Hi!
We recently spent a wonderful two days together on our first THC residential. Our intention was to reconnect and reset. It's also our 10th birthday year so we had a great celebration of that too.
We decided to ask our team to showcase their diverse talents with all of us, and as a result engaged in activities from yoga to improv to an Active Hope workshop. We found it super energising and inspiring so thought we'd share it with all of you in case you get any inspiration from it too...
Kevin Mascarenhas - Biodiversity Workshop
“I was invited to explore the theme of biodiversity with the team. We found a way to reconnect and appreciate the natural world through visualisation and celebrating nature outdoors. I illustrated the tree as a natural ecosystem all of its own supporting more than 200 forms of life (above the soil!). We explored some functions of natural systems like pioneers; the edge effect; resilience. succession and niching. I demonstrated how I use these natural principles to inform my approach to coaching.”
Iain Christie - Improv Workshop
"As a Professional actor and fellow coach, I led an introduction to Improv workshop. It's fair to say there were some nerves! But the key principles (Listen, Say "Yes and..", Commit) are rules for living and experience shows that repeated practice of improv techniques reduces perfectionism and enhances performance across the board. We ended by creating one word at a time never-before-heard proverbs – ending, appropriately, with "The times may be hard, but there is always wine."
Liz Carter - Yoga Class
"Moving our bodies is both physically and mentally beneficial. I led a breath-focused vinyasa class to encourage us to use breath and movement to connect our bodies and minds. It felt like it was just what we needed to end our first day together as a team."
Lisa Westbury - Intention Setting
"Whenever we learn together as a team, we are learning both as individuals and as members of a system. I wanted to pay specific attention to both levels of learning and explored what was an edge or stretch for each of us (eg: mindset, attitude, behaviour) and what was emerging about the way we want to work together. Sometimes it feels quite vulnerable to own or step into a new way of showing up, and we created some agreements to support this. There was enjoyment, stretch, new commitments to ways of working and, most importantly, new connections with each other. In our hybrid world of work, these connections are the flexible threads that will make all the difference."
Baldip Dhariwal - Active Hope
"We are living in turbulent times which can lead to uncertainty and stress as you feel hopeless in the face of challenges. The Active Hope workshop is based on the book, "Active Hope: How to face the mess we are in without going crazy" by Dr Joanna Macy and Dr Chris Johnstone. It follows a process whereby you shift from feeling hopeless to hopeful, thereby enhancing your mental well-being and inner resilience and strengh. We sat outside to share and hear other experiences, feeling light and more connected to our colleagues as a result."
Corrina Gordon-Barnes - The Work of Byron Katie
"When my son died, a methodology called The Work of Byron Katie helped me find great peace and acceptance with what had happened. It's a simple yet extraordinarily powerful methodology that can be applied to any situation - and so together we looked at how we could deal with stressful moments from our lives, personal and professional. Without the mental soundtrack of thoughts arguing with reality, we found more effective ways of responding to really hard situations."
Hilary Lees - Intersection between Diversity and Mental Health
"I explored the intersection between diversity and mental health and addressed why those in underrepresented or marginalised groups having a higher incidence of stress, anxiety, depression, burn out and other mental health problems, and more importantly what we can do to reverse this trend to build more psychologically safe, inclusive environments."
As we worked and played together we connected, were inspired, and emerged as a stronger team.
Until next time,
Team THC x