What is wellbeing and why don’t we all have a fair shot at it? How does changing this lead to a better country for all of us? Explore the foundational frameworks behind our approach that have paved the way for transformation in hundreds of FFI’s partnerships over the past 15+ years – because wellbeing is a gamechanger.
Looking for a deeper dive into the core elements of wellbeing and systems change? Check out our Wellbeing Bootcamp.
Wellbeing is about people and communities being whole. It’s the set of needs and experiences universally required in combination and balance to weather challenges and have health and hope.
Racism, sexism, homophobia and additional otherings are baked into our systems and our country. This creates fast tracks to wellbeing for some and dramatically reduces access for others.
Many of us are motivated to make changes in our lives, but it’s not enough to simply want to make change. When systems force a change in someone’s life, and the accompanying tradeoffs undermine wellbeing, the results are short-term fixes that solve one problem at the expense of thriving in the long-term.
We all tell stories, build narratives and develop assumptions to explain what’s happening in the world around us. These choices frame the issues, determining our understanding of both the problem and the potential solutions. But we often make the wrong assumptions – and those often lead to inequitable solutions.
Too often, traditional community engagement methods aim at identifying weak spots and finding solutions to make programs work better. By truly centering community, the people most impacted by the issues will drive the conversation about needs, solutions and how change happens from the beginning.
The solution is not to create more programs for individuals harmed by unfair systems, or to blame individuals for not having the willpower to succeed. The solution is to make the systems fair.
Our staff regularly encounter frustrations in their everyday work. A wellbeing foundation helps them to get beyond the surface to what is driving behavior that is frustrating or difficult to understand. This allows them to better understand the people that they work with and be more effective in increasing wellbeing for everyone.
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