I’ll confess, even though my work is all about inspiring other people to lead social change, I get down like everybody else. I can get caught in the same tired tracks of thinking about climate change, the Middle East, the election, all of it. That's why I need to seek out hope and renewal on a daily basis.
The good news is that a lot of times that renewal can come from my work itself. Right now what’s giving me hope is the folks who have joined me to explore how they can get more innovative and strategic about the social change efforts they lead.
As the host of the party, I bring the methodology: my Social Lens Framework, which lets us focus on one aspect of each problem at a time as a means to transforming them piece by piece. But what the participants bring is their creativity, their passion, and their desire to connect with each other across geography and specialization. Any day I get to make those connections is a day well spent.
While everyone’s problem definitions will change and evolve over time, here are a few of the issues participants are digging into now:
Work-life balance and mental health for entrepreneurs
Racial justice in cancer care and support
Prevention of harm in the foster and adoption system
Citizenship and belonging in transnational communities
Authentic representation of stakeholders in mental health organizations
Rewriting the social contract between nursing and society
I’m looking forward to sharing some of the insights from the group here. Until then, let me know if you’d like to get involved with future iterations of the project!