Artist’s Way Spring Cohort Registration Is Officially Open!
We’d love to have you join us for the Spring Cohort of The Artist’s Way beginning in March 2026! If you’re ready to sign up, please choose the best option for you below. If you’d like more information, please continue scrolling! You are also very welcome to visit our Contact Us page and ask any questions you may have.
Spring 2026 - Artist’s Way Registration
You became a healthcare worker or mental health professionals to help others. You trained hard, sacrificed, and devoted yourself to caring for people. You may even be in a caregiver role at home, too. But somewhere along the way, the system demanded so much that you lost touch with your own creativity, imagination, and sense of self.
Didn’t you used to have…hobbies?
“The healthcare system prioritizes efficiency and productivity, leaving little room for self-expression, much less creative exploration.”
Healthcare workers and mental health professionals deserve to feel whole—not just as professionals, but as creative, imaginative humans.
We’ve been there. We know what it’s like to edit out your own dimensions for the sake of your career. At Introspective Spaces, we believe that healing our creativity as healthcare workers and mental health professionals can help heal our moral distress and reclaim our agency.
That’s why we offer The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers—a 12-week community journey to rediscover creativity, reflection, and play.
The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers is more than a book club - we're reimagining creativity and community in healthcare. Join us as we build communities of care for healthcare across the country.
Two national cohorts (open to all) as well as regional cohorts offered in Los Angeles, Chicago, Sacramento, Bay Area Peninsula, Atlanta, Austin, and East Coast this Fall 2025.
4 CEs available. No creative experience required!
“Success occurs in clusters”
-The Artist’s Way
Our dream is to foster communities of cares across healthcare disciplines where folks are at. It can be hard to build vulnerable and authentic connections in our place of work due to the need to maintain professionalism.
We seek to create communities of care where healthcare workers and mental health professionals can lean on one another, share difficult scenarios, and receive support from those who understand outside of our healthcare institutions.
Who is this for?
This program is open to all healthcare workers and mental health professionals who engage directly or indirectly with our health system and are looking to build community. This fall, we will also be piloting an affinity group for pregnant and postpartum healthcare workers!
“For the helpers and caregivers out there who draw from the bottom of their wells day in and day out, I hope you may consider filling your own cup by joining this community journey. When we tend to our creative selves, we can come back to life. It has been an honor and privilege to journey alongside others who understand on a level hard to find anywhere else”
-Lyndsey, RN (Fall 2024 Artist’s Way Participant)
We're fostering a vibrant community where every voice and every stage of a healthcare career is honored. From ambitious students taking their first steps, to enthusiastic new graduates embarking on their careers, to dedicated seasoned professionals continuing their vital work – you belong here.
We particularly cherish the profound contributions of retired healthcare workers and mental health professionals. Your lifetime of experience, your deep understanding of healing, and your unwavering commitment are a powerful legacy.
We want you to know just how valuable your presence is in nurturing and guiding new generations. The exchange of knowledge between retired professionals and new graduates creates a truly unique and transformative environment for everyone involved.
If you're a healthcare worker or mental health professional who feels like your creativity has gone quiet—or like a part of yourself got left behind during training—you’re not alone.
Many of us learned to set aside our inner artist, dreamer, or child in the name of efficiency, professionalism, and care for others. Over time, this can leave us feeling disconnected, depleted, and unsure how to find our way back to the meaning and inspiration that brought us to our healthcare role.
The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers is for anyone ready to reconnect with their own humanity—through reflection, curiosity, and creative play.
This 12-week experience gently guides you through a series of exercises, prompts, and insights designed to help you unlearn limiting beliefs about creativity, reclaim your voice, and reawaken your imagination.
Drawing from the Artist’s Way as well as aligned books including Emergent Strategy and Art of Gathering, this program is designed with the unique experiences of healthcare workers in mind.
In a system that too often rewards output over introspection, this is an intentional pause—a chance to listen inward and rediscover what makes you, you.
What if humanizing healthcare starts with humanizing one another?
We believe healing our creativity is a pathway to healing moral distress and reclaiming agency in our work and lives. And we’ve seen it firsthand: our Spring 2025 group included 70 healthcare professionals from across the country and specialties. The transformation was powerful, and the shared journey was deeply moving.
This offering is open to individuals, but we’re also inviting clinics, departments, and workplaces to form group cohorts (at a discounted rate). If you think even two or three colleagues might be interested, reach out so we can start organizing!
Curious what it’s like? Read about my experience as a nurse and doing the Artists Way here
Interested in learning more?
Join us for our free upcoming info webinar!
