it's more than team-building. it's team-care.
Our activities are fun and engaging in the moment, while building the foundation for a culture of WE
Leaders at nonprofits and schools are trying to build back better as the fog of the pandemic finally lifts.
The team has been giving it their all and then some, from home or behind a mask, and there’s a real concern that they’re burning out. (It’s ok to admit it if you’re there too!) You know that shared, fun experiences help build the team, but after the trauma and exhaustion of the past year-plus, you’re looking for something more constructive than mini-golf and happy hour.
Nonprofit Wellness combines energy, experience, science, art, and a sense of humor through Team-Care activities that are equal parts fun, engaging, and instructive, both virtual and in person. (We're based in DC, FYI.) From an hour at a retreat to a multi-week series culminating in a lasting Wellness Committee, our programs are custom-made to meet your big-hearted and exhausted employees where they are, build camaraderie through vulnerability, and establish a space and priority for discussing and supporting well-being at work.
According to McKinsey, 96 percent of companies globally provided additional mental-health resources to employees, but only one in six employees reported feeling supported. Even if you have an EAP program and decent coverage for therapy in your healthcare, most of your employees probably aren’t taking proper advantage of it. Nonprofit and school employees in particular struggle with making the time to take care of themselves, so employers need to be more proactive in creating the space and expectation. That's where team-care comes in.
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Education director Ty Powell and nonprofit director Susan Comfort (Co-founders)
given your time & budget, here's what we can do
Impact (1 day/session)
Intervention (1-2 months)
Intervention (1-2 months)
A Skill-Shop or two during your next retreat or as a mid-afternoon work break (online or in-person). Check out the skill-shop menu and trainers, below.
Intervention (1-2 months)
Intervention (1-2 months)
Intervention (1-2 months)
Our core package of three stress and neuroscience sessions for your team are outlined below. We also suggest inclusive (online and in-person) small group fitness activities to build your team culture, health, and camaraderie.
Investment (3-6 months)
Intervention (1-2 months)
Investment (3-6 months)
Our core package, plus a custom program to establish a lasting culture of Team-Care, which could include leadership coaching, establishing a Wellness Committee, and/or train-the-trainer sessions.
Mental Health & team-Building: 3 core sessions
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
- Goal of Training: Understand health impacts of (unprecedented) stress & identify science-backed self-care solutions.
- What You'll Learn: In this training, participants will learn the neuroscience of what stress does to the body and mind. Then, participants will reflect on their roots of self-care. To end, they will "self-prescribe" their own stress solutions.
2. Stressor Scorecard: Branches of Resilience
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
- Goal of Training: Further investigate life's sources of stress and learn ways to reframe them to build personal resilience.
- What You'll Learn: This session shares new tools that are needed to manage the chronic stress of 2021, especially in nonprofits and schools. Participants will complete a "Stressor Scorecard," our new assessment which measures the impact of one's identity and personal circumstances. They will also practice reducing and re-framing, the two key strategies for greater personal resilience.
3. A Forest of Team-Care (Re-entry)
1. Neuroscience of Stress: Roots of Self-Care
3. A Forest of Team-Care (Re-entry)
- Goal of Training: Cultivate a healthy forest -- a culture of team-care that supports everyone at work -- to support post-Covid offices struggling with building a "new normal."
- What You'll Learn: Assess your team's wellness needs to build a post-pandemic culture of retention.
- Participants get our "Big List" of 30 (cheap!) cultural and leadership wellness practices to inspire staff year-round.
- Additional coaching available.
Skill-shops: putting the "WE" in wellness
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
ABOUT OUR SKILL-SHOPS
Our skill-shops are single sessions for teams to practice wellness activities together.
Because it's fun for people to learn a new skill or have a new experience (together).
Want to schedule a 2021 session or series for your team? susan@nonprofitwellness.org
Or, go to "Register" for one of our public sessions.
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
Mindfulness is "nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment." Harder than it sounds, and worthy of a lifetime (or at least a few minutes a day) of practice. This session is designed as an introductory experience.
We go over brain science and the current stressful world we inhabit, but most of this session is spent practicing several methods of mindfulness (mantra) o 5-4-3-2-1 (sensory awareness). Here's Maria-Jose's story highlighting Headspace (the above links are in Spanish, led by bilingual trainers).
