What is the CaRE Project?
The CaRE Project is an NHS led creative and systemic team development programme offering bespoke, arts-based away days and workshops, both online and in person, with integrated leadership support to inspire new ways of working together.
CaRE supports NHS teams to reflect on challenges, strengthen team culture, and build psychologically safe and compassionate ways of working. Our approach creates meaningful, evidence-based team development experiences that strengthen collaboration, foster resilience, and enhance organisational effectiveness, in line with the CNWL Trust SCARF values: Safe, Compassionate, Accountable, Reflective and Fair.
Since launching in 2020, CaRE has collaborated with 67 teams across various service lines, engaging a total of 907 multidisciplinary staff members.
Get in touch
Ready to transform your team's culture and collaboration?
Email us directly at: cnwl.care.project@nhs.net
What we do
The CaRE Project offers creative, collaborative, and co-designed workshops for healthcare teams at any stage of development. Through arts-based and embodied methods, we create safe spaces for reflection on recent events and to construct shared narratives of team experiences, roles and priorities.
Working with the CNWL SCARF values (Safe, Compassionate, Accountable, Reflective, Fair), the project brings teams together to inspire new ways of thinking and to collectively envision and cultivate a responsive, resilient, and compassionate team culture.
Leadership integration
We recognise that sustainable team development requires engaged leadership. The CaRE Project actively integrates leaders throughout the process:
- Pre-workshop consultation with team leads to align objectives and understand team dynamics
- Leadership participation in workshops to model vulnerability and shared learning
- Bridging hierarchies through creative exercises that flatten traditional structures
- Post-workshop leadership briefing to embed insights and maintain momentum
- Ongoing support for leaders to champion team culture changes
Our approach strengthens the connection between staff and leadership, creating shared accountability and mutual understanding that extends beyond the workshop experience.
Our aims
- To support teams to realise their collective potential and shared vision.
- To create safe, compassionate, and inclusive spaces where staff feel valued, heard, and connected.
- To strengthen connections between staff and leadership, fostering accountability, reflection, and shared responsibility.
- To enable reflection, learning, and innovation that sustain situated, responsive, and vital practices.
- To actively embody the CNWL SCARF values to co-construct inclusive, compassionate and collaborative team cultures.
What to expect
Our workshops include:
- Creative arts-based exercises tailored to your team's needs
- Safe spaces for collective reflection and dialogue
- Team ecosystem mapping and visioning exercises
- Embodied activities to strengthen team dynamics
- Integrated leadership participation and development
- Evidence-based approaches to team development
The CaRE programme
- Workshop 1: using embodied movement to explore meaningful experiences of the team and challenging events
- Workshop 2: Visualisation and image making to create a shared vision of the team eco-system
- Workshop 3: Team reflective spaces to explore emergent themes, identify strengths and promote authentic interpersonal skills
- Workshop 4: Embedding pragmatic ‘next steps’ to support a collective vision for a thriving team
Current news and upcoming events
- The CaRE Project has a paper published in "The Arts in Psychotherapy" journal. Find out more.
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On 17 September 2023, the CaRE Project was invited to the House of Lords to celebrate the achievements of the project during the Covid pandemic alongside other recipients of funding from the Royal College of Nursing.
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The CaRE Project artwork on permanent display at Trust Headquarters. Read the full story.
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Dominik Havsteen-Franklin and Jenni de Knoop led a training day in Stockholm, Sweden, on 14 November 2024. The session spotlighted innovative approaches to Mentalization-Based Arts Psychotherapy (MBAP). Find out more.
What our teams say
"I can't tell you how much we appreciate all that went into the design of the day and ensuring that it met our needs as a team. This is an exceptional initiative that we will absolutely be recommending to other teams."
– Fran Lepori, CNWL Trust Head of Lived Experience Workforce
"I heard some staff commenting on feeling positive about themselves afterwards and feeling seen by the team in this moment. The day and package you offer is brilliant, and I would recommend this to other teams."
– Speech and Language Lead, CNWL Brent Learning Disability Service
"The CaRE Away Day was absolutely fantastic, it was a genuinely enjoyable and meaningful team-building experience. Staff shared that they felt relaxed, valued and heard, which strengthened our team dynamic and morale. We're still feeling the positive impact in the office."
– Zehra Emin, CNWL QPP Team Manager
“What a difference the arts therapies approach made to engagement and participation. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for providing this enriching and nurturing experience. What you do for your colleagues in the Trust is really powerful and special.”
- Janet Walker, CNWL ACTS Team Manager
"I was pleasantly surprised. The day brought out all the positive aspects of individuals and the team and reminded me of our shared goals and aspirations. I was buzzing with positivity at the end of the day. I felt incredibly proud of the people I am lucky to call colleagues."
– Shalini Andrews, Clinical Director for CNWL Bloomsbury Clinic
"I can honestly say that this has been the single best intervention which I have experienced in my career, and I would recommend this to any team."
- Melissa Davis, CNWL Head of Midwifery, Gynaecology & Paediatrics
The CaRE Team
The CaRE Team are registered arts therapists and trained team development facilitators. Each member of the team specialises in different health care sectors and provides creative skills to promote powerful unified change with your team.
The project lead is Dominik Havsteen-Franklin (Consultant in Arts Psychotherapies) and the practice lead is Jenni de Knoop (Dance Movement Psychotherapist).
Members of the team include: Abby Hubbard, Matteo Merla, Katie Dunne, Claire Grant, Diane Eagles, Emily Hoffman, Barbara Kasprzyk, Yara Nasrany, Jen Pullan and Weronika Kucharska.
What we provide
• Leadership engagement: initial consultation with leaders to co-design interventions that meet team and organisational needs
• Comprehensive assessment: Understanding your team's unique challenges and dynamics
• Tailored workshop design: bespoke arts-based interventions aligned with your objectives
• Evidence-based measurement: pre and post workshop assessments to track impact
• Summary report: detailed feedback and recommendations for ongoing development
• Leadership debrief: strategic session with leaders to translate insights into actionable changes
• Team image: professional photography capturing your team's creative journey (optional)
• Follow-up support: guidance for embedding workshop insights into daily practice, with specific leadership coaching available
As part of the CaRE project, we collaborate with each team to co-create a unique visual representation of their culture. These visuals are designed as dynamic ecosystems, illustrating how team members interact and work together to foster growth and development. Have a look below.
