…where community health begins with the child.

All members of our clinical and research teams have given lectures and workshops in public, educational, and scientific settings. We will continue this effort to inform others about pain in children and its treatment. In addition, we have launched an educational program to introduce integrative healing approaches, that include biomedical, behavioral, and complementary therapies, to those who work with children and to the general public. Many of these new programs for the public include a substantial experiential component because we believe that experiential learning is essential to genuine understanding of these therapies.

Our first project involved two different one-and-a-half day conferences on the management of pediatric pain through the combined use of biomedical and complementary therapies. This program was designed to give practical skills to physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, teachers, practitioners of complementary therapies, and allied health care professionals. Continuing education credits were offered as a way of encouraging participation in this program. This program will soon be available online on this website.

We are reaching out to teachers, families, caregivers, community outreach workers, and health care professionals in developing programs on the use of mind-body therapies, such as imagery, breathing, meditation, and Iyengar yoga to alleviate pain and enhance coping in children. This program includes instruction in the therapeutic use of art, music, writing, drama, dance, and drumming with children. Creative arts therapies offer nonverbal, universal, and accessible tools for healing. As with the pediatric pain conference, continuing education credits will be offered.

On a continuing basis, we will also offer similar programs for the public that will showcase experts from UCLA and elsewhere who specialize in a wide range of complementary healing modalities, including the creative arts. We believe that members of the community hunger for and have a right to know what their options are, which therapies may be right for them, and what constitutes good health care.

Learn about public education programs in arts and healing sponsored by the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program