Healing Through the Arts
Arts & Health Go Hand-in-Hand
Creating something new is good for your health.
Authentic human connection is built on the foundation of art. A kind word to a struggling friend. A simple act of service. A favourite coffee mug, crafted in a beginner pottery class. We all possess creative gifts that can touch one another’s lives through the diversity of expressive arts.
At the same time, the human experience is ripe with struggle. Illness, injury, mistreatment…we are in desperate need of healing.
HARP is part of a bigger, global movement for making the healing arts more accessible to everyone, no matter where they are in their journey. Here’s how our partner organizations are making waves in the healing arts and health movement:
A Growing Community
A spotlight on just a few members of HARP’s growing international community, in alphabetical order by last name. We’ve been blessed to get to know, work with, and mutually expand the horizons of so many beautiful and extraordinary human beings.
Patch Adams is a world-famous Physician, Clown, and Philanthropist. His remarkable work with sick children was portrayed by the late Robin Williams in the Hollywood blockbuster movie, Patch Adams.
“[Throughout] the book, John tells each and every one of us: ‘You are an artist and making art in any and all its forms will be good for you.’ He shows without academic and scientific baggage that personal artistic expression can bring meaning to your experience of illness as well as be potent preventive medicine… All we are saying, is give art a chance.” Patch Adams, MD, from his foreword in the HARP title Illness and The Art of Creative Expression by John Graham-Pole.
Learn more about Patch Adams’ lifelong commitment to the healing arts at www.patchadams.org.
Eve Mills Allen is a psychologist in New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to working in mental health, she worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, including 13 years as a newspaper reporter. She also supplied contract writing services for businesses and magazines and wrote the treatments for a season of television shows on APTN in Canada. She’s the author of the HARP title In the Arms of Inup.
“Storytelling in all its forms of expression brings light to this world and makes sense of the journey even when challenging. We are all related/the same. We all have a story. [HARP] supported me getting the overall message out about the need for more appropriate mental health services for survivors of war and torture… [Meanwhile] I found the editing process to be so affirming…. like a gentle birthing with a skilled midwife.”—Eve Mills Allen.
Learn more about Eve Mills Allen’s work in the healing arts at https://eve-allen-consulting.com
Bob Bancroft is a wildlife biologist and the current President of Nature Nova Scotia. Originally from the Annapolis Valley, Bancroft spent almost three decades with the provincial government in Nova Scotia as a wildlife biologist and fisheries biologist. Bancroft is known for his work on forest conservation, river restoration and wildlife rehabilitation. He has been a regular guest on CBC’s Maritime Noon, answering the public’s questions about wildlife, as well as the original HARP podcast Estu and Plove Find Their Voice (Estuary and Piping Plover).
“The beauty of nature is what heals and compels me. The wealthy, their corporations and shareholders are hijacking our democratic process. Nature needs advocates to help turn the focus from money and mining natural resources to conservation and rising above self-interest for the greater good.” —Bob Bancroft.
Listen to Bob Bancroft discuss the healing art of nature on the HARP “Estu and Plove Find Their Voice” podcast.
Heather Dennis is a movement educator as well as a former publisher and journalist. Her family were considered pioneers in Canada’s journalism sector and ran The Chronicle Herald for more than a century.
“The inclusion of all peoples, regardless of gender, race or intellectual ability is especially important in these days of widespread racism, sexism and bigotry. That [HARP is a] champion in existing social structures and encouragement to use art as a medium of expression, is something we need to nurture as a society… I believe this is what my three Dennis ancestors stood for. And what they championed through journalism,” Heather Dennis, an excerpt from her testimonial for Imagine Antigonish: A Photographic Inquiry into Health Equity.
Learn more about Heather Dennis’ lifelong commitment to the healing art of movement at www.heatherdennis.com.
