Responding with Care: Mental Health Tools for Residencies

What are the signs of escalating stress? How do we engage with someone who may be experiencing psychological distress? And when is it time to involve a mental health professional for additional support?

Artist residency staff and leaders regularly navigate mental health and psychological concerns among artists, staff, or within the broader residency environment. Responding effectively requires understanding our own responses to stress, recognizing when someone may need additional support, and knowing the limits of our role.

This hands-on training, led by licensed mental health clinician Katie Hadden, offers concrete tools and approaches for recognizing and responding to psychological distress in your residency community.

It was first created for the staff at Penland and has run for the past five years, supporting a range of practitioners. In this special session, the content has been updated for ACA's network—complete with practical frameworks for noticing signs of increased stress, listening and responding with care, and linking people to appropriate resources when necessary. Participants will explore a range of situations residency staff commonly encounter and work through issues identified by past participants.

The session offers multiple approaches for responding to distress while helping participants clarify the boundaries of their roles. Attendees will also receive handouts and resources to share with their broader teams.

Attendees will take away:

• A practical framework for noticing signs of distress and responding with care
• Greater confidence in engaging with someone who may be struggling
• Tools for understanding their own stress responses and boundaries
• Scenario-based approaches for common situations
• Resources and handouts to share with their teams

Lead Facilitator

• Katie Hadden, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Registration

$150 per person