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Patients discover the emotional healing powers of painting, writing

When someone's really sick, we usually hear their adventures in health care as they apply to doctors' appointments and specialists' opinions, examination rooms and hospital stays.

Healing fits in there somewhere, or at least it's supposed to.

But the emotional upheaval of serious illness (and dealing with all of the above) is a psychological hurdle as much as it is a physical one.

"I've heard people who've been through these workshops say 'I was able to pull my anger through the painting, and I didn't even know it was there," says Mona Taylor, director of Outpatient Oncology Services at the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support in Athens.

She's speaking about painting and writing workshops through the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support, which have been offered for about eight years. Taylor founded this healing art-therapy program to offer "people a chance to get in touch with their core, in a nonjudgmental way," she says.

Classes previously have been limited to people dealing with and recovering from cancer, but, Taylor says, "it's too good," so she wants to expand the offerings to people with other illnesses.

The center is hosting an event tonight at Ciné to try to gather more people, including artists, writers, musicians and artists in other fields who'd like to share their knowledge with patients. Titled "The Patient as Artist," the evening includes an art exhibit as well as poetry and short-story readings.

"We'll have sign-ups for people who'd like to help - and this includes music, movement - the arts in general," Taylor says, adding they're not looking for teachers so much as guides.

A guide was just what Glenn Ann Keith O'Neal, 77, of Athens says helped her in her healing process. In 2007,

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