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About
One of the behavioral risk factors of CVDs is stress. Low-income communities have higher levels of stress and thus higher risks of heart disease. For instance, poverty results in food and housing insecurity, high crime and violence rates, inadequate school systems, uncertainty, etc. These all drive stress, evident by the fact that low-income individuals have higher levels of stress than high-income.
Heartful Healings' Anti-Stress program aims to combat this by decreasing one of the major behavioral risk factors of CVDs in low-income communities: stress. We are launching this program with our Art Therapy Initiative.
Art Therapy Initiative
Art Therapy uses art-making, creative process, psychology, and human experience to enrich the lives of individuals. Studies have shown that it has significantly reduced stress in individuals. The Art Therapy Initiative in our Anti-Stress program serves to give low-income individuals access to this form of stress alleviation.
Art Supplies
Research has shown that many low-income individuals release stress in ways that increase risks of CVDs, such as smoking. Thus, we donate art therapy supplies not only to decrease stress, but provide healthier alternatives for stress alleviation. Supplies donated include paint, coloring books, clay, etc.
Workshops
We additionally provide free art therapy workshops to low-income individuals to teach them about art therapy, equipping them with the knowledge to do art therapy alone and decrease their stress. It also provides a safe space and sense of community, as individuals will learn with one another.
Research
If you are interested in seeing the statistics and our research on the intersection of stress and CVDs in low-income communities, click below ♡
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