The Untidiness of Healing: Using Clay as a Healing Medium for People with Chronic Illness Combining scripture and clay can be used as healing modalities for people who live with chronic illnesses. People with chronic illnesses experience many stages of grief and adjustment as they learn to navigate their changing world. Chronic illness can be traumatic, and the journey can present depression, anger, displaced self-efficacy, physical pain, body image issues, family stressors and more. Using art as a healing tool in trauma is well-researched. Clay in particular can be an excellent medium to use with people experiencing chronic illness. By nature, clay is much like chronic illness; it’s imperfect, messy, unpredictable, malleable and crumbly. Just as health can fall apart and be rebuilt, so can clay. Clay is a tangible medium that can help people tell their stories, while connecting their mind, bodies and spirit. Jeremiah 18 affirms that God is the master potter. 1 8 This
