Preparing Guidelines for an Art Therapy Workshop

Planning and preparing your workshop is the most important step before creating any final guidelines. Your guidelines will cover the important questions of what, why, when, and how to deliver your workshop.

You may have an initial idea of what your workshop guidelines before completing your workshop content, however, once you have your workshop content completed, you will then have a complete picture of the resources involved that will help formulate your final guidelines.

You should aim to run a workshop a few times. This will give you an opportunity to:

• Help new clients who find you after you run your initial workshop
• Help improve and redefine the content of your workshop
• Maximise earning potential on your workshop idea

The main steps to consider in planning and preparing your workshop are:

• Workshop design
• Workshop goal/s
• Workshop structure

We will look at each of these three areas below.

1. WORKSHOP DESIGN

Your workshop design involves a basic overview of your workshop and how it will be delivered. Important factors to consider are:

• Workshop attendees demographic
• Qualifications required to run the workshop
• Workshop Topic
• Workshop delivery method (eg. Offline, online, printed materials, audio, visual, discussions, exercises, etc?)
• Workshop Schedule (length of workshop)
• Start
• During
• End

2. WORKSHOP GOAL

Before you begin working on the details of your workshop it is a good idea to start with the end in mind. Ask yourself the following question:

• What are the specific skills or knowledge that I would like the workshop participants to learn? You may choose to focus on one single goal or a few.

For a short workshop, it is advisable to focus on 1-3 goals so that the participants can exit the workshop with some clearly defined and actionable knowledge about your topic.

Some examples of your workshop goal might be:

• I want the participants to be able to learn self-regulation through art
• I want the participants to explore the origins of their anxiety
• I want the participants to feel empowered to explore emotions
• I want the participants to develop a sense of sharing within the community

Your goal should be specific and provide a clear outcome for your participants as they leave your workshop. It may be helpful to think about once your workshop participant leaves your workshop, what would you like them to do the next day and does your workshop provide them with the skills to do that?

This line of questioning focuses on keeping your goals very specific and clear. Your workshop may have multiple goals. For example, you may want to educate your participants about art therapy AND help them develop a sense of community. Where your workshop has multiple goals, you should ensure that you provide adequate time to each goal and make it clear to your participants that they will develop multiple goals.

3. WORKSHOP STRUCTURE

Your workshop structure is where you create the outline for your workshop content and how you would like your workshop to be delivered.

Most workshops will follow a general structure such as the one listed below (assumes a workshop with 2 primary lessons):

• Introduction to the workshop
• Overview of workshop goals
• Workshop Lesson 1
• Review of Workshop Lesson 1 in reference to workshop goal
• Workshop Lesson 2 (if applicable)
• Review of Workshop Lesson 2 in reference to workshop goal
• Connect all of the lessons together in reference to the workshop goal
• Address questions and concerns
• Restate the workshop goals and how the participant can progress with their newly acquired knowledge

Once you have created your workshop you now have a complete picture of the content and resources required to deliver your workshop to your participants. Your workshop design, goals, and structure cover the specifics of what your workshop is about, however, you still need to focus on the details of how your workshop will run smoothly on the day.

Your guidelines are considered as a preliminary introduction to the workshop and will help provide the facilitator and the attendees with a clear expectation of how each member will conduct themselves in the workshop and how the workshop will be run.

Some basic workshop guidelines include:

• Expectations of teacher
• Expectations of attendees
• Before the workshop
• Using the facilities
• After the workshop

The guidelines you create will be specific to your workshop, it’s participants and the resources that you are using in your workshop.

Some guidelines you might want to include in creating your own set of guidelines are:

• Statement regarding the workshop as a safe, supportive, and positive environment
• Statement about whether any of the content may be distressing to some participants
• Statement about possible negative emotions or thoughts that may arise during the workshop
• Instructions for staff if a participant experiences distress in a workshop
• Instructions for participants who may experience distress in a workshop
• Who is responsible for specific parts of the workshop (eg. Instructor, support staff, admin staff)
• Statements about housekeeping of the facility including refreshments, cooling, heating, light, ventilation etc
• Statements about the facility including entry, exist, parking, property damage etc
• Statements about ownership of any materials in the workshop (eg. Course notes, art supplies etc)
• Statements about using any materials in the workshop (eg. Facilities, art supplies etc)
• Distribution of any forms required for consent
• Statement about taking photographs in the workshop
• Statement about using mobile phones or other electronic devices in the workshop
• Statement about sharing any workshop content on social media (either after the workshop or during)
• Statement about any requirements for special needs (eg. Dietary, disability access etc)
• Statements about confidentiality held within the group
• Statement regarding group norms and expectations of group behaviour including support, respect, inclusivity, and safety.
• Statement that the participant should feel safe in approaching staff privately with any concerns
• Encouragement of participants to provide feedback to staff
• Encourage your participants to engage in the workshop through discussions and activities

COMMUNICATING YOUR GUIDELINES

There is a lot to consider in running a workshop and you may run the risk of a 10 page document containing all of your guidelines. A lengthy document may cover every possible part of a workshop, however, you run the risk of participants not reviewing the document at all if it becomes too long.

