Coloring their way to worker wellness at Kaiser Permanente

Seated at a table with a handful of crayons in hand, Amanda Zimmerman concentrated on a bright mandala wheel.

“I started this at the first coloring session now I’d like to finish it,” said Zimmerman, a health educator at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center.

The session one recent afternoon was not child’s play but part of Kaiser Permanente’s “Live Well, Be Well,” an employee wellness program. Zimmerman and 10 other Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara caregivers were giving themselves a little self-care over the lunch hour by coloring for about an hour.

“We provide the patterns and the crayons and colored pencils. All the staff has to do is come in over lunch and color away,” said Sara Bousfield, who is the Employee Wellness coordinator at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara.

On a side table, there were stacks of patterns to color: wild animals, mandala wheels, Disney cartoon scenes, landscapes and a few big coloring books. All of the scenes and pictures are detailed, complex and require concentration, focus and a bit of skill: it’s coloring for grownups.

“It’s calming, it’s soothing,” says Mark Egusa, a nursing administrator at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, who was also working on a mandala wheel pattern. “I can choose any color I want and just put it in.”

Each of the four tables in the conference room had a small group of people coloring. There were hospital staff, nurses, technicians, and an administrator or two. There was a soft buzz of conversation as the workers colored.

“We’re coloring because it’s one of the new things for adults to do,” said Bousfield. “It helps people to step away from their day and do something that’s more focused. They’re not thinking about what they have to do at work or at home, they’re just coloring.”

Toni Parga, a medical assistant at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, was working on a beach scene showing a bather surrounded by palms and plants and waves.

“I love art. I love color. It’s relaxing and stress-free,” she said.

Reducing employee stress is one of the goals of the Kaiser Permanente Live Well Be Well program. At facilities all over Northern California, Kaiser Permanente employees are offered a long list of resources and classes that emphasize wellness through prevention, healthy eating, exercise and emotional health and wellness.

The Santa Clara medical center offers staff gardening plots, healthy eating tips, a Farmers Market, and now, coloring.

Hsiao Yun Chen, an electrocardiology technician was working on a circular design and explained her technique is to color from the heart