{"id":870,"date":"2025-08-03T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T19:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yumemirai21.org\/?p=870"},"modified":"2025-08-08T16:08:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T16:08:40","slug":"tara-rynders-on-caring-for-those-who-care-the-art-and-heart-of-healthcare-institute-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yumemirai21.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/03\/tara-rynders-on-caring-for-those-who-care-the-art-and-heart-of-healthcare-institute-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Tara Rynders on caring for those who care: The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute and beyond\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all experience hardship in life: illness, loss, heartbreak. Some of us manage to shape that pain into purpose, that which eases the path for those experiencing similar struggles. Tara Rynders \u2013 a dancer, choreographer, trauma nurse<\/a> and non-profit leader \u2013 is one such person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her personal, professional, and artistic experience led her to create The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute: offering therapeutic movement and expressive arts workshops<\/a>, as well as other services, to support nurses and other healthcare professionals. Rynders has also presented movement theater works for advocacy, awareness-raising and support with respect to the challenges healthcare workers face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo courtesy of Rynders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Through a model called Courageous Care, the organization addresses burnout and compassion fatigue: a phenomenon occurring when healthcare professionals, and those in similar fields, serve and care for others so much that it depletes their own well-being. The goal is to turn that into \u201ccompassion satisfaction\u201d \u2014 when these individuals receive what they need to continue serving as they do, as they must.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dance Informa speaks with Rynders about the organization and its work, her concert works, where she sees it all going from here, and much more. In service to her work and mission \u2013 giving voice to these individuals, so that we can hear their truthful stories and perspectives \u2013 we\u2019ll pass the mic over to her. Over to you, Tara!\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019d love to hear more about how your life experience has brought you to where you are and what you\u2019re doing with The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo by Todd Roeth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere were many entry points, really. Growing up, dance was my medicine and healing. The studio was my escape: home where home wasn\u2019t, with family life tumultuous. I\u2019ve always loved helping people and traveling. I thought that working as a nurse would help me to do both, so I followed that path. I still danced all through nursing school; it didn\u2019t feel like stopping was ever an option.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then my mom got sick at 49 and passed away from cancer. I felt like my foundation was gone. The only thing I could think of was \u2018run to what brings you joy\u2019\u2026that was always dance. So, I got my BFA in dance, still working as a nurse on the side. Everyday, within an incredible community, I danced and cried.<\/p>\n

Then<\/em> my sister fell into a coma, as a healthy 26-year-old \u2013 no one knew why. She lost her ability to move or to speak. I took a semester off school to take care of her. Every morning, she would wake up and cry as she realized what happened to her, and I would just hold her. Then, at night, I turned on her favorite song, \u2018Party in the USA\u2019, and danced around her room like a wild woman \u2013 being as free as possible in my body, hoping she would feel that freedom in her. Both of us laughed like crazy. It was such a needed reprieve from all we were carrying. I realized that the depths we feel our grief are the depths we can feel our joy. From that inspiration, I created a work focused on intimacy and interactivity that took place in my home, helping others to experience that same kind of joy and release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo by Heather Gray Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Later, I found out I was having an ectopic pregnancy. While I was pretty much passed out, my nurse held my hand and said, \u2018I am here and you\u2019re going to be okay.\u2019 As a nurse myself, I was so used to being the one caring that I almost felt embarrassed being the one cared for<\/em>!<\/p>\n

It made me realize that we as nurses have such a sacred opportunity to care for others, that it is such important work, and that receiving care is a big part of making that happen \u2013 and thus began The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At first, nurses really didn\u2019t even realize or want to admit that they were struggling; they would say things like \u2018what do you mean, we\u2019re fine.\u2019 Along with some amazing collaborators, we created an immersive theater performance to depict the challenges nurses face. It took off from there!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also love to hear how the organization\u2019s workshops look and feel. What\u2019s it like to be in the room? What happens there that you\u2019d like to highlight?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few key components that I love and see as being really transformational for people who experience these workshops. The very first thing we do is wash their hands. It sort of flips that ritual of their work to where someone is doing it for them<\/em>. When they wash their own hands in the future, we hope that they remember they also need and deserve care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo courtesy of Rynders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We also ask them, \u2018What are you hoping for?\u2019 They often cry because they\u2019re so used to being the one to listen in that way. Because many nurses tend to shy away from receiving care, we intentionally shape the workshop so it\u2019s disruptive enough that they don\u2019t get to have a moment of \u2018oh God, I don\u2019t want to receive.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then, we get into play! We make costumes and move around in the space on this mission together. Everyone\u2019s dancing around and belly laughing. It\u2019s one of the favorite moments of the workshops for many who attend! This play and ease humanizes them; there\u2019s no being in charge of life and death, and they can just be themselves <\/em>without the weight of that responsibility. We also write and share poems, storytell, and celebrate one another. We see how many of us are carrying the same weight \u2013 and it feels less lonely.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One attendee said, \u2018I\u2019m a mother, an educator, a nurse, but here\u2026I was just me.\u2019 Another said that there can be feeling \u2018not good enough\u2019 to be in their roles; if they make a mistake, it can stay with them for awhile. But in an environment of care, play and understanding, they can just be<\/em>, be okay with just being a human and that\u2019s more than enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo courtesy of Rynders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We focus on patient outcomes a lot. But \u2013 as we in our organization often note \u2013 if we shift the focus to caring for each other, that carries over to how we care for our patients. Case in point: another attendee said, \u2018I can tell my therapist or partner how hard my day was, but there\u2019s something about telling another nurse.\u2019 In many ways, we\u2019re the ones we\u2019ve been waiting for!\u201d<\/p>\n

