Reflections on Two Art Making Workshops for Health Professionals Using Visual Art Materials as Self-Care Tools to Achieve and Maintain Wellness

Attendees will be presented information about two self-care workshops that were designed to demonstrate to health care professionals, how making art and the materials used to create the artwork serve as tools for self-care. The development of the content and art activities of the first workshop session, presented at the University at Buffalo (UB) Anderson Gallery in collaboration with the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions, that served as a model and reference during planning of the second self-care workshop given, will be provided. The process of acquiring continuing nurse education units (CNE) for nurse participants in the first workshop, and the acquisition of continuing medical education units (CME) for the second workshop will be shared. The participants who made comments, reported value in acquiring the professional development credits for such innovative content to fulfill knowledge gaps in the field of healthcare will be described. As a result, participants will learn more about the value of integrating the visual arts into healthcare practice that provides health benefits including self-renewal, stress reduction, enhanced critical thinking skills, creative stimulation, and improvement of focus and clarity of thought. They will also identify new art making techniques and how to apply and integrate the new self-care and wellness skills into practice for themselves, their colleagues and patients.