Save the Date:
Thursday, February 5th, 2026
Click the link below to sign up!
This is an invitation to:
Reconnect with your creativity.
Reignite your sense of purpose.
Reclaim a part of yourself that too often gets buried under the weight of caregiving and professional demands.
Walk away with a community you can lean on
The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers is a 12-week journey to restore your creative spirit in the company of others who get it. Whether you're a healthcare worker or mental health professional at the edge of burnout, a new graduate looking for community, or simply someone longing to feel more you again—this is for you. Inspired by Julia Cameron’s book the Artist’s Way, this creative journey is a chance to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and build community with other healthcare workers who understand your experience.
As part of this journey, you’ll join a weekly virtual reflection group with a small, supportive pod (3–8 people) for connection, accountability, and reflection. There’s also a fully asynchronous option for folks who cannot attend weekly meetings that includes weekly check-ins via WhatsApp for optimal flexibility.
Throughout the journey, you'll also receive:
A weekly Artist’s Way email digest: thoughtfully summarized reflections tailored for healthcare professionals.
Group chat support with a larger circle of healthcare workers and mental health professionals walking the same path—share insights, celebrate wins, and know you're not alone.
Four live continuing education webinars exploring the intersection of creativity, moral distress, and healing—for those who want both personal and professional growth (Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #18000, for 4 Contact Hours)
An invitation to our in-person “Celebrating Creativity in Healthcare” event in Los Angeles on June 7th, 2026, including a special “Artist’s Way” pinning ceremony to mark your transformation.
MD Participant
“During our 12 weeks together, surrounded by compassionate colleagues who share a similar vision, I've found renewal. Together, we peeled back the layers of institutional expectations, rediscovered our authentic selves, and prioritized our well-being. This is not selfish—it is necessary. By tending to our own wholeness, we become more present, more empathetic, more effective caregivers.”
Nurse Participant
“When I first became a nurse, I had this hope and vision of finding a community of healthcare workers that I could reflect with on the spiritual meaning of our shared work. I had forgotten about this dream until recently when it occurred to me that it has been realized in all of you!”
Interested in learning more about our community? Watch our video of our May 2025 Celebration where we celebrate our Spring 2025 graduates!
Artist’s Way Creativity & Community Celebration
“When people ask me what I think is the single most important factor in an artist’s sustained productivity, I know I am supposed to say something like ‘solitude’, or ‘an independent income’ or ‘childcare’. All of these things are good and many people have said so, but what I think is better and more important than any of these things is what I call ‘a believing mirror’” (someone who believes in you and your creativity)”
— The Artist’s Way
How This Works
Overview
We piloted this group in Fall 2024 with a group of 45 healthcare workers and mental health professionals across the country and specialties. It was a transformative journey and a true honor to witness. We are excited to welcome healthcare workers to our FOURTH cohort of The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers!
Each participant has the option to join a cohort in their city (listed below) or join our national cohort open to folks anywhere in the country! Each group has a facilitator who will lead the discussion and be the point of contact for your group.
We currently have regional groups in: Los Angeles, Sacramento, Chicago, Bay Area Peninsula, Atlanta, Austin, East Coast. Want to start a group in your city? Reach out and let us know!
Affinity Groups: Pregnancy/Postpartum/Early Parenthood
Don’t see your city listed? We have two groups that are open to folks across the country!
All groups are primarily virtual with opportunities for in person connection based on group preference.
Proposed Schedule:
Atlanta with Annmarie - Wednesdays at 7 p.m. EST
Austin with Trina - Wednesdays at 12 p.m. CST
Sacramento with Aarti - Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PST
Bay Area with Christina - Thursdays at 7pm PST
East Coast with Chime - Fridays 5:30 PM EST
Chicago with Chandra - TBD
Los Angeles with Becky - Mondays at 7 pm PST
National with Amna - Tuesdays at noon PST
National with Anna - Tuesdays at 5 p.m. PST
National with Kim - Wednesdays at 12 p.m. PST
Parents Group - Monthly Meeting TBD
Please note that these days and times are subject to change and will be updated as we get confirmation!
Format
The curriculum is available in two distinct formats to honor and support a range of learning styles. You can join either group virtually!
Both formats include:
Weekly check-ins and creative tasks
Connection to a private WhatsApp community of healthcare workers and mental health professionals
A weekly newsletter tailored to your lived experience with chapter summaries included (no need to read the full book!)
Optional CE credit
A celebratory in-person or virtual reception to mark your completion!
No matter which path you take, you won’t be doing this alone.
