What Are Healing Boxes®?
Healing Boxes® are an engaging, set of three, colorful, origami nesting boxes (like Russian dolls) printed on sustainable paper that volunteers can assemble with patients and others in order to:
Nurturing Hope Through Art
Healing Boxes can be an integral part of an art therapy program designed to stimulate a healing mindset. These boxes were first introduced to a hospital setting during the summer of 2014 while Mary Gorham was undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Yale Smilow Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut. The Healing Boxes® were warmly received by patients, staff and volunteers at the hospital. They have since been integrated into Smilow Cancer Hospital’s complementary services, art therapy program.
Healing Boxes Are:
These innovative origami boxes:
Customize Their Experience
People who assemble Healing Boxes® can include an inspirational quote or personalized message along with an amulet, trinket or surprise inside the smallest nesting box.
By making, assembling and personalizing and then giving Healing Boxes® away, the full healing power of altruism is unlocked. When patients do something for someone else whom they might never meet or get to know (e.g. a youngster in the Children’s hospital, or parents waiting in the emergency room, or post-operation lounge) the patient becomes a healer, and, thereby, heals him or herself.