A Message to our Community

Centering on people’s deep drives for individual and collective wellbeing is particularly important in times of uncertainty, transition, and crisis, particularly when people are vulnerable.  

Times like now. 

For some of us, this moment is deeply disorienting. For others, it is catastrophic; as the exquisitely balanced arrangement of finances, childcare, work and more comes crashing down when shifts are cancelled and nonexistent sick time is required. Across the board, COVID-19 is upending people’s ability to meet core needs for wellbeing.

A Wellbeing Orientation helps us redesign institutional and social structures and our individual interactions, carving out new pathways for people to experience some sense of connection, stability, safety, mastery and meaningful access to relevant resources in ways that conform with public health and medical advice. Without this, people won’t sustain changed behavior. With this, it’s possible to flatten the curve. 

FFI has done a Wellbeing analysis internally to systematically identify where we need to shift structurally and where our team members need support holding on to wellbeing assets in times of uncertainty. It’s made many hard changes smoother. We are all working remotely, and our whole staff came together (virtually) to pivot into using a wellbeing orientation to help partners and communities respond to this moment. We’re changing our sick time policy so our team can do what they need to to get and provide care for themselves and loved ones in a crisis that may go on for quite a while; we’re acutely aware that school closings and care for sick, immunocompromised or older loved ones when everyone is stuck at home challenges traditional notions of productivity, and we’re going to learn with—not at the expense of—our team how to make all this work. 

We’re pivoting into supporting partners’ responses to COVID-19 in communities already struggling with resource depletion and safety concerns. Whether guidance on how to support direct service staff in working remotely (hint: ID’ing how the workplace meets people’s needs for wellbeing can inform what additional structures need to be set up for people to work remotely), or communicating to reduce the stress of uncertainty, or tapping the knowledge of constituents who have had to navigate sudden reductions in access to wellbeing through incarceration or displacement—there’s a lot to build on. 

We’re adding new webinars, pushing out bite-sized content (see below for a few tastes), and more. We’re responding to requests for guidance from managers of large systems and community agencies; from parents in using a wellbeing orientation to think about how to stay sane working from home when your kids are also home from school; and from advocates in mitigating the tradeoffs of closing schools and other institutions that are vital for feeding kids. 

We have the capacity to work with people and groups beyond our current partners and want to hear from you what would be most useful—join us during open office hours, or email Tanya Tucker, Chief of National Partnerships and Outreach, at tanya@fullframeinitiative.org to set up a video chat for another time.

The best way to keep abreast of new materials and offerings is to follow us on social media—use the links at the bottom of this email. We’ll send out e-blast digests as well. In the last two weeks, conversations with dozens of partners have informed the generation of materials we’ll release throughout the crisis; we want to talk to you, too, to ensure we’re directing our attention and resources where they are needed most. So be in touch. 

Onward!

Katya Fels Smyth