Group by geographical location
Join a group of healthcare workers and mental health professionals in (or near) your region and move through the 12-week journey together. You'll receive weekly prompts and reflections as a group. Groups will meet virtually with the option for additional in-person meet ups depending on your cohort’s preferences. This format encourages deeper local connection and opens the door for ongoing relationships even after the program ends.
You can select this option if we have a group in your region (or work with us to get one started near you!).
Asynchronous Group
Prefer more flexibility? You’ll complete the weekly readings and exercises on your own time and you can choose to check in via the Whatsapp group or join our “drop-in” virtual Artist’s Way group on Tuesday at noon PS when your schedule allows.
We’ll provide a simple facilitation guide to help keep the group on track. This option is perfect if your schedule is unpredictable but you still want regular community and accountability.
You can select this option no matter where you live…
Tuesdays @ 12 pm (PST)
Tuesdays @ 5 pm (PST)
Wednesdays at 2pm (PST)
Pregnant/Postpartum Affinity Group
Pregnancy, postpartum and early childhood parenting are some of the most transformational periods of growth for the parent and child alike. They can also harbor fear, uncertainty, vulnerability and a dire need to be heard and seen. The biggest paradox of being pregnant or postpartum is that it can simultaneously feel like the most universal yet isolating experience.
And that is precisely what the Artist’s Way pregnancy and postpartum affinity group seeks to create.
A space where we can openly share the joys and grief of the journey of parenting.
A safe space where we can reimagine how to honor our personhood while navigating the throes of pregnancy and parenting.
A space to hone and re-imagine our creativity using Julia Cameroon’s "The Artist’s Way”, a well-renowned book that explores meaningful ways to nurture your inner artist. Her signature “Artist Dates” and “Morning pages” are a staple in building the practice of reigniting self-expression and creativity.
A space that is flexible and accommodating of the schedules of pregnant/postpartum healthcare workers and new parents with both asynchronous spaces and options for virtual meetings
You can select this option no matter where you live…
CEs
The Artist’s Way is pleased to offer continuing education credits through the California Board of Registered Nursing.
All participants will have access to 4 live CE webinars on topics related to moral distress and creativity as well as mutuality in healthcare
Participants who sign up for the Institutional and Sponsorship tiers have the option for 6 CE credits
We offer invoices for participants with institutional support for CEs to allow for reimbursement for this program (check to see if your institution will cover the cost!)
Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #18000, for 4 Contact Hours
Pricing
We believe that reclaiming your creativity is not just a luxury…it’s a vital part of healing, resilience, and reclaiming agency as a healthcare worker.
After running two successful cohorts of The Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers, we've refined this offering to provide even deeper support. This year’s pricing reflects two key additions:
Honorariums for facilitators, acknowledging the time and energy they contribute to nurturing group connection.
A free, joyful “Creativity in Healthcare” celebration, open to all participants—either in-person or virtually.
These changes ensure that every participant receives the guidance, structure, and community support needed to complete the journey feeling seen, celebrated, and inspired.
To foster accessibility, we offer three pricing tiers and trust participants to choose the tier that most aligns with them.
Community Pricing: This tier is for individuals who are joining the Artist’s Way and do not have access to CE or leadership funds that can offer reimbursement. This pricing is equivalent to $30/week for the 12 week program.
Institutional Pricing: This tier is for individuals who are joining the Artist’s Way with access to CE or leadership funds that can offer reimbursement. This tier includes 2 additional asynchronous CEs for a total of 6 CE credits. This pricing is equivalent to $46/week for the 12 week program.
Sponsorship Pricing: This tier is for individuals who have the financial means to sponsor a fellow healthcare worker for the Artist’s Way and includes 2 additional asynchronous CEs for a total of 6 CE credits. All additional funds go to scholarships. This pricing is equivalent to $63/week for the 12 week program.
Scholarships, Financial Support and Facilitator Track: We offer scholarships, mutual aid and payment plans for anyone needing a little financial assistance.
Scholarships: Our scholarship program is available to anyone who needs financial support, no questions asked. Please reach out to us at hello@introspectivespaces.com to learn more
Mutual Aid: For folks who are interested in offering support for the Aritst’s way program in exchange for a deeply discounted ticket, we have multiple roles we would love support with. Please reach out to learn more.
Facilitator Track: One of the core components of the Artist’s Way program is our incredible team of healthcare worker peer facilitators. New for Spring 2026, we require all facilitators to have completed the program once before serving as a facilitator. For folks who need additional financial support, we offer a discounted seat for those who are interested in serving as a future facilitator. All approved facilitators for our program receive free admission, facilitator training and honorarium for their team. Please reach out to hello@introspectivespaces.com to learn more.
