How Ya Doing?
How Ya Doing is a creative wellbeing programme for artists and arts organisations who work in the Arts and Health sector.
The pilot project, funded by Arts Council of Wales, took place in 2021-22 and was aimed specifically at artists’ wellbeing post-pandemic. You can find out more about the project here and watch our Evaluation film here.
The second iteration was launched in September 2023 and runs for 2 years funded by The Baring Foundation. This project is focused specifically on artists who work in mental health settings and with groups who are more vulnerable to mental health, as well as offering a range of training for art organisations to develop their own longer-term wellbeing offer for their staff and artists.
Activities
Organisations: Strategies for Wellbeing Round 02
Weds 01st May and Weds 08th May | 10am - 1pm | Online
Dates:
Weds 01st May, 10am - 1pm
AND
Weds 08th May, 10am - 1pm
Cost:
£70 (Revenue Funded Organisations)/ £40 (Non-Revenue Funded Organisations)
We are able to have offer a small number of FREE bursaries. Please contact us if you would like to apply for one of these.
Who is this for?
The training is relevant for any arts organisation who employ freelance artists and/or have their own delivery team for participatory arts projects. In particular, the training is aimed at organisations who work in health, mental health and wellbeing settings. The course is aimed at senior staff in arts organisations and trustees who support strategic wellbeing in an organisation.
The training will help you to:
Evaluate what you currently offer and know about wellbeing support for your delivery teams
Explore how organisational culture, structures and practice effects practitioner wellbeing
Learn about what best practice looks like in other arts organisations
Develop an action plan to start your journey towards enhancing your wellbeing support offer
The training will take place over 2 half days on Zoom. Participants need to attend both days.
You will also be asked to complete an information form when you sign up to help us tailor the course for you, as well as a follow-up evaluation form afterwards so we can measure the impact of the training.
Day 1:
- Understanding your organisational values and how practitioner wellbeing and care fits into that.
Practical actions you can take towards developing a wellbeing support plan, including contracting, communication, access, induction.
Day 2:
- Affective support – understanding different types of support you could offer to you delivery teams including simple creative resources and tools.
- Examples of best practice to inspire and guide you.
- Creating your own Action Plan for next steps.
Mentoring:
Organisations can apply for some follow-up peer-learning sessions with Justine after the course if you need some extra time and support to implement your ideas. Informatio about this will be shared on the course.
Trainer:
Your trainer will be Justine Wheatley
Justine is a freelance consultant and trainer. An arts professional for over 20 years, she was Executive Director of rurally based arts organisation Peak Cymru, until 2023 and brings a wealth of practical experience about how to creatively support delivery teams in arts and health contexts.
This training is part of the How Ya Doing? programme, funded by the Baring Foundation, which aims to support freelance artist’s mental and emotional wellbeing. WAHWN is committed to developing a thriving arts and health sector in Wales in which we prioritise the wellbeing of our creative professionals who sustain the brilliant work that takes place across the country.
To read about our How Ya Doing? pilot project:
Artists: 2-Day Reflective Practice Facilitator Training with Alison O'Connor
Tues 23rd April and Tues 24th April | 9am - 5pm | Online
Dates:
23 and 24 April 2024, 9.30am-5pm [via Zoom]
Follow-Up sessions: 22 May 9.30 - 11am and 17 July 9.30 - 11.30am
Cost:
£180 / £140 Concessions (small organisations that receive no core funding are eligible for the concessionary rate).
About the Training:
The training course is aimed at experienced arts facilitators who work with, or as part of arts organisations that employ artists to deliver creative projects.
This 2-day training course will equip you with the skills to run a Reflective Practice group within your organisation and have the capacity to deliver for other organisations.
Day 1:
Experiencing a Reflective Practice session as a participant: reflecting and learning from this.
Introduction to Reflective Practice and Group Dynamics.
Facilitation styles and skills required.
Framing a Reflective Practice session: time, objectives, group agreement.
Day 2:
Practising in small groups with feedback.
Key considerations: Supervision and self-care; safeguarding; roles and responsibilities, common challenges.
Designing your first programme.
Reflective Practice has been proven to reduce burnout in the workplace and to increase resilience (Naismith, N. (2019), Skovholt, T.M. and Trotter-Mathison, M. (2016)). It is classed as a type of Affective Support, which organisations are increasingly offering to support their staff.
