Resources and Inspiration
Most of the activities in this book have embedded links to sources and resources for further learning. For those of you who would like more information about the topics explored, here are a few of the books, on-line training courses, websites and podcasts that have deepened my knowledge and approach to people and learning. Every practitioner has their own top contenders of people who have influenced their world views and attitudes. Here are the wisdom keepers and idea generators who excite me to continue learning and growing:
Training programs that I have found useful
Soliya Training courses in On-Line Facilitation
This course was recommended to me by the Global Centre for Pluralism educators. It is excellent on-line training that focusses on building skills to facilitate dialogues across differences:
“For 20 years, we have taught young adults to approach differences constructively and lead with empathy, so that we all may thrive in an interconnected, pluralistic world.”
I highly recommend their training programs.
The Science of Wellbeing, Yale University
4.7 million students have taken this free course! I took this course with a colleague a few years ago and found it confirmed many of the approaches I was already using in my work as an educator and counsellor. It has 10 modules based on the most current research about wellbeing and has engaging and very practical approaches to embedding strategies in your life. Yale has recently launched a similar course that is created especially for teens.
“In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life.”
Providing Trauma Informed Care E-learning Series
This training provides important information for educators, counsellors, front-line staff and health care workers about trauma and how best to create supportive environments.
It consists of seven 30-minutes modules that give an overview of different kinds of trauma and ways to avoid re-traumatizing survivors. The course encourages learners to examine their assumptions and their own wellness plans when engaged in work with traumatized populations. Although this particular course is oriented towards health care providers, the ethic and skills are also applicable to facilitators and educators who will often encounter participants and learners who are processing acute or chronic traumatic experiences.
“This training initiative focuses on enhancing knowledge of trauma-informed care and developing trauma-focused skills for practice. It consists of two parts; The Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) e-Learning series and the Trauma-Focused Skills (TF) Workshop Series.”
Asist: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
Excellent 2-Day training course that helps prepare people that work with people to explore their values and develop skills and confidence to intervene when concerned that someone might be suicidal.
“After attending this workshop, participants feel more ready, willing, and able to help someone considering suicide.”
WebSites for Resources and Further Information
Liberating Structures: New Ways to Work with Groups
This site is jam packed with innovative ways to facilitate meetings, classes and build collaborative cultures:
“Liberating Structures introduce tiny shifts in the way we meet, plan, decide and relate to one another. They put the innovative power once reserved for experts only, in hands of everyone. Liberating Structures are easy-to-learn microstructures that enhance relational coordination and trust. They quickly foster lively participation in groups of any size, making it possible to truly include and unleash everyone. Liberating Structures are a disruptive innovation that can replace more controlling or constraining approaches.”
Here To Help: Mental Health and Substance Use Information You Can Trust
I have referred many students, clients, friends and colleagues to this website over the years. It has solid and accessible information about mental health and substance use and has many stories from people with lived experience. I have found the self-assessments very helpful for exploring mental health and have sometimes used them in consultation with clients to make referrals for further assessment and treatment:
“Explore strategies to help you take care of your mental health and use substances in healthier ways, find the information you need to manage mental health and substance use problems, and learn how you can support a loved one.”
Pluralistic Practice: Celebrating Diversity in Therapy
This website is filled with information about deep collaborations with counselling clients and participants. It encourages respectful exploration about what works best for different individuals, cultures and communities. It has been influential in how I approach the counselling process.
“Pluralism in counselling and psychotherapy can be both an attitude towards therapy and a specific practice:
- Pluralistic attitude: a general respect for different approaches, and a willingness to help clients find the right therapy for them. That means that therapists who practice ‘pure form’ therapies—like person-centred counselling or CBT—can still consider themselves pluralistic.
- Pluralistic practice: a form of therapy in which the practitioner draws on a range of methods and understandings to try and tailor the therapy to the individual client—based on what they and the client think may be most helpful.”
Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses
This site showcases innovative approaches to student wellbeing, suicide awareness, building campus cultures and addressing mental health and substance use. It is filled with case studies and resources that have been created by staff and students collaborating to create healthier campus environments. I was a part of the design team for this community, and I continue to watch its development and approaches with great interest.
“We believe that well-being is everyone’s business, so our community members include students, campus services professionals, faculty, and administrators. We are interested in working with community partners who wish to come alongside and collaborate with us on initiatives tailored for appropriate implementation in our contexts. Our initiative is driven by our Community of Practice members and a strong focus on meaningful connections and knowledge exchange. We value local wisdom in combination with strong theory and evidence-informed practices. We encourage innovation across the full matrix of research and action—including empowering people, modifying environmental structures and conditions, and providing services and supports.”
The World Cafe: Shaping our Future Through Conversations that Matter
Great resource for anyone wanting to host a world cafe. They are happening all over the world.
“The World Café is a simple, brilliant, beautiful process that enables large groups of people to build collective knowledge about the issues that are important to them. Juanita Brown and the World Café Community are giving the world a gift: the means for quality, effective conversations about important issues, during one of the most divisive times in our history.”
~Sandy Heierbacher Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)
The Okanagan Charter for Health Promoting Universities
In 2015 university professionals from 34 countries gathered together in Kelowna, Canada, to develop a charter vision for how universities can play a leadership role in creating societies that focus on wellbeing. This is an inspiring document that points to new paradigms for integrating health promotion into all aspects of learning and living.
