COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT GUIDELINES
Preparing for the Live Sessions
When we convene in community, we acknowledge the work is larger than us. To honor the abundance and guidance that has brought us together, we invite you to prepare your environment for the session. Some ways to prepare might look like: having something to hydrate yourself, lighting a candle, keeping water nearby or smudging your space. We also invite you to read this text, Acknowledging First Narratives. This will serve as a guide and a way to engage in each of the live sessions.
Overview
To ensure that each person gets the most out of this experience, we recommend using the various aspects of the course’s digital infrastructure to engage with the course material, communicate with staff and dialogue with other participants. The headings below will guide you in terms of how to get a need met, meet others, contribute to discussions and ask the instructor questions regarding practical or theoretical components of the course. We invite you to experiment within these virtual sanctuaries and digital channels. Take some time to assess which ones work best for your learning style and your schedule. Our digital infrastructure is built to support busy people in a world that demands more of us. Remember to take your time.
Logistics
To get support with answering logistical questions, please reach out directly to Maria Tan at [email protected]. Reach out if you are having trouble accessing the Mighty Networks portal or experiencing Zoom-related difficulties. You can also reach out to discuss any issues concerning accessibility.
Virtual Access
We will meet live on Zoom Wednesday nights from May 17th to May 31st from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern Time. To access each session, just click on the link below. It is the same link for each session. We will also send email reminders with the link before each session.
Course Dates
May 17, 2023 6:30 - 9:00 PM
May 24, 2023 6:30 - 9:00 PM
May 31, 2023 6:30 - 9:00 PM
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Social Networks
Our course’s Mighty Networks and Marco Polo Group exists to build community and enable organic networking and discussion outside of our live Zoom sessions. Use these virtual spaces to explore the assigned course content with peers, to ask probing questions on the subject matter, and network with each other. This is optional.
Mighty Networks -- The mobile app helps to make chatting with others and responding to posts seamless.You can access the Mighty Network Circle directly through your computer HERE. You can also download mobile versions for Apple here and for Android here.
Community Agreements
Our goal is to provide a space that is as safe, brave and as inclusive as possible. We acknowledge that safety is relative and often not guaranteed in light of the complexity of our societal problems and unique social locations. In any group, there is always the potential for harm to happen and for conflict to emerge. Drawing on restorative principles, we step into this course ready to hold space for whatever emerges and engage difficult topics and emotions with care and resolve. We will lean into the discomfort that comes with exploring course content at a pace that honors everyone’s sense of dignity.
As we go through this course experience, we hold the reality that we are still navigating a global pandemic, in addition to the vivid manifestation of various forms of violence. As we explore course content, we will create space to process any relevant issues that are unfolding in society at-large as well. We view the course as a communal and emergent process, hence the topics and questions that surface throughout the live sessions will contribute to shaping the collective experience.
In regard to harmful comments and content, we are committed to keeping our community protected. We will remove harmful content from any of our digital platforms and will ensure that what is shared aligns with our commitment to creating a respectful space. Above all, we aspire to create a container that will support participants feeling a sense of vibrancy, belonging and flourishing. We hope that the agreements below will help us deepen our relationship to each other and to ourselves throughout this process.
Agreements
Be Gentle with Yourself and Others
Honor Privacy and Confidentiality
Honor Your Needs
Disagree Respectfully
Hold Space for One Another
Frankly, human affairs are often messy and bring up tension and trauma. Be mindful that participants may bring up things in collective and small group discussions that might be troubling, bothersome or challenging. We are all at different stages of our learning journey. If you are experiencing any difficulty with a discussion or moment and need one-on-one attention to restore a sense of groundedness, please reach out to Maria at [email protected] . She will assess your needs and call on supportive staff to engage in restorative measures.
Check-In & Alert System
If at any point during this course, you need additional social and emotional support, please use our check-in & alert system by simply CLICKING HERE.
WEEK ONE
Listening to the Frog: Healing Songs
We begin our course together by re-membering “storytelling” as a strength based healing modality. Our “first narratives” teach and remind us as a human family how to be human.
We invite you to presence yourself to the Acknowledging First Narratives text as a guide to engage in each session.
Guiding Prompts
Use the prompts below to reflect on course content and on the discussions that emerge during the live Zoom sessions. The prompts are framed to help with integrating learning, generating insight and deepening comprehension.
Prompt 1: I was struck by...
Prompt 2: I found myself wondering…
Prompt 3: I see a connection between what we are reading and discussing to…
Prompt 4: I would like to contribute to the conversation by…
Prompt 5: What did you notice emotionally, mentally, psychically and spiritually?
WEEK TWO
Somatic Storytelling
In week 2, we explore the question: what is medicine? Together we explore making medicines, taking inventory of our medicines somatically and on/with/around Mother Earth.
Guiding Prompts
Use the prompts below to reflect on course content and on the discussions that emerge during the live Zoom sessions. The prompts are framed to help with integrating learning, generating insight and deepening comprehension.
Prompt 1: I was struck by...
Prompt 2: I found myself wondering…
Prompt 3: I see a connection between what we are reading and discussing to…
Prompt 4: I would like to contribute to the conversation by…
Prompt 5: What did you notice emotionally, mentally, psychically and spiritually?
WEEK THREE
Retelling Our Creation Stories and Weaving our Blanket
In week 3, we invite you to prepare a story of your own to share in small groups. We will continue practicing the tools of storytelling, weaving a blanket, matrix. We will close out with a ceremony: memorial song, blanket.
Guiding Prompts
Use the prompts below to reflect on course content and on the discussions that emerge during the live Zoom sessions. The prompts are framed to help with integrating learning, generating insight and deepening comprehension.
Prompt 1: I was struck by...
Prompt 2: I found myself wondering…
Prompt 3: I see a connection between what we are reading and discussing to…
Prompt 4: I would like to contribute to the conversation by…
Prompt 5: What did you notice emotionally, mentally, psychically and spiritually?
Additional Resources
