Donation facilitates art therapy for all child patients

A donation from the New Children’s Hospital Foundation is set to strengthen the art therapy provision. “This is a huge step forward in specialist paediatric medical care,” says Chief Physician Minna Ståhl of the Pediatric Pain Center at HUS’s New Children’s Hospital. 

Colourful square, triangle and circle stickers are glued to the piano’s keys. The figure notes allow patients over the age of three to play melodies they have created themselves – their own audio stories. Music Therapist Hanna Hakomäki sits next to them and writes down the compositions.

Hakomäki, who works as a music therapist and psychotherapist in child psychiatry at HUS, sees, for example, children with selective mutism or those who are seriously ill and traumatised, having experienced mental health challenges after becoming ill. 

Often, family members are also involved, as the illness of a child affects the whole family. The figure notes on the piano keyboard are part of the story composition method that Hakomäki uses in her work. 

“I tell the children to go ahead and play and I’ll write down what they play. I don’t specifically ask them to play about a traumatic experience or illness – just to play what comes to mind. That way, fear or anxiety can be captured in a narrative and artistic form.”

Art therapies support the national model for pain management

Music, visual arts and dance movement therapy can be used as a non-pharmaceutical treatment for pain and anxiety. Music therapy has also been used alongside child psychiatry at the Pediatric Pain Center of the New Children’s Hospital, which specialises in the treatment and rehabilitation of children with severe acute pain, pain relating to cancer and various pain syndromes, and their families. Music therapy can also be offered to patients with fear associated with minor operations or who are receiving palliative care, for example.

Chief Physician at the Pediatric Pain Center Minna Ståhl is pleased to see how understanding is increasing in somatic treatment of the need to prevent traumatisation associated with painful procedures.

Negative experiences of illness and procedures in childhood can have negative cascading effects throughout life.

“We are leading efforts to build a national model of pain management for children and young people, including music therapy and soon other art therapies too. So far, the New Children’s Hospital has the only music therapist in Finland who works with children’s somatic diseases. I hope that other children’s clinics in Finland will also be inspired to incorporate art therapies into their approaches in the future. In psychiatry, art therapy has long been part of the treatment of children and adolescents,” she says. 

Art therapies help recipients to express emotions when words fail

Pain is neurobiologically linked to emotions, so working with emotions is key in pain management. Ståhl also works with children and young people who find it difficult to verbalise body sensations and emotions. In such cases, it is important that alternative methods are available. 

“Music might be the key for one patient, while visual arts suit another better, and movement is the best option for a third. The aim of expanding art therapies is to provide children and young people with real alternative approaches,” explains Ståhl. 

For example, music allows children to express experiences, memories and emotions in a way that is tolerable, without getting too close to distressing experiences. Parents also find it easier to understand their children’s feelings when they can express them through music and art. 

“In child psychiatry we work a lot with families. Through art therapy, parents can get in touch with the child’s experiences, which better equips them to help their child recover,” says Hanna Hakomäki.

The purpose of music therapy is neither to teach nor to guide

The floor of the New Children’s Hospital creaks as Music Therapist Reetta Keränen pushes a trolley of musical instruments down the corridor. There are rhythm sticks, maracas, a xylophone, a stack of sheet music and a guitar. The latter is usually what she plays during therapy sessions with young patients.

Keränen is a music therapist at the Pain Center, and the first in the role. She works with both daycare-age children and young people on the verge of adulthood. With younger patients, for example, Keränen might process a difficult experience by having the patient tell her what to draw and Keränen drawing it. Then the musical instrument trolley enters the picture as sound is added to the drawing. 

“We consider musical elements: whether quiet or loud sounds would suit the image, whether to play happy or sad music,” says Keränen.

The purpose of music therapy is neither to teach nor to guide, although sometimes children learn to play an instrument at the same time. Instead, it is about bringing out the fear and anxiety that is buried in the recesses of the mind in a way that is specific to the child. At the same time, it offers ways to deal with difficult emotions.

“Creative expression is a way for children to explore their own feelings, mirror them in the surrounding world and observe how others react to their artistic expression. Creativity is a natural way for children to interact with others,” explains Keränen. 

Globally unique pain management approach

Sometimes, music or other art forms can make a patient feel too exposed, but in therapy the aim is to find ways of working that suit the patient. However, it is important to assess carefully when is the right time to start therapy. Depending on the patient’s situation, therapy can last from one session to several years. If art therapy does not work for one reason or another, there are alternatives. 

“To my understanding, our clinic is unique globally. Nowhere else has it been possible to combine all the different aspects of pain management and research under one roof,” Ståhl says with obvious pride. 

The fact that in 2022, the HUS Child Psychiatry Department, together with the University of Jyväskylä, held the world’s first international music therapy conference focused exclusively on music therapy for children, is also a sign of the pioneering nature of the project. Oslo University Hospital and CREMAH, the Centre for Research in Music and Health, will continue the tradition in 2025 in Norway. 

The next step is to recruit more art therapists, and the development of this form of therapy will continue thanks to significant funding from the New Children’s Hospital Foundation. The Brita Maria Renlund Memorial Foundation, the OLVI Foundation and a number of private individuals have agreed to support the development of art therapy at the New Children’s Hospital with a total of €420,000.

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