Heal the Body, Mind, and Spirit at Community Healthcare System’s Cancer Resource Centre

Heal the Body, Mind, and Spirit at Community Healthcare System’s Cancer Resource Centre

Cancer sucks.

It takes a toll on more than just the physical aspect of a person. The mind and soul are affected, and though the body is able to heal through surgeries and medicines, the rest need different types of medicine that isn’t pill-shaped.

Amanda Wyatt, Art Therapist at the Cancer Resource Centre in Munster, is helping cancer survivors heal by putting brush to canvas and pencil to paper. A Valpo resident, Wyatt is a graduate of DePaul University and Adler School of Professional Psychology. She is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor in Indiana. In 2005 Wyatt received the highest credential an art therapist can get by becoming a Board Certified Art Therapist.

“A life without art was not a life worth living, in my opinion,” Wyatt said. “My mother died of breast cancer that metastasized to a brain tumor when I was five-years-old in 1981, and I used art throughout my life to cope with her death. I knew I always wanted to do something within medicine and art.”

Wyatt is able to bring art into the medical field at the Cancer Resource Centre. The Centre is a program within the Community Cancer Resource Foundation. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that brings the latest research on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer to the Region. The Foundation provides sponsorship for research trials at the hospitals under the Community Healthcare System: Community Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital, and St. Mary Medical Center.

The services at the Cancer Resource Centre are offered to those affected by cancer, free of charge. There are all different types of programs that individuals can take part in at the Centre from support groups to yoga and cooking classes, Chi Gong to Empowerment Drumming, Guided Imagery to Expressive Art Therapy, and more. The environment at the Centre is safe and welcoming and those who utilize the services that are offered there and find healing for body, mind, and spirit.

“I believe it’s a really personal decision to help someone with the arts,” Wyatt said. “Art has always had an influence in my life, and has been a way of coping with adversity & expressing my emotions. I knew if it was helpful for me, I could help other people with it as well.”

Wyatt teaches the art therapy class at the Centre and the next session is taking place on April 9, 2016. There are still open spots for the class. Click here to find out more!

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy, Wyatt stated, and she goes on to express that the piece of art that an individual works on becomes the vehicle in which emotions, behaviors, thoughts, and more can be expressed.

“With my clients at the Cancer Resource Centre, art therapy creates a sense of safety and normalcy because of its flexibility and non-threatening materials. Art therapy is important because of the use of metaphor in direct discussion and predictability of art materials,” Wyatt said. “The images created from patients can be messengers of creativity and bolster the spirit in the midst of medical procedures. Installation of hope, and seeing the positive side of life can also be a goal of art therapy, which in turn, increases endorphin production and a sense of happiness.”