As we have seen in my previous blog ‘Art in the Workplace’, art should definitely have a place in your office. But as well as having artwork on your walls it is well worth introducing art therapy sessions in some form to your employees. Art therapy has many benefits to your employees, in todays’ society people are juggling many stresses, so any opportunity provided to relieve stress through refocusing and distracting the mind is a very positive thing. As well as helping with stress, art in the workplace can be a means of motivation and inspiration, with the added bonus of facilitating team bonding. It is well known that physical exercise is positive for mental health but so too is art therapy and is often overlooked. It can be especially beneficial to those people that find physical exercise difficult for any number of reasons. People struggle to fit in time for themselves so holding events during a lunchtime can be very well received.
Art therapy could be introduced in many different ways, such as:
- Have a weekly session for employees to produce art for your office and have a vote on which should be displayed. Art is incredibly subjective so there is no need to be a classically trained artist.
- There are many YouTube videos out there providing guidance, maybe run one of these with wine and nibbles after work as a team building exercise.
- Chat and Doodle for 10 minutes prior to meetings. It is proven that doodling has many benefits and helps to focus your mind.
- Coffee and Colouring for 30 minutes. There are so many beautiful colouring books out there it would be easy to stock a few in the office for workers to use.
If you are able to build into your wellbeing budget some funds for art therapy sessions there are many companies that can come in and provide well thought out sessions for your employees.
It could be a very good idea to have a dedicated space for such activities, so get in touch and let us help you design a comfortable creative space for your therapy sessions.
Debbie Wilson