Combine creativity and community and you have my attention. Attending this session at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s all-staff team building retreat in Washington DC sent sparks of inspiration through the room. Mark and Natalie shared their common goals with tangible examples of building community from experience. Images of community murals on huge canvases inspired the room. Mark invited his community to create together and the public art that resulted was powerful.
This session sparked collaboration. Markers and coloring sheets were distributed and in moments there was a silence that enveloped us. All heads bowed as we all became artists again, coloring with abandon. The only words spoken were, “are you using that green” or “can you pass me the pink?” It was gleeful.
The exercise in actual problem solving – using creative thinking to discover unique solutions then began. We were walked through a group of questions to narrow down our path while selecting different possibilities that led to other outcomes with more questions. Thoughtful and swift – we each created our own journey of discovery to engage with communities having specific needs.
The final question was a stumper. Which measure of success do you think is most important? The choices were Outcomes, Process, and Relationships. You could only choose one and I believe the consensus in the room was one of surprise. Most of us were surprised that in the beginning we would have chosen outcomes – did we succeed in our goals? But, after the session I chose relationships – new relationships and trust being established in the community. Many in the room commented similarly.
The final suggestion was for each table to combine the coloring sheets into a larger patchwork, mirroring the table’s creativity, and an analogy of the urban mural example that opened the session. hashtag#mentalhealthfirstaid hashtag#creativity Storycraft Lab
