Enrol Yourself_Learning Marathon showcase_Power Lab 1 2018

showcase Therapeutic, not therapy

Create social impact

Owning our stories

Explore, celebrate ‘home’ Learner experience design

Be more human

Community Love Power Friendship, community, belonging

Save your attention

Brave Bedside Stories Joy in struggle

power lab

Jan 2019

12 strangers with 12 different questions. 6 months (26 weeks) exploring. One key theme: power.

26 weeks ago a dozen people planted a dozen seeds, in the form of ‘learning questions’ based on themes around social impact leadership, home, therapy, learner experience design, our digital lives and being human.

Since then we’ve been growing these seeds alongside one another, into projects, ventures, meetups, podcasts, toolkits, artworks, ways of being and more. Now the Learning Marathon is drawing to a close, but a new chapter is just starting to unfurl.

Power Lab Learning Marathon Conversation starters Over the past 6 months, we’ve all discovered some magic.

Each of us has something to share with you.

Come and ask us...

Edith Whitehead How can understanding the power of stories make me a better storyteller?

Ellie Osborne How can we reach outside and connect beyond the walls of our perceived boxes?

Adrien Fabre How to cultivate social impact leadership?

Individually and collectively.

Un Jeong Ko How can I be both ‘at home’ and ‘in between’?

Berta Rojals Pons

How can I be a better Learner Experience Designer?

Class of January 2019 Kalliste Kuhn What is therapeutic that is not therapy?

Amber Dobinson How can I connect families with babies or toddlers in hospital so that their stories can create peer-led support?

Stella McKenna How can I create or curate more community, belonging and friendship in my life?

Sharmin Ahammad

How can I help people have a more balanced relationship with the internet?

Mila Aliana How can communities harness the power that united them, to keep them together for longterm self-sustenance?

David Heinemann How can we better connect with ourselves, each other and the planet?

Edith Whitehead Question I leave with:

How can understanding the power of stories make me a better storyteller?

A fellow Powerlabber asked me “But where are you in all this? in your question?” Now I can’t see where my question stops and where I begin.

www.edithwhitehead.com @probablyedith www.inprogress.life @lifein.progress edithgwhitehead@gmail.com

Question I came with: What is good storytelling, and how can it be used to challenge and empower?

Life in Progress A space for experimental, collaborative storytelling - seeking to explore stories amongst the power structures that impact them, and tell stories that can challenge that.

Representation isn’t enough.

This is about ownership.

Features In-depth interviews with badass individuals to discover and share stories that shaped them.

Zine Co-Creation Creative sessions where participants create inspired by the stories they wish they’d had growing up Community Storytelling Mapping areas through the stories of locals to challenge cultural/geographical stereotypes

This is Maiya in our first zine session. We teamed up after an interview to run sessions where people created stories they wish they had heard as kids.

I’m looking for: An audience for all the stories I’ve collected so far! Sign up, people!

People to collab with. Places to continue to run these three things in and develop more! Community groups and organisations to try out more collaborative storytelling ideas with across the UK.

Interviewee #26 - Thomas.

Stranger when we started, friend by the time we’d finished.

Dear 2009 Edith, Hello from 2019!

You’re 24. You live in London, doing things that really matter. People really respect and listen to what you have to say. The furies you feel about the injustices in the world lay the foundations for a beautiful, eclectic career, and opportunities to befriend people as curious, sensitive, and excited by the world as you are. Hang tight, aite?

Be careful about the stories you tell yourself and let other people tell you.

You’re going down a path of hating yourself, and where you’re from.

That’s not your story. The story of you and your roots is one of love and boldness. Of being unconventional.

The damaging way you have been shaped by stories that seek to limit you and make you feel different and inadequate will make you stronger through that struggle to be free of them.

I’m not gonna lie, it gets even harder than it feels right now. I can’t tell you not to pretend to fit in, be ‘normal’ or ‘proper’ though it feels so unlike you.

You’ll find the right explanations for your story’s plot. You’ll lose yourself a bit, but you’ll find your way back like heroes always do. You’ll learn the words that describe why your brain works a bit differently, and why it makes it hard to be you sometimes.

You’ll meet so many people who also find gender and sexuality a bit

bonkers. You’ll dig out those hidden childhood photos, dressed as a boy, and show them proudly to your friends, because you were saying “fuck you” to gender norms before you hit puberty. You won’t believe the characters coming your way (I cannot stress this enough mate, you have so many brilliant friends as an adult it’s almost a chore to keep up with them all), and the things you will do when you make peace with yourself.

I know you’re going to silence yourself a bit. You think you’re doing yourself a favour, I get that. It might be what you need to survive right now.

But when you open the floodgates and start to tell your stories, you’ll be amazed who’s willing to listen.

Big love little one, Edi (you can pull this nickname off now) P.S - read Audre Lorde ASAP mate. Her words will do you a lot of good.

Interviewee #13 - Gary. “I can’t remember what this is about but I know I said yes because it’s you that’s doing it”

Ellie Osborne Question I leave with:

How can we reach outside and connect beyond the walls of our perceived boxes?

“What makes us human?�

Explorations posed by my learning question captured on a scroll

Question I came with: How can a deeper understanding of being human enable me to live a more meaningful life and help others do the same?

hmnknd.tumblr.com @hmn.knd agentyou.org el.elosborne@gmail.com

HMN.KND Experiments in kindness.

Creative and delightful ways to spread kindness through people and their networks.

Enriching the quality of our relationships to see how many humans kindness can reach.

Agent You What will you be when you grow up?

An adventure to explore your next steps in work and life.

Discover purpose, power and your place in the world.

The best way to predict your future is to invent it.

Human rights A list of ‘human rights’ to help me experience new ways of doing and being in the world.

Building a map of seemingly opposing spectrums and dualities I can feel suspended between at any moment.

Prototype #2 of Agent You, a quest to help people explore purpose and agency.

At the heart of my learning question was a desire to live a more meaningful life. I thought this meant setting off on a marathon to seek meaningful work.

26 weeks on, I have hacked through unexpected territories, trodden untrodden tracks, waded through a metaphorical swamp, hiked up metaphorical mountains (plus a real hill or two), and explored a triptych of paths - where I was the intersection between the three: What makes me human?

This path led me on a deep inquiry into myself and my soul. It has shown me the power in vulnerability. I have a more detailed map of the spectrum of my humanness. I know more about the limits and the rights I create for myself.

This has been a catalyst to think beyond them and expand my experience of life.

As this inquiry continues I intend to develop tools, models to help others locate themselves on their individual human spectrum.

On this marathon I have discovered new contexts and modes where I find meaning; being in partnership, playfully challenging stigmas, nurturing others to grow.

HMN.KND logo designs

Deepening the quality and meaning in my relationships This path slowed me down. The pace of the lives we lead creates a layer of noise that stops us truly appreciating those around us. To make a gift for someone is to press pause and appreciate them for a moment.

HMN.KND started out making small cards for a few special people. It started a ripple effect, which I hope to turn into a wave that gathers momentum powered by kindness as it spreads through my networks.

With each HMN.KND experiment I find new delights in creating different forms of invitation and experience, of giving and receiving kindness, and watching them unfold.

Helping people understand themselves and navigate their way in the world.

This path overlapped with another enroller’s. It’s been fun to have a companion to run alongside. The result is Agent You. We have run two prototypes with intrepid agents and wayfarers. Iteration continues and new quest dates are set for 2019.

Looking back, I can see a beautiful view of all the landscapes these paths have lead me through. They have reopened chapters in my story that I once thought closed, opened up new blank pages to write. I step over the finish line with a deeper understanding of my human self, what really matters to me, and a new sense of ‘I can’. It’s time to pause and take in that view for a moment before I step onto a new square of the map.

I’m looking for: • Agents who want to go on a quest to explore their future.

• Curious beings, keen to spread kindness to those in their world.

A kindness card for a new friend. Day 3 of an early experiment that evolved into HMN.KND ‘Like a chain letter, but better’

Adrien Fabre Question I leave with:

How to cultivate social impact leadership?

Individually and collectively.

Sharing the story, inviting feedback.

Question I came with: How to cultivate social impact leadership?

itakepart.org adrien@itakepart.org facebook.com/itakepart.org/ twitter.com/ItakepartOrg

I take part Itakepart.org is a social innovation lab to cultivate social impact leadership.

A space to focus, grow and connect with other passionate individuals. A moment to strive as an individual and as a collective towards social justice. A playground to be ourselves, to embrace our integrity.

A co-created programme, 3 months, 5 individuals and myself, 5h+ per week, no limits. An invitation to embark on a journey towards holistic performance and social impact leadership.

Itakepart.org. Grow. Focus. Connect.

Scientists are warning humankind, we are going extinct, we are responsible.

Yes, we are, as individuals and as a collective. I am feeling this urgency and responsibility.

12 years ago, I was living in a small town in southern France. I was studying vocational electronics and working in food processing factories.

I started noticing inconsistencies in life, I wanted to push my own limits.

I studied in India and Russia, I got a Masters in Business Engineering.

I nurtured my own perspectives through crossing social levels, borders, languages and careers.

Individuals using entrepreneurship and design thinking to do social good inspired me. I explored the social innovation ecosystem and considered what might be my role in it. I met hundreds of social entrepreneurs.

These encounters inspired me to create my own project. I learned and

Showing my journey as an explorer.

created a social impact lab to cultivate social impact leadership. But I felt stuck because my personal situation was not sustainable. So I joined Enrolled Yourself.

In the EY program, I was able to question my perspectives, my drive and focus at a deeper level.

My learning question evolved, and became “How to cultivate social impact leadership? As an individual and as a collective.� I found how the individual aspect of this quest for social impact matters. I gathered answers and noticed variations in its meaning. I tried to be clearer, a leader is someone who is stepping forward for the common good. He perseveres to make things works, finding the balance between art and science, or love and power. Answers shown that bold leaders wished they would have been bolder, and started earlier.

As a result, I explored what gaps existed to educate individuals who want to start creating social impact. I also dug into self-discipline practices

for leaders, and experimented with them myself. The collective leadership of the Yellow Vests social justice movement in France resonated to me.

It confirmed that anyone can step forward.

These insights have inspired me to design a programme: itakepart.org.

The goal is to co-create the program with a small group of people for 3 months whereby we will set ablaze the social impact leadership spark inside us. The co-creation of an educational path where we can grow, focus and connect. An invitation to be bold, to persevere, to nurture our ability to start and sustain a movement.

I’m looking for: I am looking for individuals willing to embark on a journey for social impact, to contribute from inside or outside of this journey.

I am also on a path to become software developer, I am looking for fellows focused on social justice.

Un Jeong Ko Question I leave with:

How can I be both ‘at home’ and ‘in between’?

Making a mini accordion book in the Project Home Office session

Question I came with: How far is it possible to build a meaningful, connected, socially impactful life that is also in-between, uprooted and transitional?

unjeongo@gmail.com medium.com/@unjeongko facebook.com/projecthomeoffice @projecthomeoffice

Project Home Office ‘Project Home Office’ provides a creative space in which you can explore the notion of ‘home’ with others, express your emotions and reflect on your journey.

We host you somewhere you feel comfortable: usually at home, or perhaps at the office. By facilitating meaningful conversations and opening up opportunities for creative expression, ‘Project Home office’ aims to celebrate and understand the diverse experiences and perceptions of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’.

The first Project Home Office prototype

A set of handmade cards for myself

I’ve been living in London for more than 5 years now. After so many years living away from my home country, I asked myself if I wanted to return to South Korea, but I wasn’t sure if it was what I really wanted at that time.

Six months ago I set myself a deadline - I was going to give myself half a year to choose between South Korea and London. First, though, I wanted to give myself dedicated time and space to reflect and explore what ‘home’ really meant to me. That’s when I discovered Enrol Yourself.

Whilst I was initially interested in exploring the wider societal implications of living a meaningful, in-between and impactful lifestyle, my learning question quickly became deeply personal. I explored myself through conversations, coaching and creative expression; the journey was heartfelt, unravelling many layers of my story. Most of all, I learnt to be at peace, embrace whatever I feel, and not force anything.

My reflections led me to devise a project called the ‘Project Home Office’, a creative space allowing me to explore the notion of ‘home’ with others, express emotions and reflect on our respective, personal journeys. I came up with this idea whilst creating a set of handmade cards for myself, externalising emotions and thoughts by bringing out questions from deep inside my heart and writing intuitive answers to them.

I have learnt through my Enrol Yourself journey that home is a deeply subjective concept lodged in one’s heart, mind and dreams; yet, paradoxically, it is also wrapped up in bureaucracy, laws and red tape.

To live in a foreign country is to feel this particularly keenly: access to a safe home feels like it should be an inalienable human right, yet it can feel out of reach for those who are leading transient lives and being forced to tick

boxes to prove that they ‘belong’.

My six-month deadline has passed now, but I will continue to search for different ways to live between the things I love and care about without committing to one place or another.

Meanwhile, I will carry on with the Project Home Office, celebrating people’s journeys across different countries and cities. In contrast with the UK government’s ‘Home Office’, the project will celebrate the beautiful and unique stories and pathways that we all follow in seeking a place that we can call ‘home’.

I’m looking for: ‘Project Home Office’ is still at an early stage so I welcome any feedback and/or interest in hosting a space, co-facilitating a two-hour to half-day workshop, or participating in future sessions.

Project Home Office logo

Berta Rojals Pons Question I leave with:

How can I be a better Learner Experience Designer?

Finally the dots connected!

Question I came with: How having had an amazing school experience can help me design great learning experiences for others?

brojalspons@gmail.com twitter: @berbenatrampoli

My own lifelong learning experience Learner Experience Design is a relatively new field that requires an understanding of different areas, such as pedagogy, neuroscience, design thinking and user experience design. As a former primary school teacher with recent training in UX design, for the last 6-months I have been connecting the dots and exploring further the different pieces of LXD to keep developing myself as a Learner Experience Designer.

Trello action to plan my learning programme

Feeling dancing for the first time in a long time

Learner Experience Design (LXD) is the process of creating and delivering opportunities for effective and engaging learning experiences, which require an understanding of pedagogy, neuroscience, design thinking and user experience design.

Since I couldn’t find a learning programme already designed where I could enroll to, I decided to create my own path to keep developing myself as a Learner Experience Designer, finding out which areas I feel more interested in and gaining knowledge or skills I feel I lack.

With a first reflection about the reason why I am into education, I realised that my primary school experience had had a very positive impact on me, and it’s probably one of the main reasons why few years ago I decided to be a primary school teacher and, more recently, shift into UX to focus on designing digital learner experiences.

I still remember the exact moment when I learned how to multiply, the delight that listening to read-aloud stories gave me, how much fun we had when the whole school spent an entire month working on a specific project and we didn’t have regular lessons, we would choose what to do each day.

I also realised that despite I enjoyed many of the subjects that required reading, writing, design thinking, even memorising, I actually hated activities related to movement and sports, such as coordination, body awareness, even dancing.

There was one particular activity which I specially struggled to learn: swimming. A part from the school swimming lessons, I spent uncountable Saturdays and many summers taking extra lessons. After years of effort and even tears, I finally

Swimming struggles

learned how to swim, but I haven’t really swam again since then. When I go to the beach I am the good friend that stays to keep an eye to the towels, just going to the water to soak my toes. This is probably what I would call a “learning block”, the theme of the showcase activity that you can try today.

My journey in the last six months alongside 11 amazing individuals has been an absolute delight and helped me reflect on what I would like to do in my career, both in the long and the short term. It encouraged me to continue the habit of lifelong learning, and to enjoy the value of peer learning to do so.

I’m looking for: Anyone interested in LXD and lifelong learning, I would love to have a chat!

Kalliste Kuhn Question I leave with:

What is therapeutic that is not therapy?

A learning marathon milestone Therapeutic. The podcast.

Question I came with: How might international mental health practitioners, living but not registered in the UK, continue to use their skills to meaningfully contribute to their communities?

@therapeutic_not_therapy kalliste.kuhn@gmail.com

Theraputic.

Therapeutic is a podcast which chronicles the incredible stories of people who have overcome emotional hardship or mental health challenges through doing something that wouldn’t traditionally be considered as a therapeutic intervention. In an effort to answer the question “What is therapeutic that is not therapy?” these episodes tell the stories of those who have found hope and healing in unexpected places, whether it be through board games, psychedelic ceremonies, or answering a learning question with a group of strangers.

Therapeutic is supported by a website which allows listeners routes to access these adventures, removing the barriers to entry traditionally associated with therapy.

My Enrol yourself journey has served as my own answer to the question “what is therapeutic that is not therapy?”.

When I started I felt lost. I was confronted with the reality that the thing which I had spent forever training to do was not an option for me anymore (I worked as a psychologist before immigrating to the UK where I now work in learning and development). I was losing purchase, and losing myself. And I was lonely. So, I decided to do something about it and I found Enrol Yourself.

My question, shared with 12 strangers: “How might international mental health practitioners, living but not registered in the UK, continue to use their skills to meaningfully contribute to their communities?”. At that point I had no idea how institutionalised my question was, how institutionalised I was. I felt my identity was slipping because my qualification was. It was only through these 12 strangers, and Feedback as a gift.

their beautiful gifts of, kindness, openness, support, critique and feedback that I soon realised this.

Through researching, discovering, creating and sharing I discovered that my powerlessness lay in my limited question. So what did I really care about? What made the old stuff so good, and what could I capture not only for myself but for others in the now? The answer - healing. I wanted to understand how different people have healed outside the system which raised me but could often have many barriers to entry. Traditional therapy grapples with costs, stigma and accessibility in its efforts to help people heal. I wanted to make this growth accessible to all and inspiring to all.

My research during this project resulted in a beautiful collation of varied answers to my question.

Although common themes emerged across these answers i.e. agency, making something and re-authoring stories, I wanted to help tell these incredible stories, and so the podcast was born. This is supported by a website which in turn gives listeners the ability to access these activities for themselves.

This brings me full circle. Through this process I have been able to break my isolation, build meaningful friendships, and find purpose in helping myself and in being a conduit

Growing together - an answer to my question

to helping others. I have learnt inumerable new things and I will be ever-grateful for this transformative opportunity, which for me has been therapeutic but has not been therapy.

I’m looking for: Guests for the podcast with powerful stories of healing through unconventional means. I am also open to any introductions to great initiatives that people have launched with the hope of healing and recovery for others outside of more formal therapeutic interventions.

Amber Dobinson Question I leave with:

How can I connect families with babies or toddlers in hospital so their stories can create peer-led support?

Freddie crawling around a hospital cot. The sock he’s wearing on his hand is to stop him pulling the cannula out (a tube inserted into a vein).

Question I came with: How might we help improve the support for parents of babies or young children who are dealing with severe childhood illness and/ or bereavement?

www.bravebedsidestories.co.uk hello@bravebedsidestories.co.uk @bravebedsidestories on Instagram

Brave Bedside Stories • Activity & memory making kits for families in hospital • Photo and story sharing Illustrations for the Brave Bedside Stories activity kits.

• Online peer-led support Brave Bedside Stories is a peer-led initiative for families with babies and toddlers in hospital. Our letterbox-friendly activity kits are available to post or gift to families and have been beautifully designed with love and kindness.

The kits contain ideas for hospital-based photo taking and memory making, play prompts for little hands and handmade gifts to uplift and inspire weary families.

In time, I’ll be planning longer term peer-support for families too.

Brave Bedside Stories logo

As the outcome of my Learning Marathon I’m proud to have begun Brave Bedside Stories. My hope is that this initiative can create an online home for chains of tiny love stories (via photos, words or pictures) shared and told by families in hospital, for others like them.

My own experiences of being in hospital with our little tot Freddie have helped me to design the Brave Bedside Stories activity kits. It can be a terrifying and isolating experience and I wanted to make something I’d love to have been given. Up all night with my phone for company, I didn’t see my type of parenthood reflected back at me. In those moments I wished for better-fitting support for families like ours. That wish slowly became my learning question.

My family story is complex: Freddie had a devastatingly short life because he died suddenly and unexpectedly near his 1st birthday. We miss him every single day.

Brave Bedside Stories has grown from (always) being Freddie’s mummy and fiercely wanting more support to exist for other families.

Memories of our son are our own tiny love stories – but we could have been encouraged to make more of them whilst in hospital. Memory making can happen anywhere, but in hospital it’s often put on hold until a ‘better’ moment. I would love to see less of a focus on ‘getting home’ and more encouragement for parents to bein-the-moment. For some, hospital may be the place most, or sadly all, memories with our children are made.

This time should be valued far more.

As part of my showcase I’m sharing photographs documenting Freddie’s hospital-days. This is a mini exhibition that I hope, in time, will travel and grow though peer contributions.

It’s not often understood that in hospitals parents remain the primary carer of a baby or toddler - nurses and doctors play their part brilliantly, but parents are very much left holding the baby. Amidst tests and tears, keeping little hands occupied is tough. Tots don’t stop moving because they’ve had a seizure, have breathing difficulties or a tiny ticker that needs help. My kits contain play and activity suggestions plus ideas for simple pictures to take on a phone, helping to reduce the stress of these moments.

The ‘brave bear’ illustration for Brave Bedside Stories is inspired by Freddie’s hospital adventures.

I’m delighted to be at a stage to begin sending Brave Bedside Stories kits to other families to use. I’d love to show you my ideas so please come and be part of the story.

I’m looking for: •

Ongoing co-production with families and professionals.

•

Collaborations with charities and hospital trusts.

•

Fundraising and start-up support.

•

Artists and makers.

Amber and her son Freddie.

Stella McKenna Question I leave with:

How can I create or curate more community, belonging and friendship in my life?

Question I came with: How might a community of women support each other to maximise their individual & collective impact on social issues?

Sharing & holding space with remarkable new friends

stellamckenna@hotmail.co.uk @stellamcleodmckenna

EY Friendship Personal Ads Research has shown that we make the majority of our friendships before the age of 25, after which the numbers begin to fall rapidly.

Tonight, whether you are over 25 or not quite there yet – I’d like to invite you to use my ‘EY Personal Ads’ to connect with some of the wonderful people in the room tonight.

See someone who might float your boat? Why don’t you take them out for a coffee, or dinner, you never know what might happen! #besties My new mantra

The start of my commitment to share more meals, conversations & questions with interesting people

For me, this learning marathon has been many things – a chance to explore the different meaning, manifestations and iterations of ‘community’, a unique opportunity to ponder with my friends the definition of ‘belonging’ as well as, maybe most importantly, a gift of a deepened understanding of what I want and need from my own community, friendships and how I can create or curate a sense of belonging in my everyday life.

At the start of our journey I showed my fellow Enrollers some photographs of communities I had been part of in the past (image 2). At the time I thought I was presenting them as evidence to show that by virtue of being a participant in a socially minded community, I had the recipe to create my own. But, hidden in plain sight within those photographs was my ‘real question’ – if my photographs depicted a time when I truly felt I belonged, did I feel like that now?

Memories of deep friendship & belonging - USA 2006

I knew the answer, it was no.

Then deep in our ‘explore’ phase came the next blow, I read an article that said research has shown that most people make the majority of their friends before they turn 25 – this was not good news. If I was honest with myself, I don’t think I would want to be friends with me before I was 25. I sometimes wonder if I saw some of my friends from my early twenties in the street, would they even recognise me?

Quick shout out to the amazing people who loved me then, and still love me now. I see you and I love you.

But this isn’t a pity story, this is only to say that during my marathon I unearthed something – a void, a lacking, a gap – a space in my life that I wanted, and needed, to fill with real connections, true friendships and people who match who I am today.

So, in short, that is what I have spent the last six month doing – making friends, connecting with people, talking to people about their friends, their communities and their lives - making an effort to ‘real friend’™ people whenever I can and feeling constantly inspired, motivated and amazed by each and every one of them. And do you know what, it’s been absolutely fucking lovely.

And tonight, I hope I can give you a small insight into how great it can feel to make a new friend - no matter how old you are!

I’m looking for: New friends, experiences and adventures - but then maybe that’s what we should all be looking for?

Sharmin Ahammad Question I leave with:

How can I help people have a more balanced relationship with the internet?

Launching a Youtube channel all about nurturing healthier online habits

Question I came with: How can I help people have a healthier relationship with the internet and their digital devices?

digitalcooldown.com contact@digitalcooldown.com @digitalcooldown on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Digital Cooldown Digital Cooldown is all about helping people nurture healthier online habits. As we spend more of our time in front of screens, we can often feel distracted, out of control and manipulated out of our time, data and attention. Using a lot of my own personal experiences that helped me overcome my own unhealthy online habits, I sought to discover ways I can use this practical approach to help others do the same.

In 2016 I vowed to find a digitallife balance. The internet used to be my go-to place to escape. But through habit-forming design, attention-maximising algorithms and information overload, I found it impossible to escape from.

I was hooked. Sick of feeling distracted, emotionally drained and disempowered by how social media and news’ sites made me feel, I had to take action.

So I created my own framework to help drag me out of my internet lows while still remaining connected and keeping my smartphone. This paved the basis for Digital Cooldown. The programme got me through a lot of difficult times but made me realise just how important digital wellbeing is to our daily sense of calm.

Digital Cooldown website, with audio lessons

Presenting at during Power Up Day 1 when I went through the joyful feeling that I was free from compulsive internet use

That’s when I discovered Enrol Yourself. Since then, I’ve been on a journey of listening to people’s experiences with technology. During the learning marathon, I helped to facilitate discussions on mental health and technology in schools, develop digital wellbeing workshops with my cohort and launch a YouTube channel dedicated to having healthier online habits. I look forward to holding digital wellbeing workshops in London this year, while helping as many people as possible online through my programme - and potentially even an app!

I’m looking for People who are looking to improve their online habits by going on the online programme or attending digital wellbeing workshops. I’d love to work with organisations such as schools or workplaces that think they could benefit from digital wellbeing workshops.

I’m also looking for self-experimenters who are keen on testing out different digital wellbeing hacks! If you have an interesting take on technology, wellbeing and creativity, I’d also be interested in collaborating for content and fascinating chats.

Talking technology and mental health with a dozen 16 year olds at School21

Mila Aliana Question I leave with:

How can communities harness the power that united them, to keep them together for long-term selfsustenance?

Power of collective action in social movement

Question I came with: How might communities connect, build trust, and stand united for collective action?

amplifykensington@gmail.com

Amplify, Kensington (Grenfell) Power and Love for Social Change

Amplify is a community development experiment (prototype) designed to explore how to broaden and deepen community connections once they have been made. This is to ensure that the community bond is strong enough to last into the long term in order to deliver important social changes rather than fizzle out after an initial community issue has been dealt with.

Grenfell Silent Walk

The background of this learning question came from my community volunteering experience at Grenfell since June 2017 when the Grenfell fire tragedy occurred.

On a wider scale, my work has brought me into contact with social change projects and community movements of various shapes, sizes and lengths at local, regional and international arenas. I could not help but wonder what would be the patterns of behaviours or processes in groups and communities that need to be developed for the group (community) ties to maintain into the longer term.

The biggest issue that people tend to experience is that any type of group work or movement faces many different challenges such as diversity of culture and mindset, conflicting agendas, and how to sustain individual and collective motivation for longterm involvement.

This personal exploration inspired me to apply for Enrol Yourself Power Lab program so that I could commit to the seemingly impossible task of formulating how to build a truly strong and long lasting community

movement that will continue beyond the particular issue that originally brought people together. This learning journey was done in collaboration with Grenfell community leaders.

The first key insights from interviews with the Grenfell community were that people are hungry to belong to and connect with others in their community.

What I learnt was when humanity seems to be experiencing some of its most hopeless and darkest times, some of the most brightest and inspirational behaviours were demonstrated by the people that came forward - individuals and community groups. Those provided the foundation on which a community could be rebuilt in the immediate aftermath of Grenfell fire disaster.

The learning journey led me to question how we could maintain a community structure for a longer period because the skills, talents, and raw materials were certainly present.

It seemed the cement that glued it all together was the issue because the

Grenfell Community Leader

community only collectively acted together on a case by case basis, and invariably fizzled out in the long-term.

These insights guided me to simplify my learning question to how power and love (solidarity) manifest itself within a community. These factors seem to represent the glue for lasting group and community unity. In partnership with Grenfell community leaders, we are currently organising experimental workshops for capacity and community building. The aim is to gain further learning on how community develops and builds itself organically towards longevity.

