Cancer patients are increasingly turning to alternative and complementary therapies to reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, and boost their ability to cope with stress.

The Beckstrand Art Therapy Program uses art and psychoanalysis to teach children, teens and adults with cancer how to better cope with their diagnosis and prognosis, and to aid in their recovery. Program Director, Dr. Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, holds both a PhD in Art Therapy/Psycho-Oncology and in Psychoanalysis, and is a pioneer in art therapy for cancer patients both in the United States and in Europe.

Art therapy utilizes the creative, psychotherapeutic process of art-making to ameliorate physical and emotional pain, improve quality of life, and foster psychological growth for persons with cancer.

Helps patients and families to cope better with their illness by:

• • Fostering hope and psychological well-being through artistic change and peer interaction
• • Offering a creative avenue to communicate physical and emotional needs
• • Increasing self esteem and reducing pain and symptoms through mastery of art materials and pictorial expression
• • Exploring complicated, frightening thoughts and feelings related to cancer and its difficult treatments
• • Moving from the feeling of isolation to the sense of connection, and from the frustration of powerlessness to the satisfaction of a sense of control

For more information, please contact us.