What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
I wonder in what ways health care practitioners and organizations
can envision, focus and sustain an intention to BE vehicles of healing
and love...for patients, families, and providers...transpersonally and
including the systems/models of delivery that support such intentions?
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
Group behaviors and reflection/introspection have always
fascinated me! That would be a good thing given my consultation practice
which regularly engages execs, leaders, nurses, physicians and staff.
In recent years I have had some remarkable experiences
with colleagues at the Center for Nursing
Leadership, an intentional community, that embraces dialogic principles
including Circle work. But, perhaps my most profound experiences have
involved Dynamic
Dialogue and World Cafe
and their master facilitators.
These artful tools have transformed my undertsanding
of individual and collective wisdom possibilities. (After 5 years I
can still see & feel the "voices" and reflective insights
that unfolded during my introduction to DD...using the Kosovo Conflict
to model one example of diversity.)
Since then these practices have been helpful in
exposing the wisdom of health care groups regarding the many challenges
facing them in the patient care arena, and in shifting their focus to
what matters most to them...a return to the essence of their service
mission and their organizational reality as a prelude/platform to consider
alternative possibilities.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
Facilitating the awareness among care givers of their
capacity to make a difference...one patient...one family...one co-worker
at a time simply winds my clock!
Galvanizing groups around their core purpose, shared
values, and common vision to lead changes in patient care settings in
real and practical ways that live within the organization and at the
practice level is very rewarding.
The process of dialogue intrigues me! The rapidity and
depth of learning among participants is amazing...as evidenced by the
expressions of leadership at the point of care.
The outcomes are real and tangible: care givers are breaking
free of their perceived yolks and are bucking the systems that don't
align with patient care values. They are unleashing their passion, creativity,
unique talent, and compassion to refocus their work, their processes
and systems , leadership,and their personal practices on the patient
and their family!
I have always been proud to be a nurse and feel
it's a privilige to serve others when they are most vulnerable. Facilitating
the healing of healers using dialogic and field work enhances the achievement
of these outcomes.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
My mother reports that I've been on my spiritual journey
since I was 4 yrs. old. ( A cute story for another time)
As a nurse clinician, educator, leader and consultant
I have been in this work of caring for decades. And, I've always known
the essence of healing liies within the caring relationship.
In 1997 I read Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership
and my life has not been the same! I joined 160+ souls who gathered
in NY to explore the meaning of our common response to Joe's message.
I was amazed and appalled that only two of us present were from health
care. What could that mean...for the service industry...for us?
Subsequently, I participated in several Dynamic
Dialogue workshops. These experiences deepened my commitment to
serve those who serve others.
And, these gatherings also provided the fodder
for a new and unexpected dream/calling: to work with children to help
them discover their wondrous selves, their unique "gifts"
as future leaders in our world...to celebrate who they are as a prelude
to appreciating the differences in others...this, as an alternative
to unlearning prejudices later in life. I imagine a generation of grandchildren
transforming this world armed with a strong sense of self-esteem, purpose,
peace, and harmony!
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
I appreciate working with groups who gather with intent
to find meaning..and humor...in our stories and journeys.
My energy is focused is three directions:
(1) facilitating a multi-level study in multiple acute
care sites in USA and UK to concurrently research each of the major
variables that influence healing...transpersonal caring, care models,
leadership characteristics, organizational culture, etc. Caring can
and should be taken to the bottom-line!
(2) renovating the barn on my farm as a gathering place
for healers and for Youth Discovery day camps for kids.
(3) engaging as fully in the lives of my husband,
children and grandchildren as they would want. Being present for them
and my siblings...creating balance overall =:>}
Links to this site or others:
Center for Nursing Leadership
Creative Health Care Management
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