Last month, I was chatting with a colleague at the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency (MVAA) and he asked, “Have you heard about any resilience summits in Michigan?” “No, I haven’t. What have you heard?” “Nothing – and that’s a problem. People really need this support right now. Would Worldmaker consider hosting one this fall? We
The first week of September was the season-opening at my family’s orchard. The Big Apple orchard is our happy place. Most of the time, it feels like we’re throwing a community party, with “new friends” welcomed to pop in, of course. We have had visitors from as far away as the UK, Europe, and Australia.
It has been a slog. Planning (and replanning) an international symposium and service trip in Zimbabwe and South Africa through a global pandemic. The list of setbacks has been long, and what we’ve experienced reflects just a sliver of the direct impacts on the people themselves: Major hotel goes into receivership, causing reservations to go
Amidst all of its challenges, the Covid-19 pandemic is bringing many opportunities to hit reset on systems, policies and practices that are not serving humanity. One that I am personally invested in getting right? Shifting workplace wellness initiatives to center on relationship-based resilience practices rather than solely on individual practices. Why does this matter? When
The first step in managing influences is being aware of what they are and how they are impacting you. Let’s start here… how are you feeling about your virtual communication these days? Studies indicate that seeing yourself on screen while in conversation with others is negatively impacting some people’s mental health – and this is
Maybe it was my birthday turning the calendar toward another year of life. Perhaps it was my father-in-law’s (and thus our family’s) journey through COVID. Likely it was the backdrop of work I’ve been doing to help the helpers through the pandemic, mass disasters, and other situations that are leaving a whole lot of people
Years ago, I interviewed Marci Shimoff upon the release of her book Happy for No Reason. Her story about interviewing a woman named CJ for her book has stayed with me ever since. CJ had been very depressed for 15 years. She’d had lupus, an autoimmune disorder. She was in a great deal of pain
Given that last year was focused on cancer recovery, I didn’t write my annual highlights blog. Early Thanksgiving morning, I woke up inspired to look through photos from this past year with gratitude. Again and again, my eyes were drawn to moments that embodied one of my favorite quotes: “Work is love made visible.” ~Kahlil
What does an organization or community look like that creates multiple layers of safety nets so that no life falls through… and all can thrive? If you are familiar with my work, you are likely aware of the THRIVE Resilience Model™ I developed to answer this question and help resilience builders put the research into
Of all of the rich discussions at the National Summit on School Safety where I recently presented, it became apparent that there is a strong need for a broader discussion about how despite best intentions, we are undermining resilience with reactive crisis preparedness efforts. Building resilience is a process of increasing protective factors and decreasing