Following a pilot project in 2021/22, we know there is a growing demand for Reflective Practice across the arts and health sector in Wales. There has been a recognition by the Arts Council of including a budget for artist wellbeing in funding applications and a growing expectation across the UK arts and health commissioning landscape for artist wellbeing to be integrated into all projects.
WAHWN found that the benefits of accessing Reflective Practice for freelance artists is significant, and we now want to support organisations to find ways to embed this practice within their organisations for the wellbeing benefit of their delivery teams. This aligns with the findings from the Baring Foundation.
What you will get:
New skills to facilitate a Reflective Practice group with feedback on your facilitation skills from the course leader.
Enhanced capacity to reflect, which can be applied to your own personal and professional wellbeing.
Increasing sense of personal and professional resilience.
Increased confidence to articulate the benefits of Reflective Practice to senior managers and trustees.
Be part of a growing network of Reflective Practice facilitators in Wales.
Follow-up:
We want to ensure you have enough follow-up support to run your initial programme, so we will offer 2 FREE online sessions 1 month and 3 months after the initial training. We hope that you will have some practice to share by the second follow-up session.
Please put the dates in your diary when you book:
22 May 2024 9.30-11am and 17 July 2024 9.30-11.30am
Who is this for?
The course is aimed at experienced arts facilitators who are employed (freelance or salaried) by an arts organisation in Wales.
We will require trainees to run a short Reflective Practice course after the training in their organisations so we can measure the impact as part of this pilot project.
Independent freelancers who want to access the training are eligible to apply, but only in partnership with an organisation who is willing to host a short trial (min 3 sessions).
Please get in touch with us if you need any further clarification on this.
Trainer:
Alison O’Connor
Alison is a consultative supervisor with 25 years’ experience of groupwork, therapy and applied theatre. She has been privileged to work in diverse settings, including prisons, Romanian orphanages, in substance misuse, with older adults, military veterans and survivors of complex trauma. She worked for several years as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at University of South Wales.
She is the Co-Founder of Re-Live, an Arts and Health charity, co-creating Life Story Theatre with older adults and people affected by trauma and adversity. Alison and Re-Live Co-founder, Karin Diamond, received an Arts and Health Practice Award from the Royal Society of Public Health for creative work with military families. They also received an award for International Leadership in Arts and Health from Arts and Health Australia. Karin and Alison are currently writing a book, with friend and colleague, Clark Baim, Creating Life Story Theatre: A Guide for Applied Theatre Practitioners, which will be published by Methuen in 2024.
Alison recently conducted a small research study, exploring practitioners’ perspectives on the emotional impact of working in arts and health, and the mitigating effects of supervision and reflective practice. The findings, The Work Hurts (2022), were published in the Journal of Applied Arts and Health. Alison is committed to enhancing practitioner wellbeing by co-creating restorative, reflective experiences that allow people in the helping professions to be well in the work they do.
How Ya Doing?
This training is part of the How Ya Doing? programme, funded by the Baring Foundation, which aims to support freelance artist’s mental and emotional wellbeing. WAHWN is committed to developing a thriving arts and health sector in Wales in which we prioritise the wellbeing of our creative professionals who sustain the brilliant work that takes place across the country.
To read about our How Ya Doing? pilot project:
Artists: Creative Reflective Practice with Alison O'Connor and Jain Boon
from Mon 19th February | 6.30pm - 8pm | Online
A 6-week course starting Monday 19th February 2024, 6.30pm - 8pm.
Being a freelance arts practitioner can be a lonely place.
How ya Doing? Creative Reflective Practice is a space to connect with other creative practitioners.
Jain will offer a set of creative somatic exercises to tend to and support your nervous system and bring you to a place of resource so that you can prevent overwhelm. Alison will share a series of exercises, inviting you to reflect on your work and your wellbeing through a compassionate lens.
We intend to create a space where we can support each other and with this in mind we are asking participants to commit to the whole 6 weeks.
This programme is aimed at creative practitioners who are working in mental health settings or supporting participants who are more likely to experience mental health issues, including the criminal justice system, refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of domestic and sexual violence and people who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences.
If you are unsure if you fit this criteria, please contact Programme Manager Tracy Breathnach for a chat programmes@wahwn.cymru.
