Facing Human Wrongs: Unsettling Wellness

"This course helped me expand my personal capacity for bearing truths and tolerating uncertainty. The invitation to keep slowing down feels like a gift at this fast time.

This course walked the walk, as in the facilitators modeled group participation, vulnerability, and learning in public real-time. Super organic and compassionate frame, the group felt held and supported. It was cool to sit with uncertainty together, made the awfulness less awful.

Learning and unlearning together in this well-held, thoughtful community, I felt stronger and a little braver after each session. It's like a group workout; there have been hard, sweaty moments, but I always felt better and more bonded having shown up."

—KB

"It's hard to overstate the impact that this course and the vision of the GTDF collective has had on me in a very short period of time. While I was embarrassed by the degree of emotional upwelling that was happening to me in front of the group, I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to explore this vulnerability with the support of people who were not trying to soothe the experience, and instead were helping me observe it with a tender but critical perspective. The combination of exposure to the enriching material, along with the connection to the facilitators and the group helped me calibrate myself to a new way of relating to the guilt, fear, and confusion that arises when I consider the impacts of modernity on the earth. I am so thankful to have this opportunity and I am looking forward to continuing to work with the collective. I wish there was some way to contribute more. Thank you so much Chelsea, Stacey, Avery and Jaya."

"I think folks should consider the course if they:"

1. already feel 'unsettled' in their work (based on a deeper sense of cognitive dissonance, moral conflict/injury, the systemic, complex problems they are up against, etc., not just 'my work isn't a good fit')
2. feel that this sense of instability is connected to a wider instability (in the community, both local and global, the economy, and the ecology; as it exists in the past, present, future)
3. you recognize that a reactive response may simply reproduce more of the same; you are look deeper for responses that go beyond the habitual or superficial fixes.

"You may already have a penchant for looking deeply into yourself, and the system/culture you are a part of, and recognize the need for deep healing. To those struggling with the resistance and discomfort that comes inevitably towards the middle/end (for me it really hit me around Unit 6) I would offer these thoughts: stay where you are, trust that there is value in being stuck. This is not a wrong turn! You have not made a mistake, you didn't screw up and in fact, it is to be expected (others have come before you)."

"A helpful question might be: how might getting lost be an important part of the journey? Also, for those (like me) who tend to lean on their intellectual strength, and their capacity for reading and processing large amounts of information (this failed me numerous times!), it is important to understand this course demands a different kind of engagement and work—ask yourself whether knowing something (propositional knowing) is the same as somatically experiencing it (perspectival/participatory 'knowing')?"

"Finally, I would add that at some point you may become disillusioned, disappointed, and even disgusted at the notion of wellness and self-care, especially your own. Turn this notion over in your mind, explore it, nurture it. Know that you cannot abandon it. You may have to reconfigure self-care for yourself, but be careful not to throw it out. You will need self-care more than ever, and in ways that you may not have previously considered. This is one of the great gifts of the course."

"That being said, it was important for me to know my allies (protectors even), my supports and resources. One thing that has always been very helpful for me are various somatic practices: walking, dancing, singing (or even yelling) and various other creative gestures. I would have liked to have seen more of this in the course. It has been quite a ride and I am grateful that the course and the work helped me move something that needed to move. The work isn't done for me, but I am inspired by what I have learned and seen in everyone."

—JL

"Thank you again for this journey. In all honesty I felt genuinely challenged and unsettled and this was the idea. I am not sure if I will remember the unsettled ness later in my life as something changing and I guess I was hoping for that without to much effort from my side. I am modernity."

—BD

"This course brought into focus concerns that I had been experiencing for some time in my care work and also opened my eyes to different layers of the problems at hand. Although the course doesn't presume to offer concrete answers, I am left with a sense of having a greater capacity to be the kind of care worker/human being that I wish to be."

"When I read the course description, I could not 'not take the course.' I am inclined to think that if each person who comes to the course website listens inwardly and also outwardly, asking, 'What is mine to do?' they'll know if this is the right time for challenge and unsettling for them."

"As I moved through the material, there were points at which I felt disgusted with the current state of care work, alienated from colleagues who are not engaging in the kind of reflection the course offers, and a little helpless. One of the course guides advised us that this was normal and that we would feel better over time. And indeed, I am ending the course feeling strengthened by the material. I could not have engaged with the resources without the support from attending the class meetings and arranging to be part of an independent study group...and encourage anyone who takes the course in the future to be sure to lean on a community of inquiry."

—NJ

"I became more aware of my complicity in the harm of my profession (therapy) and how the nature of my work helps keep modernity in place especially through the focus on self. In my sessions with clients I am really trying to connect the harms of modernity to people's individual struggles (through the influence of the course). I am painfully aware of how sitting in a room with one person exploring their individual pain is not how we are wired to heal, though it is helpful too."

"I'm so grateful to you all for creating this course. I was hungry for it and felt held in what I struggle with in my work by a group of people. I really appreciated watching you all work together so kindly and fluidly. I appreciated the time/space to listen and speak to what is moving through me in relation to what I learned/unlearned. I have been moved to look for other ways to support composting in people (maybe community grief/art work?), and I think I am a little more aware of just being with people as a way to compost and not trying to fix them."

"I am opening to seeing my arrogance in new ways—how it tries to protect my sense of worthlessness and keeps me from experiencing complexity and being able to hold it in my relationships. I am more aware of my bus passengers that are therapists—it's only glimpses right now. They are really good at taking over and driving the bus especially at work and I'm starting to see how they carry modernity into the room—my 'expertness/arrogance' and trying to fix mostly."

"I think when I started the course I thought I'd get more 'answers' on how to bring this work into therapy and of course it was not like that. I had to move the information through my body and feel it shift me. Thanks for holding true to that pedagogy."

—JB

"For me this course is a rare opportunity to explore the challenges of the modern world with stark honesty and vulnerability. If you are desperate for authenticity, you may quickly realize you have come to the right place. If you are craving authenticity but fearful of what the consequences may be, I wish you courage and offer you encouragement to follow your heart! If you are hoping to resolve anxiety or depression I think the GTDF collective has better advice than I can offer, and I hope you find what you need."

"During meetings I was often embarrassed by what I shared with the group. It felt messy and inarticulate and exposed shortcomings in my character. When things got hard, I remembered my entanglement with the universe. Perhaps all my angst and shortsightedness was like stinking bacteria feeding the soil where something green and beautiful would be growing someday. When things got hard I tried to remember not to shrink from this moment and to allow the discomfort to move through me so that I can learn what it means to 'compost' the shit of my personal mistakes and our collective mistakes. And sometimes when it was hard, I bailed out and numbed myself with some fun distraction and thought to myself that a good compost has to have a bit of humour and joy mixed in."

—BS