Using Art to Heal: When Health Education Meets People Where They Are
By Dr. BK Edmond
I believe some of the most important health conversations happen outside of an exam room.
They happen at church. At a college. Around a dinner table. At a community event. Sometimes they happen through a book, a piece of art, a song, or a conversation that makes someone stop and think about their health differently.
That idea has stayed with me throughout much of the work behind The B. Edmond Project.
As a physician, I understand the importance of information. People need to know about prevention. They need to understand screening. They need access to credible health resources and professionals they can trust.
But I also know that giving people information is only part of the work.
We have to find ways to make that information connect.
Health Education Does Not Have to Feel Clinical
There will always be a place for brochures, presentations, medical appointments, screenings, and traditional health education.
We need all of those things.
But we should also be willing to think beyond them.
Imagine someone walking into a community space because they are interested in the art. While they are there, they encounter a breast-health organization.
Someone else comes for the music and ends up having a conversation with a health professional.
A survivor sees her experience reflected in something another person created.
A family member picks up information that starts a conversation later that evening.
Those interactions matter.
Not because every person is going to leave an event and immediately change something about their health.
Sometimes impact begins much smaller.
A question.
A thought.
A conversation.
A decision to pay closer attention.
That is still movement.
Sometimes Facts Need a Human Connection
Breast cancer is a medical diagnosis, but anyone whose life has been touched by it knows the experience reaches far beyond medicine.
There is fear. There are questions. There are families trying to understand what comes next. There are survivors and thrivers carrying stories that cannot be summarized by a medical chart.
And there are still people in our communities who may not be having conversations about breast health at all.
That is where creativity can become powerful.
Art has a way of opening a door without demanding that someone walk through it immediately. A painting can make you curious. A story can make you recognize yourself. Music can create emotion. Spoken word can give language to something people have struggled to say.
Once that door opens, education can follow.
The B. Edmond Project has explored this idea through work such as Using Art to Heal, bringing breast-health education together with visual art, fashion, music, wellness, advocacy, storytelling, and community connection.
The larger idea, however, goes far beyond one experience.
What happens when we communicate health information in ways people can actually feel and remember?
Health Education Does Not Have to Feel Clinical
There will always be a place for medical appointments, screenings, presentations, brochures, and traditional health education.
We need all of those things.
But we should also be willing to think beyond them.
Someone may walk into a community space because they are interested in the art and leave having spoken with a health advocate.
Another person may come for the music and encounter information that causes them to think differently about their own health.
A survivor may see an experience reflected in something another person created.
A family member may pick up information that starts a conversation later that evening.
Those interactions matter.
Sometimes impact begins with something small: a question, a thought, a conversation, or a decision to pay closer attention.
That is still movement.
People Remember Stories
This is why storytelling has become such an important part of my work.
We remember stories differently than we remember instructions.
Stories give information context. They give people someone to identify with. They can make difficult subjects easier to approach without minimizing how serious those subjects are.
That philosophy has influenced Nana and The Bushwoman and other breast-health work connected to The B. Edmond Project.
The story becomes an entry point.
Then we can talk about awareness.
We can talk about knowing your body.
We can talk about screening, prevention, and the questions people should feel comfortable bringing to their healthcare professionals.
We can talk about advocacy.
The story helps us get to the conversation.
Culture Matters Too
Health education becomes stronger when we recognize the culture and experiences of the people we hope to reach.
Communities are not interchangeable.
People bring different histories, traditions, fears, family influences, experiences with healthcare, and ways of communicating into every health conversation.
We cannot ignore that and expect every message to connect in the same way.
Culturally relevant health education does not mean compromising medical information.
It means thinking carefully about how we deliver it.
Who is in the room?
What matters to them?
What will make this information understandable?
What might make someone comfortable enough to ask a question they have been afraid to ask?
Those questions belong in public health too.
Art. Advocacy. Wellness. Community.
When I think about the idea behind Using Art to Heal, these four words describe it well.
Art gives us another language.
Advocacy reminds people that they have a voice in their healthcare.
Wellness expands the conversation beyond illness alone.
Community reminds us that health does not happen in isolation.
None of these replaces medicine.
They help us build bridges to it.
And sometimes that bridge is exactly what someone needed.
Meeting People Where They Are
There is a phrase used often in community work: meet people where they are.
I believe we should take that seriously.
If people are gathering on college campuses, health education should be there.
If they are gathering in churches, we should be willing to have conversations there.
If art brings people together, perhaps art can also help us talk about health.
If storytelling helps someone understand a message differently, we should use storytelling.
The purpose is not to make health education entertaining simply for the sake of entertainment.
The purpose is to make it accessible enough to enter people’s lives.
Because behind every public-health statistic is an actual person.
Someone’s mother.
Someone’s sister.
Someone’s friend.
Someone who may be afraid.
Someone who may simply not know.
Someone who might be one conversation away from paying closer attention to their health.
That is why I believe creativity belongs in this work.
Sometimes healing begins with treatment.
Sometimes it begins with knowledge.
And sometimes it begins by creating a space where people finally feel comfortable enough to talk.
Continuing the Conversation
Through The B. Edmond Project, I continue to explore ways to connect medicine, storytelling, culture, education, and community around health issues that deserve greater conversation.
For healthcare organizations, universities, foundations, public-health agencies, artists, and community partners interested in creating meaningful health experiences together, I welcome the conversation.
Continue the Conversation Through Story
I wrote Nana and The Bushwoman because sometimes a story can reach a person in a way a lecture never will. My hope is that it encourages readers to think about breast health, ask questions, and continue the conversation with the people they love.
For me, the book is another example of how health education can meet people in a way that feels personal, memorable, and human.
Read the story. Share the conversation. Pass the awareness forward.
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