ART
WELLNESS
ADVOCATES
ABOUT
ABOUT
Art Wellness Advocates offers expert advice, guidance and training on holistic approach to improvement of mental health and overall well-being of legal, finance and medical professionals on organizational and individual levels.
AWA works with employers and associations to transform high-stress high-burnout workplacess into sustainable, balanced, healthier environments, which, in turn, provide for healthier and stronger professions.
AWA works with employers and associations to transform high-stress high-burnout workplacess into sustainable, balanced, healthier environments, which, in turn, provide for healthier and stronger professions.
Art Wellness Advocates was created by a lawyer and an artist in response to the urgently rising need to improve well-being and mental health within high-stress professional fields, such as law, healthcare and finance.
AWA offers a comprehensive approach to improving organizational wellness culture through simple, effective, stigma-free tools. Our programs are expertly designed based on your specific needs and are geared towards creating a healthier workplace, building a stronger community network, and improving work-life balance.
AWA offers a comprehensive approach to improving organizational wellness culture through simple, effective, stigma-free tools. Our programs are expertly designed based on your specific needs and are geared towards creating a healthier workplace, building a stronger community network, and improving work-life balance.
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
Sasha Phillips is an attorney, artist, author, licensed therapeutic art coach, and is currently pursuing her Masters of Psychology degree at Harvard University. She has designed, curated and implemented art wellness programs for community organizations, corporate legal departments, and educational institutions. Sasha's unique experience and specialized expertise in the fields of law, art, and wellness allow her to create highly individualized programming which fosters healthier, stronger and more resilient environment for a wide range of clients. She speaks, writes, and conducts seminars for various domestic and international organizations on the subject of art wellness.
As an artist, Sasha organized, curated and led several community art wellness events. For over a decade she has sponsored and taught cultural art classes which started as an effort to share international arts and culture at the time of high political tensions during various military conflicts. Eventually, the classes evolved into hands-on art wellness programming designed to strengthen local community through arts and culture, to promote unity, wellness and resilience through art-making. She has also collaborated with several domestic and international non-profit organizations on developing art projects for bringing awareness to issues of domestic violence, equity, and diversity.
During a decade as an attorney at an AmLaw 100 firm, Sasha gained invaluable first-hand experience with practicing in a fast-pace high-stress environment, and the grim reality of burnout, mental health issues and addiction among legal professionals. Her personal practice, her extensive formal education and independent research, and her focused interactions with distinguished members of professional and artistic communities, allowed her to create unique arts-based programming for advancing health and well-being within professional organizations.
As an Art Wellness Advocate, Sasha combined her significant professional expertise and her life-long passion for the arts to create unique and effective programming for workplace wellness and resilience. She launched her Art for Wellness program at Reed Smith, LLP, which provided effective and stigma-free art-based wellness tools specifically intended for busy professionals. The program was a great success, and became a part of the firm's regular wellness programming. Together with the IP Inns of Court, Sasha created similar art wellness programming expertly-tailored for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Continuing with promoting wellness within the legal profession, Sasha is currently working on an art wellness program for a Tier 1 law school.
BFA, Art/Painting, Shepherd University
1997
MFA studies, Art/Painting, University of Maryland
2000
JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
2010
Certificate, Therapeutic Art Coach, Udemy/Transformation Academy
2020
Certificate, Arts and Culture Teams Management, University of Michigan
2020
MLA, Psychology, Harvard University Extension School
2023
Bar Admissions: Pennsylvania, West Virginia
OUR MISSION IS TO IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN HIGH-STRESS HIGH-BURNOUTP ROFESSIONS
HONORS AND AWARDS:
The Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration was launched in 2016 to showcase the talent, tenacity and innovative thinking of the "newest newcomers" who have made Pittsburgh their home and helped to make it a world-class city. To date, 23 foreign-born business owners and professionals received awards in a variety of categories.
The Art and Culture category celebrated entrepreneurs making a substantial positive impact on the Pittsburgh community through the arts.
The Art and Culture category celebrated entrepreneurs making a substantial positive impact on the Pittsburgh community through the arts.
2020 Immigrant Entrepreneur Award in the Arts and Culture category
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for Sasha Phillips and Art Wellness Advocates.
Sasha Phillips and her painting Alina's Light were invited to participate in the Art Against Violence exhibit, which is part of the 58 Biennale di Venezia curated by the art critic Giorgio Grasso, with the collaboration of Maria Palladino and Giada Tarantino.
2019 Art Against Violence Exhibit at 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
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This international multidisciplinary invitational event is wholly dedicated to the fight against domestic violence is the first in the history of the Venice Biennale. It was hosted in the Palazzo Zenobio and was very well attended despite the heavy flooding, and loss of heat/electricity at the venue. There were several articles published (in Italian) following the exhibit opening.
Individuality. Expertise. Experience.
Individuality. Expertise. Experience.
A perfect marriage of art, "big law" practice and psychology.
We learn you specific needs and deliver expert, stigma-free, sustainable solutions, while maintaining the highest levels of professionalism and integrity
By working together across many disciplines, including large and small law firms, courthouses, hospitals, law schools, professional associations, financial institutions, lawyer assistance programs, artists, musicians, and mental health professionals, AWA doesn't just address individual symptoms, it creates an integrated wellness network, which bolsters individual results.
AWA first-hand experience with the high-paced professional environment translates into a service that is delivered on-time and is precisely on-point.
Art Wellness Advocates used art and creative engagement to make people feel and function better. Simple art supplies and methods are easily accessible, and artmaking certainly does not have the same stigma as some other mental health improvement tools. Our clients build networks and improve well-being through art and music, while benefiting their communities, and getting a greater sense of meaning in their lives.
Collaborations
Recognizing that art is a powerful tool of communication and wellness, US-based Art Wellness Advocates and Alina's Light, Inc. joined European-based VITARU in a series of powerful in-person and online presentations designed to draw attention to the issue of domestic violence, and to healing mentally and physically through art.
Art Against Violence collaboration with Alina's Light, Inc. and VITARU
Last online presentation was held in November of 2020, and was designed to help individuals and organizations working with domestic violence victims to improve well-being through visual art, music, and theater.
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Our news
This articles describes the American Bar Association Pledge to improve mental health and wellbeing within the
Why legal professionals are at a higher risk for burnout, mental health issues and addiction, and how legal organizations can and should reverse that trend.
Art Making and Art Appreciation: Non-Stigmatized Wellness Tool for Lawyers
