Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community

Craic is a Gaelic term that, loosely translated, means having a good time and laughter with friends. I was happy to discover that it’s also a perfect acronym for a project I’m launching in June — the Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community group.

Creativity is vital in developing a healthy response to chronic illness and trauma. By using our powers of innovation, we’re able to devise better ways of overcoming obstacles and dealing with the cards we’ve been dealt. And the arts — writing, music, painting, sculpture, dancing or other creative expression — offer an outlet for expressing our emotional and physical feelings. Art is both informed by and informs our suffering.

One problem we face is that chronic illness is inherently isolating, so we lose the ability to get feedback about our art and our experience. Through CRAIC, we’ll work together to create a community for feedback and sharing that is accessible in spite of limitations. We’ll meet using a Web- and phone-based system to learn about creativity and artistic expression, set individual goals and share our creative work.

It’s not a support group or therapy; rather it’s a safe environment to learn, develop community and get feedback from others on our progress. I’ll use my experience as a group facilitator and educator to ensure that we remain positive and helpful to one another and that individual interests and differences are respected. CRAIC came out of DePaul’s Chronic Illness and the Arts Symposium I spoke at on May 12, but the group is open to anyone. There is no charge for participation.

Whether you are currently working on an artistic project or simply want to learn more about CRAIC, I invite you to join us for the first meeting, on June 16 at 11 a.m. Eastern time. You can get more information and register for the Web-based meeting at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/797008011, or e-mail your questions to me at blog.28@albanyhealthmanagement.com.

Creativity & Chronic Illness

I spent a few days this week in Chicago, where I spoke Wednesday at the Sixth Annual Chronic Illness Initiative Symposium at DePaul University. I have been fortunate to have a long and fruitful relationship with DePaul and it’s always good to return and see valued colleagues. It’s also heartening to meet the DePaul students who are going to great lengths to continue their education in the face of complex circumstances.

May 12, the day of the Symposium, was also International CFS/CFIDS/ME Awareness Day, a day to build awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome and work to further research and end the suffering that it causes.

CFS is the first illness in which I and my DePaul colleagues, led by Dr. Leonard Jason, validated the Fennell Four-Phase Model. The papers that we published continue to influence the understanding of how people come to integrate chronic illness into their lives. I remain deeply proud of the work that we have done together and to see the DePaul team continue publishing papers to further this work.

This year’s DePaul Symposium was about Chronic Illness & The Arts. As a lifelong musician, this is a topic that is very important to me. There is tremendous power in the creative process that helps people respond better to changing and uncertain circumstances.

With a chronic illness, you often don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next — it’s the roller-coaster that can be the hardest thing for people to cope with and understand. As the old saying goes, the only constant is change, and this is particularly true for people with chronic conditions.

I have defined five capacities that help people establish acceptance and meaning in their changed circumstances. They are:

1. Tolerate ambiguity
2. Become curious
3. Take risks
4. Improvise
5. Innovate

Using your powers of creativity in any medium, from the arts to business to daily living, is a powerful antidote to the feeling of helplessness that so many people feel when they are sick for long, indeterminate periods of time.

If you’d like more information about this topic, check out the slides from my two presentations here.

And please feel free to leave a comment on my blog or send me an e-mail at blog.28@albanyhealthmanagement.com.