Healing Hands: Art Therapy Meets Medical Education

Art therapy has the potential to enrich physician assistant/associate education by integrating knowledge of social-emotional needs into existing curricula. Using the window of tolerance as a framework, a workshop series was presented in which art therapists explored stressors and coping strategies for medical professionals to reduce burnout and enhance social emotional awareness in patient care. The hypotheses studied focused on more in-depth education and practiced awareness of provider social-emotional needs through art therapy, with anticipated outcomes including identification of healthy coping mechanisms, decreased stress, and increased awareness of patient mental health needs. While quantitative results were affected by external variables, qualitative data showcased positive impacts on social-emotional awareness and coping, emphasizing the need for continued integration of experiential opportunities provided by trained mental health professionals for provider self-care to foster resilience and patient attunement in medical education.