Access Alliance Arts for Family Health

Creative care webinar #3: Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life

What does it mean to culturally tailor a newcomer expressive art program?

Settlement and healthcare are increasingly learning the nuances of cultural support and services. This webinar panel will feature four HEAL facilitators and their experiences adapting the HEAL program to meet their specific cultural needs. Each newcomer community will experience gender based domestic violence differently, as well as defining what it means to heal and belong together. Listen to the variety of cultural tailoring for Arabic, Faris, Bengali, and Tigrinya speaking newcomers

Moderated by Christen Kong, HEAL project coordinator, Access Alliance. Panelists include:

  • Majd H. Sayed, Expressive Art Therapist
  • Afsaneh Shafai, Registered Art Therapist & Psychotherapist
  • Victoria Mata, Expressive Art Therapist

Guiding Questions

  • How do you determine when a program element needs cultural adaptation versus when it should remain consistent?
  • What specific adaptations were made to tailor the HEAL program for different cultural groups, and how did those changes affect participant outcomes?
  • How do facilitators balance fidelity to the program model with flexibility for cultural relevance in practice?
  • Can you share an example of a cultural tailoring initiative that significantly improved engagement, retention, or participant safety?
  • What indicators do you use to evaluate whether a program is culturally responsive and effective?

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the principles of culturally tailoring expressive arts programming for newcomer communities experiencing gender-based violence, with attention to healing, belonging, and culturally responsive care.
  • Examine how HEAL facilitators adapted program delivery for Arabic, Farsi, Bengali, and Tigrinya-speaking participants while balancing cultural relevance with fidelity to the core program model.
  • Identify strategies and evaluation indicators that support participant engagement, safety, retention, and overall program effectiveness in culturally responsive settlement and healthcare services.

Learn more about the HEAL project click here. 

Category

Facilitated Training Booking