Belonging is a skill. These workshops teach it.
Play Seriously. Work Happily. Belong Deeply.
Our workshops leverage play, mindfulness, and storytelling to help teams and leaders build the kind of belonging that fuels cultures of collaboration, creativity and engagement at work.
Workshops are available for organizational teams, community groups and leadership cohorts. All formats work in-person or virtually, and every session can be tailored to your specific audience, culture and goals.
We’ve worked with
Hire us once. Keep the skill for good.
A live experience changes a day. A trained team changes a culture. Our workshops and trainings teach the P.L.A.Y. Method as a practical skill, so your people can build belonging into how they meet, lead and work together long after the session ends.
Half or Full-Day Workshops
Our in-person + virtual workshops and trainings breakdown the social wellness techniques that make it possible: authenticity, conflict navigation, nervous system regulation, and experience design that sets up the conditions for belonging to arise naturally [and playfully]. Perfect for corporate team-building, conferences and off-sites + company retreats.
Virtual Social Wellness Talks
Social wellness talks delivered by our founder Eli Walker that bring the research and the practice to any audience, anywhere.
Perfect for: virtual conferences or lunch and learns
Leadership Trainings
Deeper work for the people who set the tone, so belonging starts at the top, and a healthy, happy and engaged culture follows.
Intro to the P.L.A.Y. Method™
Every Uplift Workshop is rooted in Eli’s P.L.A.Y. Method™(Place, Language, Acknowledgment, You), a framework for designing environments where belonging happens naturally. Each workshop below targets one of them. Together, they form a complete belonging practice any team member or leader can use.
Whether you’re recharging your team culture, leading a retreat, or transforming how your people connect, these interactive sessions will meet your group right where they are + leave them better connected than ever.
Choose the pillar your team or community needs most, book the full series or ask about how we can tailor something just for you.
Workshop Topics
/
Workshop Topics /
All sessions can be formatted for 90-min., half day or full day engagements and delivered in person or virtually. Workshop titles and content can be tailored to your culture goals.
BELONGING BY DESIGN™
-
Think of this like “Belonging 101.” The environments we create (physical, figurative, and structural) either invite belonging or quietly undermine it. Most leaders have never been taught to think about space as a design problem. This workshop changes that.
Rooted in environmental psychology and live experience design, Belonging by Design teaches leaders and facilitators how to intentionally structure the conditions through room setup, ritual, boundary-setting, and pacing that make connection not just possible but inevitable. Attendees leave with a practical design framework they can apply to their next meeting, event, retreat, or onboarding before they're out the door.
The science: Research in environmental psychology shows that spatial cues and structural boundaries directly influence oxytocin release and psychological safety. When people feel held by a space through when clear edges, rituals, and a sense of intentional design, they relax into belonging faster.
Best for: Event professionals, people managers, HR teams, retreat designers, community builders
LANGUAGE AS ACTION
-
Language is the invisible architecture of every team and community. The words leaders choose in policies, rituals, feedback, invitations, and off-the-cuff moments either signal "you belong here" or "this isn't quite for you." Most of that signaling is unconscious. This workshop makes it conscious.
Language as Action teaches the specific language patterns (i.e. commitment scripts, role clarity, inclusive framing, the language of acknowledgment) that create the psychological safety belonging requires. Participants leave with a shared vocabulary and ready-to-use scripts they can embed into team norms, community guidelines, and everyday interactions.
The science: Linguistic belonging cues activate the brain's reward circuitry and reduce social threat response. Studies in organizational behavior show that language clarity, especially around roles, expectations, and recognition, is one of the strongest predictors of team cohesion and retention.
Best for: People leaders, HR and DEI teams, community managers, facilitators, anyone responsible for setting culture norms
THE POWER OF PLAY
-
This is the most experiential of the four workshops and usually the most memorable. Acknowledgment, in the P.L.A.Y. Method, is the art of interrupting the internal story long enough to actually see and be seen by the people in the room. It's the moment belonging shifts from concept to felt experience.
The Power of Play combines improv techniques, structured play, and Eli's performance background to teach leaders and teams how to use acknowledgment (ex: humor, eye contact, vulnerability, conflict resolution, and "fourth wall" moments) as a real-time belonging tool. It's not team-building theater. It's a practical toolkit for breaking the isolation loop that lives inside most organizational cultures.
The science: Acknowledgment activates the brain's social reward system, which are the same circuits involved in physical safety. Mirror neuron research shows that playful, embodied interaction is one of the fastest routes to mutual recognition and trust. Improv-based training has also been shown to reduce social anxiety and increase psychological safety in group settings.
Best for: Teams experiencing low engagement or trust, leadership cohorts, conference breakout sessions, anyone who has sat through too many icebreakers that didn't work
THE ART OF GETTING OVER YOURSELF
-
Belonging is not just a cultural strategy. It's a physical and physiological state. And leaders cannot create the conditions for belonging in others if their own nervous systems are in chronic threat response. This workshop addresses the part of belonging you have the most control over: you.
The Art of Getting Over Yourself combines breathwork, somatic awareness, gentle movement, and belonging science to help your team and leaders understand how their own nervous system regulation (or dysregulation) shapes the relational field around them. Participants leave with a personal regulation practice and a clear understanding of how embodied presence and mindfulness is the most underrated belonging skills there are.
The science: Polyvagal theory explains how the autonomic nervous system regulates social engagement. When we’re in a ventral vagal state, calm, regulated and present, our nervous systems literally signal safety to the people around us. Co-regulation is the biological foundation of belonging. This workshop teaches you to work with it intentionally.
Best for: Senior leaders, burnout recovery contexts for employees, wellness-forward organizations, leadership retreats, anyone who leads people through uncertainty or change
Other Sample Topics:
All talks & workshops are delivered by Eli or her network of vetted facilitators, both virtually and in person.
These workshops help leaders, facilitators and change-makers embody the P.L.A.Y. Method™ to inspire trust, foster creativity and model social wellness in action. You’ll leave with practical tools, deeper self-awareness and the confidence to lead with presence, humor and heart.
All workshops can be customized for teams, leaders, or individual community members, and new belonging workshops can be created upon request for themed corporate events. Whether you’re designing a professional development series, a company off-site in NYC or the Hudson Valley (or beyond), or a community-building experience, we will tailor every session to help you achieve your culture goals.
What People Are Saying
Let’s build belonging together.
