My Ecosystem of Good
Photo by Joanna Kosinska from Unsplash.
Thank you for giving me a little space in your mind and your heart today. This writing is meant to recognize the impact of others in my life, the impact I may have had in others lives, and part of a process allowing me to define and author a new moment in my life.
After nearly 8 years, my time at Face It TOGETHER has ended. Face It TOGETHER entered my life at another moment of transition. I got to apply my creative energy and knowledge to help redefine the often dehumanizing experiences people affected by addiction face every day.
I am grateful for my time at Face It TOGETHER. The people, the experiences, and the opportunities built life-long friendships, connections, and most importantly, resulted in work with measurably positive impact on people’s lives.
The impact will continue but in a different way.
Say hello to Commonly Well
I believe that wellbeing and a life of purpose should not be the experience of a few but common for all. Commonly Well’s mission is to power the pursuit of wellbeing and purpose.
Commonly Well has 4 guiding principles.
1. Wellbeing and purpose should not be the outliers for a few but common for all.
Why do some of us submit to our circumstances and languish aimlessly all our days while others seem to have a purpose and maximize the potential of every day lived? What does the latter know or have that the former does not? Is it about having and not having? Is it about finding and not finding? Is it a passive acceptance of things as they are, good or bad? Or is it because they way a system or environment is designed? No matter a person’s circumstances, everyone should have the opportunity and tools to engage in a path that leads to one’s purpose and promotes wellbeing.
2. We live in a poorly designed world. Better design = Better lives
The poor design of our communities and systems have resulted in traumatic and generational consequences. These built environments and systems create and amplify inequities in wellbeing and build barriers to the discovery of purpose and meaning. With greater intention and information, rooted in design thinking practices, we can construct better systems and communities that create and amplify equality and wellness.
3. Individual, subjective input is the foundation of a new social architecture.
Systemic inequities and barriers to wellbeing can be revealed through individual, subjective inputs and knowledge. We will do this through the Recovery Capital Index® (RCI). The RCI is one tool that gathers this subjective knowledge and arranges it in a responsive framework. By then engaging communities in a bottom-up collaboration and using social architecture approaches and behavioral design, the first-person data can inform a reimagined built environment. This process drives connections, experiences, and transformation. And with the right individual and collective tools, the pursuit of purpose and wellbeing will no longer be the exception for some but the common experience for all.
4. What you measure is what you can change.
All of us have some aspects of our life that we want to change or improve. Improving one’s wellbeing requires identification, information, action, learning, and discovery. This is a measurable framework. The most valuable measurements are in the process of change, not just a particular outcome. If we don’t quite get the outcome we want without measuring the process, we will never know why we missed our target. When we apply this framework at scale, we can imagine great transformation.
Commonly Well is a public benefit company. It’s a purpose and mission-driven for-profit. Public benefit companies or b-corporations harness the power of business, using profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for employees, communities, and the environment. By the end of the year, Commonly Well will be a certified B-Corp.
The initial activities of Commonly Well will be to expand the use of the Recovery Capital Index® (RCI). I created this validated survey instrument designed to track and measure wellbeing relative to addiction while at Face It TOGETHER. The RCI is flexible in its design and can be applied in healthcare to track social determinants, or within companies to help improve employee wellbeing.
The RCI is currently being used in addiction treatment and recovery settings and will soon be the central measurement in a research project.
If you’d like to know more about the RCI, visit the website or schedule a call today.
“I see life as a passageway, with no fixed beginning or destination. We tend to focus on the destination all the time and forget about the in-between spaces.” - Do Ho Suh, Architect
How Can I Help You?
A skill I continuously exercise is deep thought. Most of the time this involves 3 actions: reading and/or thinking, question asking, and solution sketching. I’d like to apply this skill to a problem you are thinking about or that you or your organization is currently working on.
I am hosting 50-minute charrette’s for anyone for free for the rest of 2020.
What’s a charrette? Any collaborative session in which a group of designers or stakeholders drafts a solution to a problem.
Maybe you’re stuck on a problem or project. Or maybe you would like to have an outsider take a fresh look at your project. No problem is too big or too small.
How Can You Help Me?
There are three ways you can help me.
Could the Recovery Capital Index help your organization, program, or community? Schedule a call to discuss or share the website with someone you think will benefit from the tool.
I’m open to new opportunities. Here’s my LinkedIn profile. If you think I can add value to your team or project, connect or let someone know about me.
Sign up for my newsletter ー The Pursuit. This is a twice monthly email featuring writings and practices designed to help you cultivate your purpose and improve your wellbeing. If you’re already signed-up - thanks! - but consider telling one friend.
Extending My Gratitude
As I author this transition, I am thinking about all the people who have contributed to my pursuit of purpose and wellbeing. They — you — are part of my ecosystem of good. You provide a well of support, knowledge, and ideas that I tap into to better my life and the lives of those around me. Thank you for being part of my ecosystem of good.