You can choose to provide a complete and comprehensive list of guidelines in your participant’s initial pack documentation, and also include a summary guideline sheet that details your top 10-15 guidelines. Your summary sheet can include a statement that the sheet is only a summary and that a complete guideline sheet is included. You can encourage participants to ensure they read the guidelines.

You could categories each item on your guideline list and create sections in your document. Some suggestions include:

• Facility Guidelines
  • Guideline 1
  • Guideline 2
  • etc
• Course Material Guidelines
  • Guideline 1
  • Guideline 2
  • etc
• Guidelines for interacting with others
  • Guideline 1
  • Guideline 2
  • etc

You may think of other ways of categorising your guidelines to help make your document easier to digest for your participants.

In addition to printed copies, you should also provide a verbal presentation of your most important guidelines before the workshop begins.

Additionally, you can incorporate your guidelines as part of your sign up documentation and request that the participant sign and date the bottom of a copy of the workshop guidelines, stating that they have read the guidelines. Participants should then return the signed copy for your records. Be sure to provide an additional copy to the participant that they can refer to at all times throughout the workshop.

It is a good idea to ensure your participant has access to the guidelines before signing up to your workshop as your guidelines may contain requirements that don’t suit your participant.

To learn more about developing programs and content for your art therapy clients, you may like to read some other blog posts we’ve created:

• Developing Art Interventions for your Client
• How To Organise an Art Therapy Group
• How to Write a Curriculum for an Art Therapy Group
• Task Management Software For Art Therapy Planning

Need help with creating your workshop?
If you need help to create your workshop, we provide a Course Planner Package in the store. You can purchase the package in a variety of different formats including:

• Microsoft Word
• Scrivener
• Evernote

  

The course planner package provides a roadmap on how to get your course completed from choosing your course topic to creating course content and then launching your course with a strong marketing strategy in place.

If you’re ready to create your next course or workshop then this package is perfect for you.

Creating an online course, or in person workshop could be exactly what your therapy business needs to help bring more exposure to your business. Courses and workshops are also an excellent way to create alternative income for your art therapy business.

Maybe you’ve considered creating a course before but abandoned the idea because it seemed too much work for an uncertain outcome.

Creating a course can be daunting from designing your course structure, to creating your course content, and then finally putting into place the most effective marketing techniques to sell your course.

This course planner package provides a roadmap on how to get your course completed from the first step of coming up with your course topic, all the way through to creating course content and then finally launching your course.

The course planner package does not contain generalised information about courses but instead provides detail on how to execute the necessary steps to get your course completed.

The package includes 4 major sections:

1. Course Admin – the course admin section will help you to establish the administrative foundation that will help support your course creation process. Setting up the basic admin structure you need will help boost your productivity and efficiency in getting your course completed.
2. Course Design – this section will help provide you with the core decisions that have to be made about your course topic, format and delivery method. Included is the essential components of creating your course modules.
3. Marketing – once your course is completed, you will need to implement an effective strategy to market your course. This section contains specific details about the marketing assets you will need and the sales channels you should market.
4. Worksheets – here’s where you get to work! These worksheets provide all you need to complete your course fast!

Using the resources in this package makes the process of creating your course so much easier.

This package will save hours of wasted time trying to understand what you need to organise, create and market your course for your therapy business.

If you’ve always wanted to create a course but struggled to find a place to start, this package will provide you with a clear direction to get your course completed.

The package is full of actionable worksheets to help get your course done!

