About the work
WAHWN brings together people working across arts, health and wellbeing in Wales. As the organisation looked towards its next phase, its trustees wanted time together to strengthen their relationships, explore the impact they hoped to make and consider how they could support the team beyond formal board meetings.
The away day was a starting point for that work: connecting a ten-year view of change with more immediate priorities, and creating a shared direction that could inform further planning and future funding applications.
The approach
Working with Tabitha Milne, we designed and facilitated a day that moved from personal reflection and shared values to future ambitions and practical action. We combined individual thinking, small-group conversations and whole-group discussion, giving people different ways to contribute and time to develop their ideas.
Trustees looked back at WAHWN’s development, explored changes that might shape arts and health in Wales, and considered the impact they wanted the network to have over the next ten years. They then identified possible objectives for the next three years and shared what they could offer the organisation, alongside the support they would need.
What the work produced
The conversations brought together three emerging areas of ambition: quality assurance, public and political profile, and supply and demand. These offered starting points for exploring how WAHWN could strengthen practice and evidence, build understanding of arts and health, and connect provision with people’s needs.
We captured the discussion in a report, with recommendations for refining and testing these ideas, prioritising activity in relation to capacity, and creating clearer ways for trustees to share responsibility and support the team. The work gave WAHWN a basis for continuing its strategic conversations and developing its plans.
Testimonial
“Working with Rob and Tabby gave us exactly the space we needed to pause, reflect and look ahead. They helped our Trustees recognise just how far WAHWN has come, while also encouraging us to be ambitious about the opportunities ahead as our network and strategic role continue to grow. The day felt engaging, open and genuinely collaborative, and we came away not just with fresh thinking, but with a practical actions that we had shaped together. A hugely valuable day at an important point in WAHWN’s development.”