Empirical data is beginning to validate the efficacy of these interventions. That matters with the values and processes of Western healthcare, and the wider Western world, being what they are. Please tell us more there<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very first workshop, I knew we needed to do an IRB [Internal Review Board] study. We got IRB approval, as well as a two-year contract, in order to do so. Right off the bat, we got incredible results: including decreases in burnout, secondary traumatic stress, isolation and over-identification (going back to feeling shame and self-doubt for making mistakes, instilling instead the idea of \u2018I made a mistake but I\u2019m not a bad person<\/em>\u2018) and increases in self-compassion, self-kindness and connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were also able to do a six-month follow-up, and we found that these results sustained. That helped assure me that we\u2019re really doing something tangible and lasting here, versus just slapping a bandaid on the effects of a broken system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Tara<\/a>
Tara Rynders. Photo courtesy of Rynders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Can you kindly tell us more about your project, A Nurse Is Calling<\/em>? What, in particular, did you hope to express and offer with the project?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is actually something I\u2019ve wanted to do since COVID<\/a>, to humanize the nurse. There\u2019s this whole thing about \u2018healthcare heroes\u2019, the \u2018not all heroes wear capes\u2019 narrative. It\u2019s lovely in intention, but \u2013 in the longer term \u2013 has actually been detrimental to our field. Of course, it feels great to be honored and acknowledged, but we\u2019re also just human\u2026and we\u2019re scared<\/em>! We need to be able to share our fear \u2013 and at the end of the day, we\u2019re alone in what we carry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We demonstrate that effect in the work through a nurse in a boxing ring. Everything\u2019s \u2018yeah, yeah, healthcare hero\u2019, \u2018rah-rah\u2019 \u2013 but then the nurse is alone in the ring. We show this in workshops and nurses love <\/em>it, because it really shows the dark underbelly of the \u2018healthcare heroes\u2019 narrative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The work also shares my stories of loss, and how my loss has intertwined with losses my patients have also experienced. It\u2019s both<\/em>, because our lives and our patients\u2019 lives overlap and become interwoven. Overall, that\u2019s a truly beautiful thing, but also really hard to experience through the piece. The work cares for me, in what I\u2019ve experienced, but also for those who see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"'A<\/a>
\u2018A Nurse is Calling.\u2019 Photo courtesy of Tara Rynders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Where to from here? To the extent that you can now share, what might you be envisioning for The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute, performance projects and beyond?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in talks with healthcare systems about where this is going, plus hoping to tour with workshops and A Nurse Is Calling. <\/em>Additionally, also in conjunction with healthcare systems, we\u2019re working on a wellness curriculum for nurses called \u2018We Matter\u2019. Nursing schools often have wellness on the syllabus, but it can be a 10-minute video and then they check that off.<\/p>\n

Our curriculum is much more comprehensive. It works with this concept of \u2018rebrilliancy\u2019, instead of \u2018resiliency\u2019. The message is often \u2018be resilient,\u2019 but after my mom passed away, I realized that we need to redefine what that means and what it looks like in practice. We\u2019re often missing the step of feeling the emotion, first getting soft so that we can stretch to meet whatever we\u2019re facing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We believe that what we actually need more of is reflecting back at people the brilliant humans that they already are, and that we have each other. It\u2019s less about that image of the lone flower growing out of the concrete, that \u2018resiliency\u2019 narrative, and more people being together in a beautiful garden of flowers \u2013 or trees with an interlocking root system, nourishing each other through that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With embodied grief and<\/em> embodied joy, we\u2019re hoping to infiltrate these systems with a spirit of \u2018we matter!\u2019 For those who have gone into healthcare work because they\u2019ve gotten the message that they\u2019re worthy because<\/em> they give, and who feel shame when they receive\u2026we want to offer them that nourishment and help challenge that narrative. We want them to see that they, too, truly do matter!<\/p>\n

Rynders recently presented<\/em> A Nurse is Calling, directed by Dr. Clare Hammoor and with piano from Ryan<\/em> Marvel, at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts (Denver, CO). Learn more <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Tara Rynders on caring for those who care: The Art and Heart of Healthcare Institute and beyond\u00a0<\/a> appeared first on Dance Informa Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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