REGISTRATION CLOSES FEBRUARY 28th!
Sign Up Here
We offer several options to best suit your needs:
Meet Our Facilitators
Name: Trina Bolfing
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Relationship & mental health therapist
AW Group: Austin, San Antonio, & Dallas/Fort Worth
Date/Time: Wednesdays, Noon CST
What is your favorite creative practice? Trying to live my life more creatively in all of the most mundane ways, plus watercolor & handlettering
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity is a manner of being for me, so it's a way of looking at the world and trying to see it with fresh eyes wherever possible. It's an effort at suffusing life with beauty, with or without traditionally creative means.
Name: Rebecca Crane-Okada, PhD, RN, CNS, AOCN
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Oncology Clinical Nurse
Specialist/Program Manager
AW Group: LA
Date/Time: Mondays, 7 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice? Depends on the moment! There are so many……letter writing, gardening, baking, collage, knitting to name a few.
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity is allowing myself to flow, to be absorbed in the moment and fully present to what emerges from within.
Name: Amna
Pronouns:
Healthcare Role: Pediatrician and Clinical Instructor
AW Group: National
Date/Time: Tuesdays 12 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice?
What Creativity Means to Me: When she's not caring for patients or teaching residents, you'll find Amna lost in a good book, seeking solace in nature's quiet spaces, experimenting with new recipes in her kitchen, or exploring the world with her family—all pursuits that remind her that a full life makes for a fuller, more compassionate physician.
Name: Christina Dimopoulos-Verma
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Gastroenterology & Hepatology Fellow
AW Group: Peninsula / Bay Area
Date/Time: Thursdays, 7 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice? Writing! I majored in poetry but also enjoy creative non-fiction and fiction.
What Creativity Means to Me: To me, creativity means giving myself permission to explore different forms of artistic expression. I'm working on focusing on how the process feels rather than emphasizing the end product.
Name: Aarti Bansal
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: RN
AW Group: Sacramento
Date/Time: Tuesdays, 8 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice? Photography is a commonly/well defined muscle for me- but faaavorite though? that would be something with my hands- coloring/pottery and/or movement related like yoga or dancing.
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity is a playful way of interacting with the world. It's like a muscle you build staying open and curious in all aspects of life.
Name: Annmarie Ware, RRT- NPS
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Respiratory Therapist
AW Group: Atlanta
Date/Time: Wednesdays 7 pm EST
What is your favorite creative practice? sleeping in after my 3 shifts. I’ve had some amazing dreams.
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity to me means being bold and living out loud. I used to hide my gifts because I thought people would not accept me. But they did, when I started sharing my ideas. And now I’m at the point where I don’t need acceptance. I was born amazing and I shine no matter where I am.
Name: Kim Chow
Pronouns: She/her
Healthcare Role: Nurse practitioner / co-founder
AW Group: National
Date/Time: Wednesdays 12 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice? Cooking, sewing/crafting
What Creativity Means to Me: For me, creativity is about connection to myself, to the people I love, and to community. As healthcare professionals, we’re trained to lead with scientific, measurable thinking, often leaving little space to explore what we feel beneath it all. Through The Artist’s Way, I experienced what happens when that analytical mindset softens and creativity takes the lead: deeper connection, reflection, and a sense of safety within a supportive group. After completing the 12-week journey this fall with Introspective Spaces, I’m excited to facilitate the next cohort and hold space for healthcare professionals to explore our creativity together.
Name: Megan
Pronouns:
Healthcare Role:
AW Group: Parents’ Group Co-Host
Date/Time: Monthly, TBD
What is your favorite creative practice?
What Creativity Means to Me:
Name: Anna Looney
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Certified Mind Body Medicine Facilitator Sociologist, retired
AW Group: National Group
Date/Time: Tuesdays, 5 pm PST
What is your favorite creative practice? It’s hard to choose just one: I love watercolor and also do mixed media collage
What Creativity Means to Me: I find such release, joy and happiness when I engage in creative play, especially in the company of other people! I also consider cooking a creative outlet since I’m excited to try new things and show my love through making delicious healthy food for family and friends.
Name: Chime
Pronouns: She/her
Healthcare Role: EMT instructor/ FamMed Residency applicant
AW Group: East Coast
Date/Time: Fridays, 5:30 pm EST
What is your favorite creative practice? Currently, I’m enjoying watercolor card-making as a way to create meaningful gifts for my friends and family, and I’m excited to explore acrylic banner art as well.
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity grounds me and lets me breathe amid life’s constant motion.
