A 2023 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on a “public health crisis” of loneliness and isolation recommended environments that promote connection — a strategy that resonated with Larissa Trinder, MPA, whose work at NYC Health + Hospitals includes building connectedness for incarcerated people.
“One of the best ways to address [loneliness] is being connected to others and doing activities together and hearing beautiful poetry and music and the arts,” says Trinder, assistant vice president of the Arts in Medicine department at the New York City essential hospital system. “All of the things that bring us joy in life are things that make us healthier.”
Since 2016, NYC Health + Hospitals has operated Correctional Health Services, the direct provider of health care at Rikers Island, a 415-acre island in New York City that houses seven active jail facilities. Twenty percent of the island’s population faces serious mental illness, and more than half of those incarcerated are enrolled in mental health services.
So, when the health system founded its Arts in Medicine department in 2018 with the support of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund to foster emotional well-being and promote health and wellness for patients and families, employees, and the broader community, bringing that program and Correctional Health Services together was a natural next step.
At Rikers Island, 10 licensed creative art therapists host three first-come, first-served groups per day in each housing area, guiding patients on a variety of art projects including poetry, music, dance, drama, and more.
“Art and medicine interventions are supportive and distractive and create other ways to support mental health,” says Trinder.
People detained at Rikers can participate in talent shows and other presentations showing off their work within the housing units, and their work has been displayed on hospital walls.
“Correctional Health Services patients experience significant therapeutic benefits from working with our dedicated team of creative arts therapists,” says Barbara Bethea, PhD, MA, director of the creative art therapy program at Correctional Health Services. “Expressing themselves through art can improve their self-confidence, self-esteem, emotional stability, and well-being, while reducing stress and increasing positive emotions..”
Correctional Health Services also partners with local nonprofits to keep people engaged with the arts after release, including Music on the Inside.
This program connects youth and adults impacted by incarceration with professional musicians as teachers and mentors to create music and inspire ongoing engagement with music upon release.
“What materializes is beyond our expectation. It exceeds our expectations every time,” says Bethea.
All these efforts have greatly supported the health system’s push toward fostering community and reducing feelings of loneliness among people in custody. Program participants “are very well engaged. They’re enthusiastic about it, and the art shows it,” Bethea says.
In December 2023, the health system unveiled Creating Within: Art from Rikers and the NYC Health + Hospitals Art Collection, its first-ever exhibition showcasing creative works by individuals detained on Rikers Island alongside selections from its own art collection. The exhibition is on display at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull for staff and patients through March 2025. View the catalog here.
“Having these kinds of programs aren’t niceties. They’re essential to health care systems,” says Trinder.
They also drive change well beyond the walls of Rikers Island, Bethea says. “Working with Arts in Medicine and working within the correctional health system, we are building a new arts-based approach toward addressing social ills and social justice and all of the issues in our community,” she says.
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