This is an interview excerpt where Azizi Marshall describes their work supporting organizational mental health through creative arts therapy. They provide programs such as weekly creative arts therapy support groups (framed as 'therapy to go') for healthcare staff like nurses, and deliver workplace trainings including de-escalation and conflict resolution, emphasizing emotional management.
So tell us a little bit about the core of what you do at work.
Yeah, so the core of what we do is supporting the mental health of the entire organization. And depending on the organization that can look so many different ways. The way we've showed up in some is we do weekly support groups and it's not the let's sit around and just talk about our issues. It's creative arts therapy. So we bring creative arts therapists into that space so people can talk about things they're going through. Commonly used in healthcare, where the nurses can come in at any time throughout the day, talk with a therapist, talk as a group and do some sort of fun activity that they can then take with them. So it's like therapy but to go is how we have it framed for them. And then a lot of workplace trainings, de escalation training, conflict resolution, types of trainings and workshops and really just how to not only manage those situations but manage the emotional aspect that comes along with all of that.
What kind? So you mentioned healthcare nurses. I mean obviously they're in a high pressure, a very heavy emotional role. Are there other industries that you tend to concentrate in?
Yeah, tech and hospitality. Tech because of the high pressure that is involved with that industry and hospitality because they're constantly customer facing. They always have to be like this and kind to the customer, yet the customer may not be that kind to them. So learning how to, how to moderate all of that. And then we also have done a lot of work in the entertainment industry just because our approach is very hands on and they like the interaction. So when we do those trainings for them and even the types of therapy that we bring into them, they appreciate and gravitate towards that.