Participants who developed the charter had shared aspirations:
“Health promoting universities and colleges infuse health into everyday
operations, business practices and academic mandates. By doing so, health
promoting universities and colleges enhance the success of our institutions;
create campus cultures of compassion, wellbeing, equity and social justice;
improve the health of the people who live, learn, work, play and love on our
campuses; and strengthen the ecological, social and economic sustainability
of our communities and wider society.”
Tamarack Institute: Ending Poverty in All its Forms
This wonderful Canadian institute works with communities to address relevant social issues. I have attended several training sessions and was continually impressed with their practical and visionary approach to community engagement.
“Tamarack catalyzes collective action with diverse leaders to solve major community challenges including ending poverty, building youth futures, building belonging, and addressing climate change. Our belief is that when we are effective in strengthening our collective capacity to engage citizens and lead collaboratively, our work contributes to the building of peace and to a more equitable society. At the heart of Tamarack lies the belief that true community building, engagement and change go beyond mere words — they require genuine care, compassion and action.”
books
Post Secondary Peer Support Training Curriculum
Wonderful open source textbook that explores approaches to developing peer support programs. I particularly found the section on self-determination, cultural humility and trauma informed practices to be succinct and powerful.
“We’ll discuss how in peer support we can avoid giving advice and instead support the creation of an ecology where people can begin to trust their own inner wisdom. An ecology that encourages self-determination means people can tap into their intrinsic motivation, grow and thrive.”
Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times
by Paul Born
This is a lovely book that explores ways to deepen community connections:
“Community shapes our identity, quenches our thirst for belonging, and bolsters our physical, mental, emotional, and economic health. But in the chaos of modern life, community ties have become unraveled, leaving many feeling afraid or alone in the crowd, grasping at shallow substitutes for true community. In this thoughtful and moving book, Paul Born describes the four pillars of deep community: sharing our stories, taking the time to enjoy one another, taking care of one another, and working together for a better world. To show the role each of these plays, he shares his own stories—as a child of refugees and as a longtime community activist. It’s up to us to create community. Born shows that the opportunity is right in front of us if we have the courage and conviction to pursue it.”
Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
by Dr. Dan Siegel
Radical Acceptance: Living your life with the Heart of a Buddha
by Dr. Tara Brach
Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The Acceptance and Commitment Workbook
by Steven C. Hayes, Phd
Five Keys to Mindful Communication:
by Susan Gillis Chapman
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
by Margaret Wheatley
Wellbeing at Work: How to Build Resilient and Thriving Teams
by Jim Clifton/Jim Harter
Buddhas Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Love, Happiness and Wisdom
By Rick Hanson Phd.
Culturally Responsive and Socially Just Counselling
by Dr. Sandra Collins
“In sum, this is a terrific new resource that should be essential reading for anyone—whether counselling teacher or learner—who wishes to learn and apply the competencies of the CRSJ model. The counselling field owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Collins for this significant contribution to teaching and learning about culturally responsive and socially just counselling. I encourage counsellor educators—from traditional, online, and hybrid programs—to incorporate the learning activities in this guide into their curriculum and transform their courses into exciting, dynamic learning environments where counsellor trainees are encouraged to think about solving problems in real-life counselling contexts and learning competencies relevant to the field.”
Podcasts
Great interviews by Dan Harris with a range of topics dealing with wellbeing, relationships, meditation and living life with integrity and mindfulness.
I have been listening to this podcast for 5 years. It led me to contacting their CEO, Dr. Linda Schubring. and engaging in several personal/professional coaching sessions based on my Clifton Strengths Assessment. I find their approach to leadership and building healthy organizational cultures authentic, practical and inspiring:
“The Leadership Vision Podcast is our show helping you build positive team culture. Our consulting firm has spent 25 years investing in teams so that people are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy.
It is our objective to shape a culture that intentionally aligns people around a Strengths philosophy. We believe that ultimately it is on a team where people gain insight into others while sharpening their own Strengths potential, capacity, and influence.”
Wonderful conversations with anonymous strangers. If you want to find ways to learn from people’s lived experience and treat all humans with curiosity and respect, Chris Gethard is your guy.
Tami Simon’s long running podcast that interviews fascinating writers, teachers, spiritual leaders, philosophers and poets.
Lovely new podcast by Dana Smith, life coach and healer, about wellbeing and living with alignment integrity.
“Join Dana and her guests as they look at the many facets of embodying whole human wellness in this achingly complex world.”
A Narrative Revolution: Conversations with Steve Gaddis
For anyone wanting to understand more about narrative therapy, these four podcast episodes are a potent introduction. They were recorded in the last weeks of Steve Gaddis’s life. He was a skilled narrative family therapist and instructor with the Narrative Therapy Initiative in Boston.
“Recorded in the final weeks of his life, the series explores themes from Steve’s unfinished book and shares how narrative ideas and practices helped him continue to live a life of joy and purpose after being diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
The Narrative Therapy Initiative is aligned with the principle that meaning-making through stories shapes lives, relationships, and communities. Our mission supports this Narrative Worldview and associated considerations of power in all relational and helping contexts.”