After working through this package you will:

• Have a step by step project plan to create your next course
• Centralise all of your course assets for easy updating
• Select tech gear to create your course and 3rd party platforms to host your course
• Create an effective customer sales funnel to sell your course
• Construct your sales emails using our email outlines
• Decide on your course topic, form and method
• Create your course using the module template
• Create the necessary marketing assets you will need for your course
• Devise a blogging strategy to help market your course
• Use the 30 day planner to complete your course

The contents of this package include the following sections:

COURSE ADMIN

• Master Checklist
• Admin
• Tech
• Financial
• Folder Structure
• Planning
• Customer Sales Funnel

COURSE DESIGN

• Course Topic
• Course Format
• Course Delivery
• Course Creation

MARKETING

• Marketing Assets
• Blogging
• Social Media
• Email
• External

WORKSHEETS

• Worksheet List
• Master Checklist
• Important Links
• Financial
• Folder structure
• Sales funnel
• 30 Day Planner
• Course modules
• Sales page content
• Email outlines

Below is a breakdown of the individual sections within each major category in this package.

COURSE ADMIN

Master Checklist
The master checklist contains the necessary steps to complete your course. It also includes an additional checklist of things to do for an in-person workshop.

Admin
It’s important to centralise the administration of your most important documents and files used to create your course including lead magnets, sales pages, your folder structure, software, payment system access, and policy documents.

Tech
Use our comprehensive list of tech gear including administration tools as well as content creation, course delivery and marketing tools and software.

Financial
Included in this Course Planner Package is an excel spreadsheet that you can use to calculate the number of courses you need to sell to break even. You can also use the spreadsheet to record your estimated profit and your actual profit once your course has been completed.

Folder Structure
Included in the Course Planner Package is a suggested folder structure to help keep your documents organised for quick access. We’ve also included a file naming template to help you improve your information management process.

Customer Sales Funnel
A sales funnel helps you craft your marketing message to your audience. Included in the Course Planner Package are 3 different sales funnels and the steps involved in marketing your course.

Planning
Included are the basic steps to plan your course workflow, including suggested programs to use to set up your course management system.

COURSE DESIGN

Course Topic
Included in this section are the questions you need to consider before finalising your course topic. Also included is a list of online sources to help consolidate your course topic ideas.

Course Format
You can choose to deliver your course using a variety of different formats. You can also mix and match different formats. Included is some suggestions on how to structure your course format.

Course Delivery
This package will help you decide on your course delivery method including suggestions on how to host your course online.

Course Creation
Use the provided checklist to create your course content. Use the module templates as a guide on what content to include in each module. Included is 2 examples of a module structure including single lesson and multiple lessons.

MARKETING

Marketing Assets
Throughout the marketing process, you will need to create many documents, files and images to create your marketing materials. Included is a list of the common items you will need to market your course. Also included is a sales page example layout and a checklist of key components that should appear on your sales page.

Blogging
Your website is a central hub to market your course and your blog is the key place to promote your course. Included are details about creating your necessary lead magnet along with a list of 20 Lead Magnets you can use for your course.

Social Media
In this package is a simplified list of the items you should be publishing on your social media platforms while launching your course. Included are important tips about creating a hashtag/tag list to help boost the visibility of your course.

Email
Included is 2 examples of how you can schedule your email content based on your course structure. Learn about the educational emails you should include in your email content, including some useful examples of specific educational emails you can write.

External
In the Course Planner Package you will find details about where to market your course externally.

WORKSHEETS

Worksheet List
This is a summary list of the worksheets available to use in your Course Planner Package.

Master Checklist
The master checklist contains the necessary steps to complete your course. It also includes an additional checklist of things to do for an in-person workshop.

Important Links
Use this template to record your important links used in your course including payment systems, course pages, social media, course management software, marketing links and more.

Financial
Use this Excel spreadsheet to calculate the number of courses you need to sell to breakeven. You can also use the spreadsheet to record your estimated profit and your actual profit once your course has been completed.

Folder Structure
Use the suggested folder structure to help keep your documents organised for quick access. Also included is a file naming template to help you improve your information management process.

Sales Funnel
Use the 3 different scenarios below to build your ideal sales funnel. You can use one of the examples below or use a combination. Your sales funnel should suit your course and your audience.

30 Day Planner
Use this 30 Day Planner to set weekly and daily to-do’s to get your course completed. Included is the 4 main goals you will need for each course you create.

Course Modules
Use the module templates as a guide on what content to include in each module, including your welcome module and final summary module.

Sales Page Content
Use the sales page layout graphic as a guide to create your sales page. Also included is a template to craft your headlines, details and benefits and overall sales page structure.

Email Outlines
Use these outlines as a guide to construct your email content for each step in your sales funnel. Includes 6 email outlines that are necessary for your course launch.

SIGN UP below to download the FREE Art Therapy Workshop Guideline Checklist to help create guidelines for your workshop.