The key to wellness and being able to flourish in life is to go forward with hope in our heart and with our feet on the ground, so says my dear friend, and long-time fellow-traveller in human flourishing research and practice, Dr David Reilly.  ‘Being able to have a deep trust in ourselves no matter what life sends our way is at the heart of what it means to thrive, not just survive’.

This rings true and is hard as we find ourselves in these tough times with ever increasing pressures and threats to our individual and collective humanity, planetary health, and wellbeing. Many, including International Futures Forum with whom I’ve worked extensively, are calling this the decisive decade, if not now when? 
What’s to be done, how to respond and foster that deep trust in ourselves?

Finding myself at this inflection point too, both personally and professionally, I’ve taken some time recently to reflect on this question, meeting with like hearted people for good coffee and conversation – fika. Taking some of my own coaching and mentoring medicine – listening to what life is calling for and asking how best to offer the experience and skill that I’ve developed over a career in public and third sectors; policy and practice in humanising health and care; and public health policy, research, and practice. 
How best to contribute with others in addressing the interconnected crises? 

This brings me to today, launching my new website to reach out, and hopefully make it easier for people to find me, to connect, to understand the support and services that I can provide.

At the core of my offer is the opportunity to listen, to hear what people are grappling with, and then work together to identify next steps:

– perhaps a desire to strengthen capability and grow understanding of transformative innovation and systems change approaches 

– perhaps a sense of being and doing more as a person in a leadership position, with people in teams and in larger organisational cultures

– perhaps a need to build a sense of hope and agency, to feel more sure footed in uncertain times.

‘Systems change and transformative approaches’ have become a kind of go-to in organisational and leadership circles. I find myself often asking
what do we mean by this and how accessible and useful are these ideas?  

Sara Redmond, a third sector leader that I work with recently shared a piece from the Stanford Social Innovation Review. This really inspired me as it emphasises the importance of the relational work of systems change: 

Collective impact efforts must prioritize working together in more relational ways to find systemic solutions to social problems.

This gives me hope and echoes my own approach in working with people, teams and organisations wishing to build capabilities and invest shared energies to strengthen emergent, relational, system transformation approaches. 

Sometimes we lose sight of a simple truth about systems:
They are made up of people.

If my approach chimes with you, please get in touch.

Cath