Connected Along the Brain Coast

We’re all part of a local Brain Health Network – whether you’re a resident, researcher, clinician or community advocate.

During October's Train the Brain campaign, Palm Health Foundation highlights local innovators within the Brain Health Network demonstrating the power of cross-sector collaboration and contributing to the Brain Coast's growing national and global recognition for advancing brain health across the lifespan – from early childhood to healthy aging.



Three artists, a room full of caregivers, and a sway that follows them home.

When neuroarts professionals Dr. Kristen Nichole Pender, Shabrae Jackson, and Elayna Toby Singer met through the Palm Beach County NeuroArts Collaborative, they discovered another connection: family caregiving.

Together, they could answer a challenge issued by the Collaborative: “Create a concept for how we as a team could facilitate neuroarts for the health and well-being in the community,” Singer explained.

The Art of Care was born.

A family caregiver is an unpaid relative, partner, friend, or neighbor who provides physical, emotional, or financial support to someone with a chronic illness, disability, or the effects of aging.
Source: National Library of Medicine

Using their combined talents—dance, visual arts, poetry, music, nature engagement —the trio partnered with Palm Health Foundation’s Healthier Boynton Beach family caregiving initiative to bring it to life.

During monthly workshops, the caregivers, mostly women over 60, found respite as the facilitators wove one modality into the next. The arts-based sessions supported stress reduction, depression prevention, social belonging, and cognitive engagement–no creative experience required. 

A poem inspired embodied movement sequences. A painting sparked a collage. And a nature self-portrait became a connection to something more: themselves.

Singer recalled one caregiver. “She said, ‘When I was doing this, I didn’t think about anyone else. I didn’t have a thing on my mind.’ She was in her own flow state. She had lower stress and increased positive emotion. Something transformed in her for those few minutes.”

These neuroarts benefits are backed by science: creative arts interventions significantly reduce stress. The Art of Care team documents its impact with their Well-Being and Creativity Scale pre- and post-workshop tool that asks caregivers to self-witness how they are feeling.

“We’re connecting the dots. We ask, ‘What did you notice that helped you to shift?’” Jackson explained. “We’re building understanding that if we’re singing a song, we’re not just singing a song. We’re not just moving to move. What brought them towards calm and ease—the sway they learned with Kristen—they can find when they’re home washing the dishes. They can say, ‘I can carry this with me.’”

Between workshops, text campaigns with resources, images, and reflections create an ongoing space for community building. 

“We’re continuing that connection even when we’re not physically in the room,” Dr. Pender said. “We make creative expression part of their routine. Without this intention, it can feel incomplete and less integrated.”

The link between brain health and the arts is where the team sees a greater role for The Art of Care and neuroarts. “If we want to talk about brain health, we have to talk about everybody, everywhere,” Jackson said.

“The Neuroarts Collaborative, as part of the Brain Health Network, brings scientists, researchers, creative arts therapists, coaches and artists together around how the arts affect mind, body, and spirit. We need tangible things that show up in everyday ways for people. The arts make brain health accessible.”

Get in Touch

To learn more about the Art of Care and other neuroarts offerings please contact:

• Dr. Kristen Nichole Pender, Creative Strategist & Embodiment Coach, dr.kristenpender@gmail.com
• Shabrae Jackson, Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapies, shabrae@gmail.com
• Elayna Toby Singer, Artistic Nature Engagement, elayna@elaynatobyart.com