Integrative medicine

Creative arts therapy — also referred to as expressive arts therapy — includes art, dance and movement, drama, music and poetry therapies. Creative arts therapists are board-certified and can be licensed human service professionals who use arts-based methods and innovative processes to optimize your mental health and wellness.

Creative arts therapy offers healthy outlets to redirect intense feelings in more productive ways. With these new skills, you feel less alone in the world and less inclined toward anger, depression or self-harming behavior. You also become more capable of expressing feelings that are harder to share using words alone.

Art therapy

Art therapy is an integrative therapy that enriches your life through active art-making. Healing occurs by combing creativity, psychology and your own experiences. A professional art therapist supports your treatment goals and understands your community concerns. It is used to improve your mind and movement abilities, as well as foster self-esteem and self-awareness.

Dance and movement therapy

Dance and movement therapy takes a unique approach to healing. The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) defines this therapy as the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote your emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration. It is based on the evidence-based assertion that your mind, body and spirit are inseparable and interconnected. Changes in your body reflect changes in your mind and vice versa.

Drama therapy

According to the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA), drama therapy achieves therapeutic goals with the intentional use of drama or theater. Drama therapy is a practice that is active and experiential. This approach helps you tell your story, set goals, solve problems, express feelings and achieve catharsis. Through drama, you actively explore your inner experience and enhance your interpersonal skills.

Music therapy

Music therapy is an established health profession in which music is used therapeutically to address your physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs. After assessing your strengths and needs, the music therapist provides a treatment that includes creating, singing, moving and listening to music.

Poetry therapy

Poetry therapy allows you to use language, symbols and stories in therapeutic and educational ways. It relies upon poems, stories, song lyrics, imagery and metaphor to facilitate personal growth and grow self-awareness. Journal writing, storytelling and ritual are all within the realm of poetry therapy.

Pet therapy

Our pet therapy program offers well-trained therapy dogs who provide this comfort and affection as patients recover. The dogs may sit or lie quietly for hours on the bed next to you while being petted.

At our participating hospitals, therapy dogs are only a phone call away. If you would like one of our four-legged friends to spend time with you, all you have to do is ask your nurse to make the arrangements.

Recreational therapy

According to the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, recreational therapy uses hobby-like activities as a treatment method. Examples of recreational therapy include painting, athletics and gaming, among many others. It addresses your needs by helping to reestablish emotional and physical health and well-being.

Therapeutic yoga

Therapeutic yoga is the application of yoga postures to aid in the treatment of health conditions. It involves yoga instruction to prevent, reduce or alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain and suffering or limitations.

As mental health care incorporates a greater sensitivity to the long-term effects of trauma, integrative therapies can provide you with powerful support. These therapies help you learn to regulate your feelings, build coping skills and realize you can start and finish an activity and work toward mastery.

Other benefits of integrative therapy include:

• Adults may explore new, more productive and positive ways to spend their leisure time that can help alleviate depression or anxiety.
• Adolescents may have better ways to tell their stories and express the feelings they struggle with.
• Children may find avenues to productively channel and regulate their energy, voice their feelings and connect to themselves and others.
• Most integrative therapies incorporate a verbal component in each session. This helps you reflect on what you were able to express and experience and identify how this applies to your specific situation.
• The therapist provides feedback to appropriate treatment team members if the integrative therapies uncover troubling or safety issues, so you can receive the help and attention you need.

HCA Virginia Health System is among the few health systems in the U.S. to offer inpatient and outpatient holistic treatment options to adults, adolescents and children impacted by trauma and mental health disorders. We lead Virginia in providing access to creative solutions for health and wellness problems.

As part of this, our teams are multidisciplinary. Our expert, integrative therapists collaborate with other specialists in developing treatment plans. They work closely with physicians, social workers, psychiatric nurses, psychiatric technicians, educators, dietitians and other clinical staff. Together, they identify and deliver the most appropriate care in the least restrictive environment possible.