Expectant

The Context

We know that the transition to parenthood is one of the biggest life transformations people experience in their lives. It can be a time of great excitement, and also a time of great fear. It’s a time when past traumas can either be healed, or, can unintentionally be passed on to the next generation. Connection to family, friends and community through relationships is a key part of supporting people as they become parents, so they don’t feel so alone. And so this prototype team has been interested in exploring how to find a way to connect with, and provide support for those people who may not have a supportive network of people around them as they make the transition into parenthood.

Relation to RECOVER’s Wellbeing Framework

Targeted Outcomes: connection to the sacred and to family, friends, and community

Tools/Levers: interactions & environment, and routines & repertoires

What We Did

This community-led prototype team -- which came together through one of RECOVER’s community workshops -- started with the idea of a baby box that could be used as a way to start forming relationships with people who might be able to provide expectant parents with the support they need: for example, doulas, front line workers, others parents and so forth. The box would contain a mixture of practical items for both the parents and the baby- to-be (like clothes and diapers for the baby; or a gift card for grocery delivery or house cleaning for the parents), but also items that may have emotional resonance for the parents-to-be (like a candle and prompts for meditation, or a journal). As the prototype team tested the idea with parents and front-line service workers, it became clear that while the items in the box are important, what’s more important is the potential for deeper connection that the items in the box could tap into.

Ultimately, this prototype was looking to more deeply understand how the items in the box could create a pathway or an entry point with parents-to-be who were interested in exploring “the soul space.” So that they could be supported on their journey towards fostering a sense of greater wellbeing in themselves.

As the prototype team continued its explorations through conversations with service organizations, together with a deep dive as a prototype team into more deeply understanding the wellbeing framework, a new narrative emerged.

Much of the work in the social services sector has been rooted in the notion of being trauma Informed. However, in understanding that the wellbeing framework is attuned towards assets, as opposed to deficits, the existing orientation of organizations towards being trauma Informed, further perpetuates notions of separation and othering. Seeing people primarily through their trauma narrows the possibilities available to both the service provider, and the person receiving services. As a result, this prototype team has begun to use the language of being healing Informed, where addressing grief and trauma is one step on the healing journey, but is not the destination in and of itself.

To test out this notion of influencing organizations towards being healing Informed, the prototype team offered two workshops for staff of the Candora Society. The first workshop was designed around introducing unlearning practices, to open up the space for staff to think about their challenges differently. The second workshop was designed around introducing the wellbeing framework.

What We Learned

The prototype team is learning that the notion of organizations and institutions moving from being trauma Informed, towards being healing Informed, has the potential to be transformational. Healing Informed Care has the potential to open up space for care to be done in reciprocal and relational ways, so that the power balance between the receiver of service and the practitioner of service can be more level. It opens up space to imagine different futures, one in which a person who has experienced trauma has healed, and is flourishing.

We’re also learning that in order for the wellbeing framework to really come alive for people, it helps to set the stage with opening rituals, and with conversations about what wellbeing means to people as individuals. For the prototype team’s second workshop with Candora, the team invited participants to come to the meeting “with an object that for you, represents wellbeing.” People brought an array of objects with them, each of which could be linked to at least one of the wellbeing outcomes. In addition, by playing The Good Life Game, workshop participants were able to reflect on the aspects of wellbeing that were meaningful for them. This opened up important space for the prototype team to introduce the wellbeing framework, provide a real life example of how the outcomes may be met or harmed through The Tale of Two Shelters, and then, provided staff the opportunity to reflect on how the outcomes may or may not be realized through their existing programming.

This aligns with what RECOVER staff have noticed about the ways in which they have been successful or unsuccessful in socializing the wellbeing framework with other groups and organizations, both internal to and external from the City. People on the whole are very receptive to the wellbeing framework. But unless intentional time is taken -- as was the case with Candora -- to explore it deeply and personally, it’s tricky for the framework to really come alive for people immediately in a way that would help them design their programs and services differently.

Where to From Here

Candora is considering how to incorporate the wellbeing framework into their work, including the organization’s evaluation framework. Staff at the Candora Society have also indicated that they are interested in hearing more about the original baby box idea, to see how the concept and ideas may be applicable to the work they do.