"Burn out: a spiral in motion" is the representation of a pathway born from the will of Fondazione Lene Thun and Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS to take care of those who, on a daily basis, support and live the reality of families and children facing an oncological pathway.

Launched in 2022 and financed by the Lene Thun Foundation, the "ArtOut" Experimental Project involved the Gemelli's Paediatric Oncology staff, using ceramic therapy and its benefits to improve the team's emotional climate by intervening on the harmful aspects of the working environment.
 Burn out, as defined by the WHO, is a syndrome characterised by negativity, cynicism, reduced energy and professional effectiveness.

"ArtOut" intervenes precisely on these aspects, making thoughts, experiences and complex emotions visible through clay with the aim of cushioning and preventing precisely the effects of "burn out" in health workers working in paediatric oncology.
With the aim of preventing the effects of burn out, a team-building activity following the principle of recreational therapy and the ceramic-therapy workshops of the Lene Thun Foundation, Matilde Tibuzzi and Dr Antonella Guido, Psychologist and Psychotherapist at the Gemelli Paediatric Oncology Unit, was therefore designed in collaboration with the ceramic-therapy workshops of the Lene Thun Foundation.

The nursing staff were involved in a series of meetings in which they were able to discuss the risk elements and resources of the working context, leaving traces of these contents through the guided manipulation of clay.
The artistic-expressive work fostered the manifestation of emotions and creativity, releasing conflicting psychic energies and promoting psychological well-being.

The collective work 'Burn out: a spiral in motion' is the result of the creative process carried out within the pilot project. The tiles, made of ceramic and decorated with engobe and glaze, compose a spiral that seems to expand from the centre outwards, or from the outside back to the centre, but which is always and in any case the image of a movement: courageous, necessary and vital. 

The 'ArtOut' project, which is part of a research path that the Lene Thun Foundation has been pursuing since 2016, will continue in 2024, also involving the department's staff.