Jain Boon - Jain is a theatre maker and trainee Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (Intermediate Level Participant). She is in the process of setting up thisPLACE, a trauma informed dance theatre company with dance artist/Movement Psychotherapist Matilda Tonkin Wells. Jain works with Re-Live Theatre, Sparc Valleys Kids and Music Theatre Wales amongst others. She is passionate about the idea that 'people heal people'. @la_boon
Alison O'Connor - Alison has 25 years experience of groupwork, therapy and theatre in prisons, secure mental health settings, in Romanian orphanages and with military veterans. She is the Co-Founder of Re-Live, an award-winning Arts and Health charity, creating therapeutic life story work with older adults and people affected by trauma and adversity. She is an integrative therapist and clinical supervisor, with a particular interest in compassion-based approaches. She works with humour and gentleness, encouraging practitioners to look after and nurture themselves within the work they do.
Artists: Cefnogaeth Ymarfer Creadigol gyda Cai Tomos
from Tues 6th February | 9am - 10am | Online
The sessions focus on working with the body-mind in a way that helps create space around those themes or challenges that you bring related to your practice, which may allow you to widen perspective and gain insight.
A supportive, non judgemental, confidential space will be offered where we will enter a free association, easy going conversation to reflect and dialogue together on the themes you bring. This is for those who feel they need some more support in reflecting on own their practice and the impact of their client group and context/or organisation on what they do, and how they do it.
Creative Reflective Practice offers a psychotherapeutic and trauma-informed supportive framework in which to look at the delivery of arts-based activates and ways of caring for oneself inside of the practice demands. Sessions are held on Zoom.
Cai Tomos is an independent dance artist and Arts Psychotherapist, and Somatic experiencing Practitioner. He has worked as a performer and maker in UK and Europe, and over the last 15 years his work has centred around health and the role of dance, movement and visual arts within the field. www.caitomos.com www.sensingself.org
Organisations: Strategies for Wellbeing Round 01
Tues 30 Jan and Tues 6 Jan | 10am - 1pm | Online
Dates:
Tues 30th Jan. 10am - 1pm
AND
Tues 6th Feb 2024. 10am - 1pm
Cost:
£70 (Revenue Funded Organisations)/ £40 (Non-Revenue Funded Organisations)
We are able to have offer a small number of FREE bursaries. Please contact us if you would like to apply for one of these.
Who is this for?
The training is relevant for any arts organisation who employ freelance artists and/or have their own delivery team for participatory arts projects. In particular, the training is aimed at organisations who work in health, mental health and wellbeing settings. The course is aimed at senior staff in arts organisations and trustees who support strategic wellbeing in an organisation.
The training will help you to:
- Evaluate what you currently offer and know about wellbeing support for your delivery teams
- Explore how organisational culture, structures and practice effects practitioner wellbeing
- Learn about what best practice looks like in other arts organisations
- Develop an action plan to start your journey towards enhancing your wellbeing support offer
The training will take place over 2 half days on Zoom. Participants need to attend both days.
You will also be asked to complete an information form when you sign up to help us tailor the course for you, as well as a follow-up evaluation form afterwards so we can measure the impact of the training.
Day 1:
- Understanding your organisational values and how practitioner wellbeing and care fits into that.
- Practical actions you can take towards developing a wellbeing support plan, including contracting, communication, access, induction.
Day 2:
- Affective support – understanding different types of support you could offer to you delivery teams including simple creative resources and tools.
- Examples of best practice to inspire and guide you.
- Creating your own Action Plan for next steps.
Mentoring:
Organisations can apply for some follow-up peer-learning sessions with Justine after the course if you need some extra time and support to implement your ideas. Informatio about this will be shared on the course.
Trainer:
Your trainer will be Justine Wheatley
Justine is a freelance consultant and trainer. An arts professional for over 20 years, she was Executive Director of rurally based arts organisation Peak Cymru, until 2023 and brings a wealth of practical experience about how to creatively support delivery teams in arts and health contexts.
This training is part of the How Ya Doing? programme, funded by the Baring Foundation, which aims to support freelance artist’s mental and emotional wellbeing. WAHWN is committed to developing a thriving arts and health sector in Wales in which we prioritise the wellbeing of our creative professionals who sustain the brilliant work that takes place across the country.
To read about our How Ya Doing? pilot project: