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There’s a widespread view that strengthening local communities will be crucial in the years ahead, to help us all to live with increasing levels of disruption, e.g. to food supplies, utilities, weather patterns, and probably social cohesion. During a recent pilgrimage walk, I was slowly pondering how we can learn to live with the impacts of the climate crisis and the many other troubles of our times. The idea that is bubbling up for me is adaptive networks.
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Launching our Adaptive Communities project
Alan and his team have wide experience of community programmes through Seeding our Future and earlier projects. All this is now available through the new Adaptive Communities initiative, full details on the website here. What's on offer includes:
- A wide range of resources, know-how, research insights on the Seeding our Future website.
- Proven workshops and programmes, especially Future Conversations.
- Process design, training, and support for projects and delivery teams.
- Consultative workshops for individuals and community groups: a pilot event is happening in Hereford on October 15.
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How can we raise community resilience: research, reflections, riddles and more!
As the pressures on all of us keep rising, we can see mounting discord about best priorities and solutions. One of the few topics on which almost everyone agrees is that increasing the resilience of local communities is getting ever more vital. This has been a focus of my work since 2012, so I’m offering an overview of some of my insights.
As part of a project called Facing the 2020s, in 2012 I commissioned a substantial piece of action research on UK community resilience by Reos Partners, which included over thirty diagnostic interviews, extensive desk research, and exploratory workshops in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff with potential stakeholders, including national and local government, NGOs and community organisations. The main focus of this blog is the insights I gained from this research.
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Where are you? Where’s your community?
As the times get more confusing, mapping your situation becomes more important, and so does calibrating it. By this, I mean some kind of validation that helps you to feel that your view of your situation is realistic and appropriate. As Joanna Macy, creator of the Work that Reconnects, points out, the forces of capitalism keep telling us we’re alone and needy: we have to find our own ways of mutual support and calibration.
It’s my own desire for validation which has led me to devise the climate alarm-denial spectrum, as shown below. Although I think of my home town as a moderately progressive community, I’ve so far found only a handful of people who are in the same place as me on this spectrum.
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£9 inc p&p: 1 book
£15 inc p&p: 2 books
This offer applies to four of Alan's books:
- Not Fade Away: staying happy when you're over 64: The Baby Boomer guide to creative ageing, full of practical wisdom! More info here.
- The Find your gift in Work workbook: a self-help guide to get into work that really fulfils you. More info here.
- The Work Easy workbook: how to understand and shape your emotional, physical, inspirational and mental energy so you work more effectively and enjoyably. More info here.
- Out of the Woods: A Guide to Life for Men Beyond 50: Growing through the midlife crisis. Women have found it helpful too! More info here.
Offer available while stocks last. To order, contact Alan. You'll even get a free personal dedication!
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Events update
Soul Resilience Circle
Online group
Wed October 12, 7.30-9.00pm
If you are new to exploring soul insights, or want to go further, this group is a good opportunity. We will explore different ideas of what soul is, and ways to contact it, to find soul guidance about staying positive, connecting with joy, and finding our life purpose in these troubled times. Free of charge. Limited to 8 participants. If you would like to reserve a place, or want more details, contact Alan.
Hearts and Roots: adaptive communities in Herefordshire
Saturday October 15: Hereford 10-5pm
This is an exploratory space, inviting individuals and representatives of networks and organisations across Herefordshire to come together to consider the disruptions and opportunities of the next 5-10 years arising from climate change and other big issues of our times. We will use a range of processes to help us to feel into what's ahead for us and our communities, and explore practical responses for local communities and organisations, focussing on the topics we choose as a group. These could include nourishing community resilience, practical and emotional; local food supplies; decarbonisation; regeneration; and how to face into the combination of social and environmental issues.
Limited numbers: please book soon to be sure of a place. Cost £5 to cover venue hire and refreshments, concessions £2. Book via Eventbrite. Bring-and-share lunch. For any queries, please contact Alan Heeks.
Tailored Retreats in the Welsh Mountains
A tailored retreat means that an individual or small group choose their own dates for exclusive use of a magical small retreat centre in Wales. Alan will run a couple of sessions each day, tailoring the retreat to your issues and questions. You will have most of each day free for walks in the extraordinary surrounding landscapes, or just to rest and reflect. For more information, see here.
Alan is offering two themes for tailored retreats:
Natural Happiness retreats: Grow your wellbeing by learning from Nature
Soul Resilience retreats: How your core self can guide you through uncertainties
If you are interested in a tailored retreat, please contact Alan.
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This book is a must for anyone wanting to set up or join any kind of residential community, such as a cohousing group or back-to-the-land settlement. The author was editor of Communities magazine in the US for many years, and lives in a delightful ecovillage which I've visited. There are loads of books about community creation, but this stands out for its depth of experience and clarity of insights. It's also very relevant for most kinds of community projects, not just residential.