Juggling Challenges (& bags)
Mindfulness in Stressful Times
Juggling Challenges (& bags)
Think you can’t juggle? We beg to differ. Using simple plastic bags or scarves, we’ll teach you juggling basics in less than an hour. Here's a 5-min taster of Kevin's session with kids. These movements sharpen the reflexes, increase focus, and improve coordination.
Learn from expert circus yogi Kevin O'Keefe of Circus Minimus. It's family-friendly, so invite the kids.
Qi Gong: Meditative Movements
Qi Gong: Meditative Movements
Juggling Challenges (& bags)
Qi Gong is a gentle, ancient, Chinese healing practice that cultivates our vital life energy (qi or “chi”) and fosters balance in both our bodies and minds.
In this beginner practice, Joann and Pat of QiCircles teach a mindful flow of simple and profoundly effective movements.
This session is accessible to all ages (Joann is 80 years young!) and physical ability levels.
When a team does something (anything) new together, the experience builds camaraderie as well as skill.
Gotta Dance
Qi Gong: Meditative Movements
Sweating Together
Sometimes dance is the best solution to unstick your body or mind. These skill-shops are family-friendly, and zero dance experience is expected.
1)"Moving Dialogues" is a powerful way to experience each other’s perspective and create deeper meaning for yourself. Be prepared to: write, move your body, think, and play. Led by Kelly King of Themovement-movement.com.
2) Learn Latin dance while exercising and having fun. This class will go over the basics of popular styles like salsa, merengue, and bachata, led by Latin dance instructors.
Sweating Together
Qi Gong: Meditative Movements
Sweating Together
Facing challenges in a workout is similar to challenges at work -- better done as a team.
Professional trainers (like those at Spark by Gabby) will lead your group in an inspiring online workout, featuring motivating music, technique tips, and mindful breathing.
You can choose between:
- HIIT
- spin
- stretching
- strength training
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
The "Take Five" uses Dave Brubeck's best-selling jazz single to encourage five-minute boosts throughout the day. Recommendations: challenge your neural networks, choose a mindfulness practice (including listening to Take Five), and recall playful memories from childhood. (This session was developed for the Pentagon in 2015 and has been in demand ever since.)
How to Have Less Zoom Stress
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
In this session, we take a fun approach to looking into why "Zoom fatigue" exists, best practices for engagement -- on any online platform -- and tips/tricks to make Zoom work better for you. This skill-shop models interactive practices that you can then replicate with your team.
Some of the content from this training was covered by TechSoup in their June 2021 blog post "https://blog.techsoup.org/posts/building-better-connections-over-video-conferences-at-your-nonprofit"
Mindful Art: Upcycling
Take Five: Brain Boosts for Productivity and Joy
Mindful Art: Upcycling
Our Mindful Art sessions focus on paper "upcycling" (making new stuff from otherwise discarded magazines, calendars, maps, etc) for cards, envelopes, and other human connection tools.
These activities engage the right hemisphere of our brain, and help us stay present. They also help us view the "waste" economy with a new viewpoint.
Improv for Teamwork
Boosting Your Immunity
Mindful Art: Upcycling
Come learn some new online games to bring to your next meeting. You'll also experience the links between improv and empathy and mental health.
We team up with Lynne Childress of Building Better People Productions to present this session, which is appropriate for a variety of ages and seniority levels. Participants will get a list of check-in questions to try.
Boosting Your Immunity
Boosting Your Immunity
Boosting Your Immunity
In a pandemic and entering flu season, everyone can do a few more things to bolster their immune systems. This skill-shop goes over 12 science-backed solutions for naturally boosting your resistance to sickness.
The summary sheet is available on the "resources" tab, in English and Spanish.
Grief with Grace
Boosting Your Immunity
Boosting Your Immunity
Leslie Gray Streeter, author of Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the Title, presents practical steps, based on experience and science and the recent pandemic, to navigate the grieving process with positivity and YES!, a sense of humor. Participants will come away with a plan of action that encourages a dialogue about and an acknowledgement of grief, a subject most avoid but everyone experiences.