By Barbara Field Barbara Field Barbara is a writer and speaker who is passionate about mental health, overall wellness, and women’s issues. Dancing is fun and can be a great way to celebrate, but evidence also suggests it can be a powerful tool for boosting mental health and well-being. Researchers have found that dancing can improve mood, combat depression, boost brain function,…
Dancing has been shown to improve mood and help stave off depression by releasing serotonin; while dancing increases neural activity between brain hemispheres and helps to develop new neural connections.
“The arts are like a secret language for children,” Abigail Unger tells us. Unger directs the expressive therapies team at Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo, one of the firs to fids kind in the country. Hospice Buffalo offers end-of-life and palliative care, serving roughly 5,000 in individuals are year, including children with terminal diagnoses. “For children who don’t yet have…
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 6 US youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14. Statistics show that suicide was the second leading cause of death in 2020 among individuals 10-14, and is the third leading cause of death for individuals ages 15…
Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities offers a roadmap for communities to develop programs that formally integrate arts, culture, and nature resources into local health and social care systems. Arts on prescription programs allow healthcare providers and social service agencies to “prescribe” arts activities, cultural experiences, and time in nature to support their patients’ or clients’ health, wellbeing…