‘Beyond Bounce Back’: Nurturing Communities of Care through Integrative Resilience

A Professional Development Inter(In)vention

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With guest: Chiara Camponeschi, PhD

Date and time: Saturday April 9, 2022, 10am-1pm

Location: Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street, Vancouver About the Cathedral
This event will be recorded and live-streamed on Zoom and at https://www.thecathedral.ca/live

Agenda: See here

In an age of interlocking crises, we urgently need new theoretical and practical models to meaningfully respond to the complex intersectional and intergenerational demands that systemic crises such as climate change and the covid-19 pandemic place on people, places, and the planet. Structural inequality, compounded by the escalating effects of a changing climate, is leading to higher and higher incidence of collective trauma and personal isolation. The relentless pressures that neoliberal models place on individuals and communities are making it increasingly harder to meet our needs, contributing to an already significant climate of generalized anxiety and burnout. And when it comes to resilience and recovery planning, frontline communities––particularly racialized and marginalized ones––frequently experience ‘gaps in translation’ between institutional visions and lived experience.

Like the planet itself, we need rejuvenating processes to promote sustainability and ensure equitable recovery outcomes. In her talk, Chiara will introduce the concept of ‘integrative resilience’ to explore how we can nurture structures of care from the policy level to the grassroots. An integrative perspective allows us to acknowledge that our health and wellbeing are inseparable from the health of the environment we live in, that of the human and more-than-human life that surrounds, and that of the systems we depend on for the optimal functioning of day-to-day life. As a framework, it helps us move away from a vision of resilience as a process of ‘bouncing back’ on an individual level to one of ‘healing justice’ at large.

This transformative approach to vulnerability and resilience is guided by concepts such as trauma-informed climate action, place-based and relational healing, and ‘emergent competencies.’ In this talk, we will explore questions such as: Do some bodies matter more than others when planning responses to systemic crises such as climate change? From a truly expansive and transformative lens, what could resilience and recovery look like? How could institutions and communities co-create healthy adaptation models that are equitable, inclusive, and relevant to local needs? What resources––material and relational––are required to support the successful implementation of integrative responses? This exploration will be complemented by a look at integrative resilience ‘in action’, with a look at a handful of emerging initiatives and tools that ensure that as a society we are not merely surviving a crisis, but are committing to interventions that place equity, solidarity, and care at the center of healthy adaptation and wellbeing.

Drawing on the idea of educators as caregivers, this talk will prioritize the experiences of educators through facilitated group discussions around the theme of resilience and how it intersects with the life and work of educators. Artist facilitators will lead collaborative activities using a creative medium to capture everyone’s ideas and reflections. Tools and strategies will be provided for how teachers can bring this knowledge of care, resilience, and emergent competencies into their classrooms, to better inform classroom design and lesson planning, as well as for teachers’ wellbeing and self-care in their ongoing work for climate action.

 

Event Agenda:

  • Part 1: Building our Shared Context: Defining Resilience
  • Part 2: Integrative Resilience: The 3 Pillars
  • Part 3: Nurturing Infrastructures of Care
  • Part 4: The Role of Educators (and Community Innovators):   Trauma-informed Education and Capacity Building
  • Break
  • Interactive Session (Group Discussion)

 

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Chiara Camponeschi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. Her doctoral work investigates urban resilience to climate change from a healing justice and trauma-informed perspective. In particular, her work documents how the principles of wellbeing, solidarity, and collective healing can provide a blueprint for building ‘integrative resilience’ in ways that are more equitable, inclusive, and just. She is also the Founder and Director of Enabling City, an international ‘think and do’ tank that works at the intersection of social innovation, participatory governance, and urban sustainability.

 

Hosts:

EDST (Host) – The mission of the Department of Educational Studies (EDST) is to advance knowledge about critical issues facing education, educators, and learners in multiple contexts.  We strive to provide students with learning opportunities that are transformative and that support their life goals.  Through our multi-disciplinary scholarship, teaching, service and our community engagement, we provide and develop leadership to address complex issues throughout and within a wide variety of educational domains, including Indigenous education, life-long and life wide learning, K-12 contexts, educational policy and governance, higher education, and the cultural, historical, sociological, political, and philosophical foundations of education.

Dr. VanWynsberghe (Faculty Host) As an Education for Sustainability (EfS) teacher in the Adult Learning and Education program, he focuses on researching and developing educational programs for socio-environmental change. Since 2016,  he has applied a theory of Adaptive Education in two pilot programs; a Master of Education in Adult Learning and Education as well as a sustainability cohort in the Bachelor of Education. To date there have been 35 and 108 graduates of these programs respectively.

 

About the Cathedral (Sponsor):

Christ Church Cathedral is a cultural and heritage landmark, being the oldest surviving building in Vancouver. The Cathedral envisions a radically inclusive community with its ongoing commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and LGBTQIA/2S inclusion. The Cathedral also believes in sharing nutritious food in ways that foster community and contribute to a sustainable local food system.

Responding to TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, the Cathedral created the Truth and Reconciliation Circle, continuing the journey of learning and unlearning in conversation with local and urban Indigenous communities.

“On June 15, 2019, the Cathedral gathered to celebrate the installation of two Musqueam weavings by Debra Sparrow at Christ Church Cathedral. The blankets will be a visual reminder of the Cathedral’s ongoing commitment to listen, learn and unlearn on the path to form right relations with First Nations neighbours.”

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