Site Feature: Providence Health Care - Art Carts Award!

Celebrating Providence Health Care’s Award-Winning Art Carts Initiative

We are delighted to celebrate Providence Health Care’s Art Carts Initiative, which was recently honoured with a 2025 PHC Society Award. The Spiritual Health & Pastoral Care team at St. Paul’s Hospital received this recognition for their innovative and equity-driven approach to spiritual health – bringing creativity, compassion, and connection into patient care.

Based in Vancouver, Providence Health Care (PHC) is one of Canada’s largest Catholic health care organizations, located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples – the xʷmәθkʷәy̓әm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. Their Art Carts Initiative is being used by Spiritual Health Practitioners across multiple sites to explore how art supports spiritual care, nurtures healing, and advances equity in health care environments.

Video Feature: Stories from the Art Carts

PHC recently released a video sharing stories from the Art Carts initiative, highlighting how art opens pathways for connection, healing, and hope. From providing moments of compassion in times of fear, to helping patients process life transitions, the Art Carts serve as both a spiritual and creative companion.

One team member reflects:

“When there is a spiritual health practitioner together with the art cart with a patient…it's like a journey mapping that they can share. “This was what when I was brought in an emergency; today I'm feeling this.” And you can even see even the colors have changed when you look at that journey… and then processing that together and finding meaning and purpose in this new stage of life that they're in.”

After engaging with the Art Cart and a Spiritual Health Practitioner, another patient experienced a shift in their fear. They shared, “I don’t feel anymore this fear of needles, because I’m talking to you and I feel happy.” The use of art, alongside compassionate spiritual companionship, created a safe space. “It’s a safe place of science, but also it’s a safe place for the soul.”

A Creative Path to Spiritual Care

Art Carts brings quality art supplies directly to patients and residents, opening space for creativity, expression, and meaning-making. Whether through painting, drawing, or journaling, patients are invited to process their fears, hopes, grief, and joys in ways that go beyond words.

Some of the Providence Health Care Spiritual Health Care Team with an Art Cart. Left to Right: Nicu Liuta, Jack Thomson, Rachel Jones (kneeling), Anne Tuppurainen, Ryan Giesbrecht.

As Anne Tuppurainen, Director of Spiritual Health & Pastoral Care, shared:

“We are honoured to receive this recognition for the Art Carts Project’s innovative approach to spiritual health. We remain committed to offering creative and equitable care, and to engaging in research that explores the outcomes of these unique encounters.”

The Mission Award Selection Committee praised the Art Carts team for recognizing that “recovery isn't just about the body but also about nurturing the soul.” They commended the project for inspiring others through its creativity, advocacy, and commitment to meaningful spiritual paths for patients.

Looking Ahead

The Art Carts Initiative is not only making an impact on patients and families but is also contributing to research and interprofessional collaboration. Our team is grateful to recently have received a prestigious CIHR Project Grant Priority Award as part of a collaboration with Trinity Western University (TWU) to support this research at PHC and two other healthcare sites. Providence Health Care’s Art and Spirituality Research Team Members and Consultants include: Anne Tuppurainen, Alexis Budiselic, Anabella Alfonzo, Fancy Poitras, Francis Maza, Jack Thomson, Katie Hayman, Leanne Witten, Lillian Vera Rugare, Dr. Marie Fennemore, Mike Ariza, Nato Wilson, Nicu Liuta, Rachel Jones, and Ryan Giesbrecht. By integrating creative practice into care, Providence Health Care is helping to expand what spiritual health can look like in action.

We congratulate the PHC Spiritual Health & Pastoral Care team on their 2025 PHC Society Award, a well-deserved recognition. We also celebrate the many patients, families, and staff whose stories remind us that healing is as much about the soul as it is about the body.