Dr Lizzie Burns runs the monthly sessions for healthcare workers and she has been delighted to bring them to Mersey Care and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. The 45-minute sessions support staff with focussing the mind and de-stressing during busy working days - and offer a skill they can enjoy on their own to improve wellbeing.
To learn more about the sessions and the transformative impact on wellbeing, we spoke with Lizzie ahead of one of her online classes. She works alongside her colleague and friend, Zulay Sayalero who is delivering “From the Heart: Creativity and Resilience for Southport” sessions in Southport. The project was developed in the wake of the tragic events that shook the Southport community to bring hope and healing through their shared passion for origami.
Meet Lizzie: how origami inspired her approach to therapy
Lizzie first discovered origami while working on an Adult Oncology ward at University College Hospital. Determined to support patients through the challenges of treatment, she looked for ways to help them focus their minds on something positive. At first, she encouraged painting and drawing, but soon realised these activities mainly appealed to those who were already artistic. Everything changed when she met a patient who had learned origami as a child during a hospital stay. That encounter sparked an idea that would transform Lizzie’s approach to creative therapy.
"The patient said to me: 'I want you to come back next week, and I’m going to teach you something, and I want you to learn it and pass it on because I think it will help others’ – and so I did,” shared Lizzie.
"This patient made big bunches of flowers to give to the nurses as a thank-you and I still have the bunch she gave me – they’re 14 years old now and still look great!
Falling in love with Origami
Although she emphatically shares her joy of origami and the huge benefits for wellbeing, Lizzie admits it wasn’t easy at first:
“I found it a bit challenging to begin with," she said. “I actually began with the flowers, which is not a simple introduction at all – as well as cranes and hearts.”
"It's a really, really good thing to push yourself, though. If you think you’re not creative and can’t do it – that’s exactly the reason why you should do it! You’ll find you can do things that you thought you couldn’t.
“We’ve been losing our hobbies, and it’s really bad for us – just scrolling away. So this creating is really positive. A simple joy from folding paper: it just blows my mind every single time.”
As we spoke about the benefits of origami, she described it as a metaphor for transformation:
“It’s almost like the paper itself; you might start off kind of flat – that might be your mood – and as you fold, it gets more interesting. It clearly changes the brain. It’s about that interaction with another person; time spent together that has no reason other than it’s a great thing to do.”
Origami Pulse and National Lottery Funding for Southport and healthcare workers
As well as online workshops each month for Mersey Care staff, origami workshops are also being delivered in Southport by Zulay Sayalero as part of the project “From the Heart: Creativity and Resilience for Southport”. This initiative brings the same sense of calm and creativity to local communities, in particular the Southport community following the devastating attack that took the lives of three children and injured 10 others whilst attending a dance workshop; helping people to build resilience through art.
The perfect pairing
Lizzie learned about Zulay through the British Origami Society. Zulay would do origami as a child and used it as a tool to support her mental health.
“We sort of became this dream team and as well as becoming colleagues we’re really good friends. This project literally comes from the heart," she said. Our motto is: “improving life one fold at a time’.
Following the tragedy in Southport, 
"We had formed a community interest company and had various projects with the National Lottery and I really urged us to do something for Southport”, where Zulay had lived for many years."
Lizzie describes how it took some encouragement to get Zulay to start the ball rolling with the Southport project. “I’m not based there so it needed to be primarily her,” she said. “It was incredibly hard because of the circumstances, but we're so thankful to the lottery for supporting us.”
Zulay is now involved in many projects within Southport for families and in schools affected.
“There are some beautiful projects she is now involved with – she recently did an amazing project with the school of one of the children who died. They made butterflies representing her and a big heart, it’s so beautiful and is now framed in the school. Very difficult, but incredibly therapeutic.”
As well as the in-person sessions delivered by Zulay in Southport, they also wanted to support healthcare workers and their mental health and wellbeing.
“We both felt strongly that healthcare workers are the people who support the community; they do so much for others,” she said. “The more we can offer something that is just simple, joyous sweet and will bring some nice times together, it can only help people.”
Read more about Origami Pulse and our collaboration
Want to have a go at mindful origami yourself? Check out Lizzie's YouTube channel where you'll find a library of origami folds with over 300 videos!