Nurses and other health care professionals skillfully care for others but often deny their own needs for renewal. Occupational stressors common to these professions that contribute to burnout include: long shifts, a high level of responsibility (in many cases without corresponding levels of authority), frequent downsizing and reorganization, and daily exposure to illness, trauma, and loss.

What if effective self-care only took a minute? What if you could get relief in a minute during your busy day? What if a caregiver could feel better in a short time with a minimal yet powerful set of exercises they could do at work, with no special equipment or clothing necessary?

The Storydancer Project’s TAKE A MINUTE® Resiliency Project: Renewal for Health Care Professionals represents a breakthrough in the way health care professionals think about and deal with burnout—physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion accompanied by cynicism and disengagement. Many health care professionals postpone or neglect self-care because they cannot imagine adding more hours onto their already overwhelming day to exercise, release accumulated tension, and rejuvenate. Our project re-imagines self-care by making it accessible, easy-to-learn, fun, effective and efficient. The broader vision is to create a replicable model of daily self-care training that will be widely adopted in health care settings to build resilience and prevent burnout. This in turn has the potential to positively impact the entire health care system by significantly improving health care professionals’ job longevity, work engagement levels and, consequently, patient outcomes.

TSP engages in reciprocal partnerships to create innovative, sustainable Core Wellness Exercise and Movement Arts programs that empower individuals within the context of their unique cultural settings and life circumstances. Our programs serve a wide constituency whose situations are inherently challenging. In the U.S., we train counselors working in domestic violence and rape crisis centers, and work directly with the affected women and families; facilitate creative literacy and wellness programs for Navajo Nation schoolchildren; and offer self-care and renewal programs for nurses and other health care professionals. Internationally, TSP’s global village work includes programs and trainings with women and girls living in fundamentalist Muslim villages, women and families suffering from the effects of debilitating disease, and sex workers and their daughters.