Annalise Dowd, Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT), holds a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. With over 2,500 hours of direct client experience, she works with teens, young adults, individuals and families in both school and private practice settings. For the past two and a half years, she has served as a contracted therapist at the Wellness Center at San Rafael High School while also maintaining a private caseload.
Although Dowd hasn’t seen Arts on Prescription formally implemented, she regularly refers students to one of the creative groups offered by the Wellness Center — an approach that closely mirrors Arts on Prescription principles: using creative engagement and community connection to support mental health. The groups offered the Wellness Center use art-therapy focused activities in a group setting to help students connect to themselves and bond with others in the group.
“The first question we ask when a student walks into the Wellness Center is: ‘Do you feel lonely or disconnected?’” Dowd says.
She identifies anxiety as the most common concern among students, fueled by social disconnection, excessive phone use, academic pressures, uncertainty about the future and immigration-related fears.
“I hear this a lot: ‘I feel lonely. I’m having a hard time making friends. I’m anxious. I’m on my phone for seven hours a day.’ My first step is to explore their interests, so we can help them feel connected — like they belong,” she explains.
While the Wellness Center’s approach isn’t a formal Arts on Prescription program, it shares core values with Stanford University’s Arts Prescribing Program, which connects students to creative experiences as a non-pharmaceutical approach to mental wellness. Both models emphasize the importance of social connection — community and belonging — as foundations for student mental health.
According to Dowd, building a sense of belonging is key to the emotional well-being of students. While some students benefit from therapy groups, others thrive through social or creative outlets.
“If a student isn’t interested in group therapy, I’ll ask, ‘What other form of social connection can we help you find?’ Students who find their community — who start to feel like they belong — tend to improve more quickly,” Dowd says.
At Stanford, students connect to the “prescriptions” through a campus-wide referral system. They then work with a partner provider, Art Pharmacy, where a social worker matches them with arts-based activities aligned with their interests.
In contrast, Dowd acts as the direct link between students and creative groups at the Wellness Center. If students aren’t drawn to those groups offered at the Center, she may guide them toward school art or ceramics classes, community activities like yoga or clubs or academic-oriented options such as peer-led college prep circles. Whether artistic, athletic, academic or wellness-focused, the goal is the same: helping students connect with something meaningful.
Although Dowd doesn’t officially label these referrals as Arts on Prescription, she sees creative expression as central to healing.
“Art therapy or group ceramics might not seem ‘productive’ to students — or even to adults — but those activities can have a profound effect on mental health. It’s about expressing your inner world. That’s vulnerable, but it’s powerful,” she says.
Dowd believes creative engagement would gain legitimacy if it were framed more explicitly as a health intervention — a “prescription for belonging.” That, she says, is the potential of Arts on Prescription.
In a similar spirit to the Stanford Arts Prescribing Program, the Wellness Center at San Rafael High is working to reduce mental health stigma by offering a welcoming space that blends comfort, accessibility and support services. Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the center uses proactive outreach and easy referral systems, including QR codes posted around campus for self-referral, as well as referrals from staff, teachers and peers. Every freshman health class tours the center early in the school year.
“We want to demystify the space,” Dowd explains. “It’s not supposed to feel scary or clinical — it’s full of couches, games and art supplies. A place where students can relax and feel safe.”
Inside, students have access to individual and group therapy, as well as expressive outlets like art. Dowd envisions a future where creative practices are more formally integrated into school wellness models.
“Most high schools now have Wellness Centers, and that’s a huge step. If we can normalize creative expression — art, movement, music — as legitimate mental health interventions, we’ll reach students in ways traditional therapy sometimes can’t,” she says.
Dowd’s work at San Rafael High shows that the core principles of Arts on Prescription are already being put into practice. By prioritizing connection, creativity and culturally responsive care, she is helping students move from isolation to belonging — one interest at a time. Strengthening the infrastructure around such programs holds great promise for the future.