I’m looking for: Guideposts to successful examples of sustainable community development and social movements. Additionally, seeking individuals, institutions and funders that are actively involved with such social change and community innovation initiatives, be it at early stages or pre-existing established body of work, that may be interested to collaborate.

David Heinemann Question I leave with:

How can we better connect with ourselves, with each other and with the planet?

Prototype #1 of Agent You, a quest to help people explore purpose and agency.

Question I came with: What can living with the failings in my body teach me about living with the failings in our society?

facinggoliath.club agentyou.org davidheinemann.com @DBetzH heinemannde@gmail.com

Agent You What will you be when you grow up?

An adventure to explore your next steps in work and life.

Discover purpose, power and your place in the world.

The best way to predict your future is to invent it.

A story My spine is slowly fusing.

The icecaps are slowly melting.

Two fucking big problems.

Zero magical solutions…

A piece of immersive theatre exploring how to respond to crisis. In development for 2019.

Facing Goliath Called to adventure because of our chronic health conditions.

Our weaknesses can be our strengths. We push boundaries. We will find a way. #What’sYourEverest?

Alan Bennett says “you don’t put yourself into what you write. You find yourself there”. Across several marathons in 2018, it was a gift to learn something similar.

I’d set off because I wanted to better integrate three different parts of my life: my relationship with an incurable illness, my experience in (and regular frustration with) professional social change, and a more metaphysical curiosity about how we value life.

Funnily I find myself crossing the finish line with three projects! Have I failed?

No, everything is connected. How? I guess through the concept of leadership.

In the subtext of these marathons, life has also beautifully mirrored art.

My Power Lab peers have taught me masses about leadership. We can and should reframe how we all show up.

As Foucault says “power is exercised rather than possessed”.

The birth of Facing Goliath, my brother and I tackling our own Everest’s at Edinburgh Marathon weekend 2018.

As I attempt a more leaderful relationship with my body and our society, I’ll try to remember: We all fall down. But how do we get up?

Mindset is pivotal, attitude massively undervalued. For me, reframing ‘failing’ as ‘opportunity’. Exercising gratitude and vulnerability. Letting go of jealousy and shame. Refusing to be a victim is truly hard but accepting ‘just this’ is precisely how to grow.

We are the whole and the whole is in us.

Our body, like our society, is an organism. Not mechanical or linear. Not truly rational. And there is abundant energy/possibility everywhere, even in the space in-between. Basically, we ARE nature. A living, breathing, open system; cyclical; multiple; paradoxical. Better than hope, this gives me faith.

Think like an acupuncturist Symptoms are easy to spot, tempting to tackle. Smarter, the acupuncturist looks for patterns, aims to release energy that naturally wants to flow.

It leads to fewer goals, less imposed solutions, more focus on habit.

And above all, reconnection: with ourselves, with each other and with the earth we come from.

Heroes aren’t all bad We’re rightly suspicious of charismatic leaders. But without your own true voice? Strength of character? You’re mincemeat. Meaningful role models truly help us.

All of us are stronger than any Descartes died early but we still dogmatically divide brain from body.

Whereas in Chinese philosophy there is the ‘heart-mind’, and the future looks to our microbiome. Mind, body, soul - illness teaches us there’s a whole network. And with body and society, sustainable change only comes through working with the system as a whole.

For these lessons I’m deeply grateful to my illnesses, my peers and true elders including Julia Mourant, George Por, Meg Wheatley and Jerry Granelli.

It seems I’ve found my lifework - a longer road than even an ultramarathon (I imagine!). To quote Lujaina, a Syrian Christian refugee: “There are things I can’t change, so I must change how I do relate to them, yes?… and what does it mean, imperfection? There is something beautiful in imperfection” I’m looking for: Friends to walk (or run) alongside me on these paths - or a 2019 learning marathon!

“Not all those who wander are lost” JRR Tolkien

Enrol Yourself is an award-winning social enterprise redesigning lifelong learning by harnessing the power of peer groups to multiply individual and collective development.

The Learning Marathon is a 6 month peer-led learning accelerator designed to integrate into life alongside work.

WEB: enrolyourself.com BLOG: medium.com/enrol-yourself TWITTER: @EnrolYourself INSTAGRAM: @enrol_yourself EMAIL: hello@enrolyourself.com