Waterford Healing Arts
Making now better
Waterford Healing Arts (WHA) brings arts experiences – music, art making, creative writing, storytelling – to the bedsides of patients in hospital, to residents in other healthcare settings and to people living independently in the community, in addition to family members and staff. WHA aims to reduce anxiety, stress and loneliness and to bring joy through creative activity. This work is not ‘therapy’, but it is inherently therapeutic, lifting spirits, reducing isolation and bringing light and hope at what can be a difficult time in a person’s life.
Waterford Healing Arts works with patients in the paediatric, care of the older person, renal dialysis and oncology wards at University Hospital Waterford, and the South East Palliative Care Centre. WHA also delivers the extensive Iontas Arts and Mental Health programme in the Department of Psychiatry and in several community settings; WHA engages with older people at Waterford Residential Care Centre and makes art with individuals living at home through Art at the Kitchen Table.
Waterford Healing Arts was established in 1993 and is based at the Réalta Centre for Arts & Health, University Hospital Waterford.