Today, Second Lady Karen Pence traveled to Orlando, Florida where she visited the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute and Nemours Children’s Hospital.

Upon arrival at the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, Mrs. Pence met with staff involved with the hospital’s Integrative & Creative Arts Therapies program and received an overview of the program. Florida Hospital’s Integrative & Creative Arts Therapies program offers monthly support groups and individual sessions for oncology patients. The program includes both music and art therapy services.

Following the presentation, the Second Lady participated in creating artwork with the patients.

Then, Mrs. Pence traveled to Nemours Children’s Hospital where she observed a music therapy session. After the observation, the Second Lady participated in a roundtable discussion with the music therapists, a patient’s family, and members of the hospital staff.

To stay updated on the Second Lady’s art therapy program visits and stories shared about the life changing treatment, follow the Second Lady’s Blog Page. To stay updated on her events, follow her on Twitter at, @SecondLady.

About Art Therapy

Second Lady Karen Pence chose one initiative to champion, and it is art therapy. She calls her initiative, Art Therapy: Healing with the HeART. According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. Professional art therapists who are experts in human development, psychological, and counseling theories and techniques facilitate Art therapy. For more information about the art therapy profession, visit https://arttherapy.org/