Dr. Carol Flegg is a nursing and adult education professor and artist who recently completed her PhD at Mount Saint Vincent University. Carol worked as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“HARP is helping to publish my first book. It will be about the stories of nursing resilience—four nurses working during the pandemic. Creativity aligns well with my writing and how the nurses expressed their stories through art.” —Dr. Carol Flegg.
Learn more about Carol’s commitment to fostering nursing resilience through the healing arts here.
Dr. Justin Gregg is a scientist, bestselling author, and entertainer who transforms complex ideas about human and animal behavior into unforgettable, laugh-out-loud learning experiences. He is the author of the bestseller If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity and the forthcoming Humanish (Little, Brown, 2025), a wildly entertaining exploration of why humans can’t help but anthropomorphize — and how embracing this quirky tendency can actually make us better leaders, marketers, and humans.
“John and Dorothy have been supporters of my creative output for many years, and I credit John’s support for my writing as integral for the success of my career as an author. He was a member of the writing group that encouraged and supported me during my search for a literary agent, and his feedback and advice directly contributed to me landing an agent and subsequent book deals. Frankly, I probably owe John a small percentage of my earnings…”—Dr. Justin Gregg.
Learn more about Justin’s passion for the healing arts at www.justingregg.com
Ted Haines is an Emmy Award Winning Video Editor/Producer based in Florida, United States for editing a video about The National Ballet of Ukraine. Over the past 20 years he’s worked on projects for Disney, Universal, Wilson, Scholastic, EA Sports, and many others. He is an identical twin, and, thanks to Dr. Graham Pole, he also survived a rare type of leukemia as a teen.
“I owe my life to Dr. GP, and I’m very fortunate to have crossed paths with him when I did. I was ready to tell my mother I wanted give up on chemotherapy when John learned I had an identical twin and offered the lifeline of a BMT. I know there are hundreds if not thousands of others just like me. [He has] truly made a difference in this world.” —Ted Haines, one of many children who served as inspiration for the HARP title, Journey With A Thousand Heroes, and most all other books by John Graham-Pole.
Learn how Ted reconnected with John Graham-Pole nearly forty years after becoming cancer-free here.
Kyla Heyming also known as KPH and KP Heyming, is a bilingual writer and a Poet Laureate. Kyla’s poetry and non-fiction have appeared in a number of arts and literature journals, including her poem “Poet” which was featured in the League of Canadian Poets’ “Poetry Pause”.
Between 2022 and 2024, Kyla served as the city of Greater Sudbury’s 7th Poet Laureate. She is author of For Those I Have Loved published by HARP
“Dorothy and John were able to discover my work essentially. [We met at a] writing retreat, and I had decided to share my work aloud, which I hadn’t done before.,. It was a blessing we found each other, and I am grateful that they believed in the power and potential of my writing. [They published] my first collection of poetry For Those I Have Loved.” –Kyla Heyming.
Learn about Kyla’s breakthrough after publishing her first book with HARP, and her new career as an poet and healer.
Tara Hunt is a craftsperson, entrepreneur, and author. Tara wrote and illustrated From Shattered Towards Whole to share the creative tools she harnessed to successfully overcome complex childhood trauma. Today Tara and her husband, Keith Spears, operate Lily Pond Designs , a local crafts store, based in Cape George, Antigonish County.
“Not only has HARP encouraged my creativity, and that of all their authors, but also, by extension, that of all those who have enjoyed [and healed because of] these published works.” —Tara J. Hunt.
Learn more about Tara’s passion for the healing arts and creativity as often displayed at the Antigonish Farmer’s Market.
Megan Maginley is a writer, illustrator, and puppeteer based in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The Ballerina Boy is her first book, and her debut as a published illustrator and author.
Donavan Purcell (left) and Robin MacDougall (right) are the proud co-owners of Antigonish’s only bookstore, The Curious Cat. Prior to entrepreneurship, Donovan was working in finance when his doctor told him the stress of his work was affecting his physical and mental health. His partner, Robin MacDougall, was having difficulty finding a workplace that accommodated her disabilities caused by adolescent scoliosis.
