NEXT STEPS

Support for healthcare providers/ clinicians/ social workers

GNHCC and the other partners who shared clinical and social worker expertise all reported gaining a lot both personally and professionally. AEN could negotiate with new partners in schools of social work and clinical psychology who are willing to contract with AEN to offer professional development for in-service and pre-service students in their programs.

The healthcare facilitators report that the arts are missing from mental health provider communities. They would tweak the training sessions to emphasize science, creating greater alignment with traditional professional development in the healthcare sector, and then introduce the arts and culture approach. With the imprimatur of GNHCC and other programs, this would be a valuable addition to preprofessional clinical training and would offer new and effective ways for them to build community, and extend to the schools and community-based organizations in their domain. Another possibility is to work with others in the allied health fields (e.g., PTs, OTs, etc.) who must get clinical professional development points that are sanctioned through the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association, for example.

GNHCC and MBKN can also work with AEN to recruit workers in other collective impact initiatives in Newark who serve the most challenged youth.

Recently, physicians in Great Britain have begun to prescribe visits to museums for patients suffering from trauma. And a new movement has seen pediatricians prescribe reading for families and young children. At the very least, an advocacy campaign about the power of participation in the arts might just encourage a new approach to wellness and self-care.

Creating a business model

AEN was awarded a PruBono NonProfit Consulting Grant in collaboration with Taproot Foundation to help do a cost/ benefit analysis of the Arts-Based TraumaInformed/ Healing Centered work. It was important to understand the true staff costs. Even with a fairly complete curriculum, there are still significant costs for the staff time involved in preparing, customizing, scheduling, presenting, and regular refining, as well as additional costs for materials and travel. This leaves major questions about how much are other sites willing to pay to cover costs. And how much additional profit would be needed to offset AEN’s focus on Newark, and/or allow AEN to build a separate for-profit business that would ultimately underwrite their work in Newark? Is there another partnership that would continue the research and work necessary to build relationships in a new location? If there is a separate entity, how much funding would AEN need to maintain the integrity, vitality, and responsiveness of the original flexible program vs. selling a pre-packaged program?

In this scenario, AEN’s leadership must decide how to prioritize their strengths, and makes it worthwhile to share, without compromising the focus on Newark.