than music – according to the government’s Taking Part survey, which shows the potential impact that making could have. Another study showed that participating in sewing as a leisure activity contributed to psychological wellbeing through increasing pride and enjoyment, self-awareness, and 'flow' in younger women" (Melton). 

Craft courses have been prescribed to patients since the dawn of occupational therapy in the late 19th century, with basket weaving used to relieve anxiety and physical ailments in soldiers during the first world war. They continue to be used today, with groups such as Combat Stress, the UK charity for veterans’ mental health, offering sculpting classes. Craig Mealing, an ex-soldier from Essex suffering from PTSD, turned sculpting  into a career after an introductory course through the charity: ‘Working with clay is the ideal distraction for keeping me off the drink,’ he says. ‘It’s hard to throw a pot with a can of Fosters in my hand. I find it relaxing and it helps to reduce my anxiety.’ 

"A thorough literature analysis was conducted using essential databases such as PubMed, WHO's Mental Health database and an expanded search using sources such as Google and Google Scholar to find relevant articles. Articles specifically included art therapy intervention that deals with painting, drawing and craft. Articles included for review were from 2008 to 2021. Additional filters, such as free full text, were applied to all research. Furthermore, the reference lists and publications' citations were reviewed for other relevant sources. On examining the title and abstract, final inclusion was determined. This was done to eliminate mismatches with the review topic. The keywords used for advanced search were art-therapy, art, water painting, drawing, painting and mood disorders, depression, common mental disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's" (Muacevic).