Thanks to the moral and financial support of HARP Publishing: The People’s Press, Donavan Purcell (left) and Robin MacDougall (right) realized their dream to become co-owners of Antigonish’s only bookstore, The Curious Cat. They are pictured here in a March 2025 feature to The Globe and Mail.
Learn about Donavan and Robin’s new book store, and how actress Reese Witherspoon endorsed their efforts.
Stuart Pimsler founded Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (SPDT), an internationally recognized performance company, in 1979. The company’s community-inclusive work has been lauded as a “National Model” by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and its Arts & Healthcare work has been recognized for “Best Practices” by the National Endowment for the Arts. Published by HARP in 2021, Stuart’s book The Choreography of Care chronicles how his company continues to respond creatively to the needs of caregivers in both their homes and workplace.
“Each and every core value embraced by HARP echoes Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater values. At the very heart of The Choreography of Care is the firm belief, supported by twenty-five years of research and experience, that art offers the power of healing, [and specifically] to the very community entrusted with the public’s health and wellbeing.”— Stuart Pimsler.
Learn more about Stuart passionate commitment to dance and healing arts communities at www.stuartpimsler.com.
Elder Maurice Switzer Bnesi, is a citizen of the Mississaugas of Alderville First Nation, as well as Vice Principal Academic and Dean, University of Toronto, Scarborough as well as Chair of the Council for Indigenous Education at Nipissing University. Switzer has authored several books on treaty education, including “We are All Treaty People,” “Nation to Nation: a resource on Treaties in Ontario”, and “Grandpa, what is a treaty, anyway?”
“Through the creation of this very book, ReReading Catharine Parr Traill: Stranging the Familiar, Dorothy Lander is making a personal contribution to the gaps in knowledge about Indigenous people that have existed since Catharine Parr Traill and her ancestors first set foot on the shores of Turtle Island.”—Maurice Switzer.
Learn how Maurice recently took a moral stance on behalf of Indigenous Peoples at Nipissing University.
“My mum is a hero. How many moms in the world [have] the courage to go and face a general and say, ‘Where is my son? Give me at least one arm, one finger, one bone. Give me peace.’”—Jeremias Tecú on his mother’s desperate search for his two brothers in 1981 during the Guatemalan Civil war.
Listen to Jeremias on the BBC’s Witness History.
There is a curious creative in everyone — tap into yours today.
Imagine Antigonish
Heritage photos for community health.
Imagine Antigonish presents a visual history of the essential conditions for community health and wellbeing, and cultural, financial, and environmental sustainability, The heritage photos of Antigonish are organized thematically to illustrate the conditions for community health that are universal and at any historical moment.
The Center for Arts and Medicine (CAM)
Promoting health one creative moment at a time.
The Center for Arts in Medicine (CAM) at the University of Florida is dedicated to integrating the arts into the healing and medical journeys of all people. CAM’s faculty prepares students to create and build spaces of arts education that will radically change their communities through arts and health advocacy.
The National Organization for Arts and Health (NOAH)
Serving the field of arts in health.
The National Organization for Arts and Health (NOAH) amplifies the impact of the arts in health, promoting the vision that arts in health are vital for overall well-being and health.
WHO Arts & Health
We’re creating a movement — let’s build it together.
The World Health Organization has long advocated for the arts playing an integral role in helping us understand, connect and communicate with one another, across all cultures and social contexts. The intrinsic health benefits of artistic expression cannot be understated in the pursuit of overall wellness, and throughout the battles of injury and illness.
Resources
The Arts and Health Equity: Four Opportunities for Impact
National Centre for Creative Health
Consuming arts and culture is good for health and wellbeing, research finds
Combining arts and humanities to improve health equity
Arts and Health: The Role of the Arts Sector in Promoting Resilience and Well-Being
The place of art in the evidence ecosystem to address health equity
Creating Healthy Communities: Arts + Public Health in America – An Evidence-Based Framework
Arts for Health Equity and Social Justice
WHO Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health
The Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London
