An Arts in Health workshop
Stress Relief & Well-being Through Artmaking
A hands-on session of creative tools your team can use, right in the middle of the workday.
The people at a community health centre spend their days holding space for everyone else. The stress of that work is real, and it rarely lets up long enough to tend to. This session makes a little of that room, on the clock and without anyone needing to call themselves an artist.
Through simple drawing, mapping, and a few things you can do with the phone already in your pocket, participants get a feel for how artmaking eases stress and refreshes the day, and leave with tools they can use right away.
Ease stress · refresh the day
What the session is
Time to step out of the pace, briefly.
Arts in Health is the practice of using creative activity to support well-being, and its benefits reach past patients and clients to the staff who care for them. This session is a working introduction to it, built for interdisciplinary teams: clinicians, health promoters, social workers, and front-desk and support staff alike.
The focus is self-expression, not artistic skill. It is not art therapy. It is a grounded, low-pressure space for a bit of play and reset, run by a facilitator who keeps it accessible from the first minute, using only materials already at hand.
The agenda
Welcome & introductions
A short grounding into the session, what self-care can look like in the middle of a workday, and a plain-language sense of what Arts in Health is and why it works.
Guided art activities
The heart of the session: a mapping exercise, expressive and contemplative drawing, and using the cellphone as a stress-management tool. Each is built to be repeatable on your own, later, in the time you actually have.
Discussion, Q&A & closing
Room to reflect together on what came up, share what felt useful, and leave with a few tools that can carry into the week.
What participants take away
- A way to connect with their own creativity, free of judgement
- A felt sense of how creativity supports well-being and eases stress
- Permission, and a little practice, in setting aside time for mental health at work
- A handful of simple self-care tools they can use the same day
Ways to run it
Formats that fit how your group gathers.
Single session
1 or 2 hours
Built for staff days, team meetings, and lunch-and-learns. The shorter format is a focused taster; the longer gives more room to settle in and practice.
Webinar
Virtual or hybrid
A live group video call, and can be hybrid, with some of the team in the room and others joining remotely.
Extended series
Multiple sessions
A run of sessions, at customizable timeframes, shaped around your team. Across a series, participants build new skills and internalize the habits.
No prior art experience needed. Materials are everyday items: pen, pencil, paper, and a cellphone.
About the facilitator
Belinda Ageda
A Toronto-based arts-in-health practitioner with more than fifteen years delivering process-centred, arts-based wellness workshops. Her training spans visual art at OCAD University and Gestalt psychotherapy at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto, alongside a long-standing mindfulness practice — a toolkit attuned to people working in high-stress, caregiving roles.