Name: Chandra
Pronouns: she/they
Healthcare Role: Clinical Therapist
AW Group: Chicago
Date/Time: TBD
What is your favorite creative practice? collaging & writing poetry
What Creativity Means to Me: divine expression through human form; something that naturally flows and expands as we dissolve fear & standards of perfection
Name: Dr. Arunima Brown
Pronouns: she/her
Healthcare Role: Physician
AW Group: Parents’ Group Co-Host
Date/Time: Monthly, TBD
What is your favorite creative practice? singing and expressive dancing
What Creativity Means to Me: Creativity is the antidote to the structured, cerebral aspects of working in medicine. It allows to return to our own humanity, connect with one another and build community based on mutual values and artistic interests.
FAQs
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Absolutely! We can add you to an asynchronous group.
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You will be assigned to a weekly live accountability group via zoom. This will be peer-led with a provided facilitation guide. The goal here is to check in on how the reading and tasks have been going.
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You are right to understand this is a significant undertaking. However, we are working with the book to tailor it to our busy clinical environments and workloads. If you participate at 10%, you will still be greatly enriched.
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Although it can feel like you need to have an art practice, this journey together is more about reconnecting with your inner self by exploring your past, what gives you joy, and self-reflection. All of this aids in us becoming more creative.
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Religious Aspects of Artist's Way
Julia Cameron uses religious language in the artist's way to describe the spiritual nature of creativity. She encourages folks to replace the word "God" with the word universe, spirit or nature. It is designed to be open to folks who have religious and non-religious beliefs. There's been a lot written about how to ensure atheists or folks who are non-religious can engage comfortably in the Artist's way. We are happy to speak with anyone who has any concerns about this! Anu is a Buddhist and replaces the word "God" with "universe" in her engagement with the book.
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To accomodate the life of a busy healthcare worker, we created summaries of Artist’s Way chapters alongside reflections in a short weekly email. Buying (and reading) the full book is totally optional! If you are interested in reading along, we will share some places where you can purchase the book shortly! We also highly recommend checking out the library and used bookstore for a copy!
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Introspective Spaces is a Board of Registered Nursing CE Provider # 18000 . Those who sign up for the CE option will receive three webinars (recorded) exploring the topic of moral distress, creativity, and healthcare. Each webinar is 1 CE.
Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing CEP 18000 for 4 CE. Those who sign up for institutional pricing can access 6 CE
The objectives of the CE webinars exploring the intersection of arts and health will be posted here shortly.
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If you get too busy after you signed up, we can bump you to the next cohort for no additional fee.
You can cancel for a full refund after 30 days from the start of the program.
You must watch all four virtual webinars and take the CE survey to receive CE credit within two weeks of the course ending . The webinars are optional otherwise for all attendees.
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This is a great and important question! For folks who have seen our past offerings, you may notice the price of the Artist’s Way offering has increased. After running two cohorts of the Artist’s way, we have learned how important it is for groups to have dedicated facilitators and to have access to an in-person celebration at the end. The new price reflects our commitment to offering honorarium to our facilitators and ensuring the “Creativity in Healthcare” celebration is a free event for all.
"We do not exist independently. We inter-are."
—Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh
Testimonials
“For the helpers and caregivers out there who draw from the bottom of their wells day in and day out, I hope you may consider filling your own cup by joining this community journey. When we tend to our creative selves, we can come back to life. It has been an honor and privilege to journey alongside others who understand on a level hard to find anywhere else.” - Lyndsey RN
“During our 12 weeks together, surrounded by compassionate colleagues who share a similar vision, I've found renewal. Together, we peeled back the layers of institutional expectations, rediscovered our authentic selves, and prioritized our well-being. This is not selfish—it is necessary. By tending to our own wholeness, we become more present, more empathetic, more effective caregivers.The Artist's Way has reminded me that our professional calling is also a deeply personal journey of continuous growth, creativity, and self-discovery. We all deserve space to breathe, to reflect, to dream—and to practice healthcare with our full, vibrant selves. “ – Amna, MD
“Why stay in prison when the door is wide open” - I came across this quote by “Rumi” this morning reflecting, and made me realize that participating in Artists’s way has taught me to step out of my own limitation and my comfort zone to connect with my true self and what I am capable of. Wish you all a beautiful and freeing day 💞🌺 - Mitra RN
Proud partners in the Artists Way for Healthcare Workers
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Oncology Nursing Society
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National Association of Hispanic Nurses
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End Well
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Don't Clock Out
Contact Us
Do you have a question about the Artist’s Way for Healthcare Workers? We’d love to hear from you and provide any information you need!
Reach out to our team anytime at: hello@introspectivespaces.com