Helping a wellbeing charity reconnect its team through creativity, conversation and shared experience.
Phoenix Health and Wellbeing wanted to bring their team together in a way that felt relaxed, inclusive and genuinely enjoyable.
Like many modern organisations, much of the team worked around different schedules and responsibilities, meaning people rarely had the chance to properly connect with one another.
Through a relaxed creative workshop, we created space for people to slow down, have fun and interact differently. What started with uncertainty quickly became laughter, conversation and a room full of people genuinely surprising themselves.
Because sometimes the best way to reconnect a team is simply to give them permission to step away from the day job for a while.
The challenge
Phoenix Health and Wellbeing has a diverse team of therapists, counsellors and office staff, many of whom rarely get the opportunity to spend time together.
Chief Executive Zoe Rickinson wanted to create something that felt social, light-hearted and different from a typical team activity — something that would encourage people to relax, connect and step outside their usual routines.
Our approach
We designed a two-hour Create & Connect workshop for 12 members of the Phoenix team.
The session included a series of simple creative exercises using pencil, charcoal, coloured pencils and pastels, allowing participants to experiment with different materials and techniques in a relaxed environment.
Everyone then created a final piece to take away in a professionally mounted frame.
The focus wasn’t on artistic skill. It was about participation, interaction and enjoying the process together.
The result
Within a couple of hours, the atmosphere in the room had completely changed.
People who started by saying “I’m not creative” were proudly showing off their finished artwork, encouraging one another and genuinely enjoying the experience.
The room buzzed with laughter, conversation and a renewed sense of connection across the team.
And, as always, the framed artwork added an extra sense of pride and achievement to the day.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but Mike made everyone feel relaxed. It wasn’t about being ‘good at art’ – it was about having fun, connecting, and doing something different.
Everyone threw themselves in and came away buzzing. You can’t put a price on that.
It’s easy to take a great team for granted. But giving them something extra – a chance to connect, laugh, and feel truly valued – is so important. This session did exactly that. The feedback was phenomenal.”
– Zoe Rickinson, Chief Executive, Phoenix Health and Wellbeing
Is your team overdue some proper time together?
Create & Connect workshops help teams reconnect, communicate more openly and enjoy spending time together again.
If that sounds like something your organisation could benefit from, let’s have a conversation.
Let's chatAbout Phoenix Health and Wellbeing
Phoenix Health and Wellbeing is a Leeds-based charity providing counselling and therapeutic massage services to people facing physical or mental health challenges.
Awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development in 2021, Phoenix supports private clients, organisations and individuals referred through the NHS and other services.
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