Arts + Wellness Forum: Resiliency for Healthcare Workers
"First, Do No Harm" photo by DW Burnett
It is certain that the last year has pushed our healthcare field to the brink. However, frontline and critical care health workers have been dealing with trauma, stress and compassion fatigue for a long time. Colorado is leading the nation in utilizing creative arts therapies to build resiliency for our physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers.
This Arts + Wellness Forum will focus on the transformative power of music, dance, visual arts and creative writing to help healthcare professionals and others cope with daily stress, process trauma and combat burnout. This Forum will feature cutting-edge clinical research led by the Colorado Resiliency Arts Lab (CORAL), a one-of-a-kind partnership between University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the Ponzio Creative Arts Therapy Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and the National Endowment for the Arts. It will also feature Tara Rynders, dancer, nurse and artistic director/founder of The Clinic, an arts-based immersive theater company that offers workshops for health care professionals to raise awareness of compassion fatigue and burnout.
Forum Agenda
- 4:30 pm – Welcome Remarks
- 4:40 – Poem, read by Mike Henry, Lighthouse Writers Workshop
- 4:45 – Introduction to Tara Rynders and The Clinic
- 5:00 – Introduction to CORAL program, partners and clinical trials
- 5:20 – Panel Discussion featuring program participants, including healthcare professionals and artists
- 6:00 – Song, performed by Tony Edelblute, Children’s Hospital Colorado
- 6:05 – Thank You Remarks
- 6:10 – Artist-led “Resiliency Moments” and Networking Breakout Rooms
- 6:30 pm – Event Concludes
This event is part of CBCA’s ongoing Arts + Industry Forum Series. All three forums in 2021 will all be centered on the theme of wellness. The May forum will focus on Resiliency for Healthcare Workers through the arts; August will be an interactive forum focused on Self-Care and Mental Health; and November will be centered on Health Equity and Accessibility in and through the arts.
