WELLBEING

​

Heidi Edmundson is a passionate advocate for NHS staff wellness and building positive workplace cultures.

​

She is particularly interested in using fun and creativity to facilitate wellbeing. The benefits of laughter are well documented, including reducing blood pressure and stress. There is also a large body of evidence showing that being involved in a creative practice for even a small amount of time per day can improve emotional wellbeing.

 

She has run a variety of initiatives in her workplace. These include ‘Pop Up Wellness ‘a weekly ten-minute session based around creative tasks including drawing or playing theatre warm up games. She has also developed this into a longer workshop called ‘the Serious Business of Fun.’ Heidi has spoken about well-being both nationally and internationally.

 

 

DRAMA

 

Heidi is interested in using drama to encourage staff to reflect on their experiences of the job. She has done work using Forum Theatre, a style of theatre developed by Argentinian Augustus Boal, to explore seemingly insoluble problems.

 

She has completed the Cardboard Citizens Forum Theatre course designed to equip participants with skills to introduce Forum Theatre to their workplace.  She has also run projects with Masters students from Central School of Speech and Drama in conjunction with staff from the Emergency Department to develop theatre pieces which give the team the opportunity to explore common workplace issues.