The Arts in Care Project
The Arts in Care Project is an evolving and collaborative space dedicated to the holistic growth of care workers, broadly defined, through arts education and creativity training. There is an ever-present need for care providers to work to humanize not just the people that they care for, but themselves as well, in order to connect on a more holistic level to their patients, clients, or cared for.
What Do We Do?
We provide education for both clinical and humanities institutions in the use of the creative arts in fostering a more holistic approach to the physical and mental well-being of people performing care labor in any capacity.
We aim to bring the power of creativity to the carer through tailored virtual or in-person lectures, seminars, and workshops. From a class visit to a panel, we will consult with your program or individual instructors on how to best add the element of creativity to self-care, engagement, and well-being.
We are also interested in the power of the arts to communicate and make accessible to the general audience the kinds of scientific and professional knowledge that can be actionable in everyday life to improve health and wellbeing.
The Team
Antía Itzel Gómez, PhD
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Antía Itzel Gómez holds a BA in Spanish from Pomona College and a PhD in literature from New York University, where she wrote a dissertation on alcoholism, diabetes, and narco-trafficking in queer Mexican and Chicana cultural production. Antía Itzel Gómez is currently a third-year medical student at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. Antía’s interest in becoming a physician emerged from her personal experiences as a transgender Latina and her work in the medical humanities.
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Rocío Pichon-Rivière, PhD
Rocío Pichon-Rivière is a scholar, educator, and author of essays and comics. She is currently conducting research at the University of California-Riverside on the healing potential of comics workshops regarding professional stress in healthcare and education. She holds a PhD in Latin American literature from New York University and a BA (licenciatura) in philosophy from the University of Buenos Aires. She writes about queer theory, comics, vernacular phenomenology, intersectional feminism, medical humanities, and restorative justice. She has taught at NYU, Pratt Institute, and the University of California-Riverside.
Elias Poland, RN-BSN
Elias Poland is a multidisciplinary artist whose work deals with themes of tactility, work ethic, transsexuality, and pain. He holds a dual BS degree in urban studies and printmaking from New School University and a BSN degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He works as an emergency room nurse in Brooklyn, NY, specializing in critical care and trauma and manages the Artists For Reparations project. His areas of expertise include secondary trauma, moral injury and compassion fatigue, the urban sociology of New York City, and the COVID-19 pandemic.