Alana Chavez, Author at The Wellbeing Project

Celina de Sola

Glasswing International

New York, NY,

USA

Celina de Sola is co-founder and president at Glasswing International, an El Salvador-based organization that combines community-based initiatives with strategies to strengthen public education and health services. Her work focuses on designing and implementing innovative, community-based initiatives that bring together institutions and people for joint action. Prior to Glasswing, de Sola worked as a crisis interventionist for Latino immigrants in the US and led humanitarian crisis response projects in Liberia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Indonesia. She is a Fellow of the Obama Foundation, Ashoka, LEGO ReImagine Learning, Penn Social Impact House. She is also an Audacious Project and Skoll Foundation Awardee, and a Tallberg Global Leader. Celina holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Harvard University and one in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

Matilde Siman Kim

Mental Health Specialist

Glasswing International

Miami, FL,
United States

Licensed mental health clinician with 10+ years of experience, focused on helping democratize mental health access in Latin America. Leverages clinical expertise to partner with private and public organizations to build programs. Passionate about strengthening the intersection between practice and policy. Matilde currently serves as a Mental Health Specialist for Glasswing’s Strategic Partnership team, working to align industry standards, research, and services in the mental health sector that are relevant to Glasswing’s work. At the beginning of her career, Matilde focused on Latino and migrant mental health by providing clinical psychotherapy to Spanish-speaking youth and families. Matilde holds a masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston College, a Foundations in Mental Health Certification from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Psychological First Aid Certification from John Hopkins University, and a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Certification from the PESI Institute.

Connect with Matilde Siman Kim on social media :

Co.act Detroit

Detroit, Michigan,
United States.

Co.act Detroit is a hub that accelerates transformative impact with nonprofit and community organizations in southeast Michigan through collaborative idea generation, cross-sector resources, and equitable access to world-class programming and learning opportunities.

Co.act Detroit is the home of the Nonprofit Wellbeing series, which celebrates the vital connection between self and community care and pushes for a culture shift around wellbeing at the organization and sector level. Through a quarterly series of workshops, activities, and conversations, we provide access to virtual resources and best practices that equip nonprofit professionals with strategies to support their teams and wellbeing.

Nonprofit mental health and wellbeing is also a frequent topic of conversation in our podcast, Natural Collisions. Past episode topics include creating cultures of wellbeing at work and the impact of the pandemic on women’s careers and the mental health of women in the nonprofit workplace.

Connect to Co.act Detroit on social media :

Website

Sitting at the Feet of Elders - May 2, 2023 Sitting at the Feet of Elders - May 2, 2023

Guest: Chris Underhill, Social Entrepreneur and Professional Mentor

Host: Sharon Salzberg & Reggie Hubbard

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

11am ET / 5pm CET

In this episode, Sharon Salzberg and Reggie Hubbard welcome Chris Underhill to discuss the important topics of eldership and diversity, mental health and wellbeing, and community healing.

Together, they explore the role of elders in our communities and the value of diversity in shaping our understanding of aging and wisdom. They also delve into the importance of mental health and wellbeing as we age, and how we can support ourselves and our loved ones in this journey.

Finally, they touch on the power of community healing and how we can come together to address the challenges and opportunities that come with aging. Join us for an insightful and inspiring conversation on what it means to sit at the feet of our elders and learn from their wisdom.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONVERSATION

MEET OUR SPEAKERS MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Reggie's Bio

Sharon's Bio

Chris' Bio

Sitting at the Feet of Elders - July 11, 2023 Sitting at the Feet of Elders - July 11, 2023

Guest: Joan Halifax, Buddhist Teacher, Zen Priest & Anthropologist

Hosts: Sharon Salzberg & Reggie Hubbard

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

11am ET / 5pm CET

In the final episode of “Sitting At The Feet Of Elders,” join hosts Reggie Hubbard and Sharon Salzberg with special guest Joan Halifax as they explore personal growth in a post-pandemic world.

Discover how challenging experiences can become opportunities for healing, resilience, and profound transformation. Gain practical guidance and wisdom from these remarkable individuals as they share their insights and stories.

Don’t miss this enlightening conversation that combines spirituality, activism, and introspection!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONVERSATION

MEET OUR SPEAKERS MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Reggie's Bio

Sharon's Bio

Joan Halifax

Sitting at the Feet of Elders – June 6, 2023 Sitting at the Feet of Elders – June 6, 2023

Guest: Chip Conley

Host: Sharon Salzberg & Reggie Hubbard

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

11am ET / 5pm CET

Sharon Salzberg & Reggie Hubbard welcome Chip Conley to “Sitting at the Feet of Elders”.

Chip is a co-founder of Modern Elder Academy. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from fast-growing start-up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, Modern Elder Academy is the first-ever ‘midlife wisdom school.’ Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, Modern Elder Academy supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.

Hosted by: Hosted by:

Reggie's Bio

Sharon's Bio

Chip's Bio

Chris Underhill

Social Entrepreneur and Professional Mentor

Chris Underhill MBE is a social entrepreneur and professional mentor. He has worked in the field of the Wellbeing, Resilience, and Mental Health since he started Thrive in 1978 (www.thrive.org.uk). The organisation provides to this day an opportunity for many people with different needs to benefit from gardening and horticulture whether as a hobby or a vocation. Chris is a serial social innovator and has established many organisations over the years in addition to Thrive. To give several examples: Action on Disability and Development (ADD), working in the developing world with disabled people creating systems of representation, advocacy, and policy creation. BasicNeeds in the field of community mental health worldwide, and citiesRISE in the field of mental health and the big city.

He has founded several other organisations as well, but coming up to date, he Chairs the Mental Health Collaboration of Catalyst 2030 and is cofounder of the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs. The Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs gives practical support to founders as they make successions within and away from their organisations as well as the encouragement of younger social entrepreneurs as they field the complex challenges and transitions that inevitably confront them.

Chris is a well-known and sought after professional mentor and his practice, Mentor Services, has been carefully nurtured since 2000. Chris has been married to Giselle for 52 years, and they have three grown-up children and six grandchildren. He is an Elder of the Wellbeing Project and attended the Wellbeing Summit in Bilbao working on both Eldership and Mental Health within the wider context of Wellbeing. He is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an awardee in Social Entrepreneurship of the Schwab Foundation, and a Senior Fellow of Ashoka. In 2000 he was honoured with an MBE by HRH the Queen for his work in disability and development.

Click here to learn more about Mentor Services.

Connect with Chris Underhill on social media :

September 2023
Resilience

July 2023
Climate Anxiety

June 2023
When Wellbeing Is Twice As Hard

May 2023
Would your organisation move to a 4 day work week?

April 2023
The ‘Care Paradox’ – Who Will Take Care of The Carers

March 2023
AI – Equaliser of wellbeing or harbinger of doom

February 2023
But What IS Wellbeing

January 2023
It’s Not You, It’s Us

2022

December 2022
Do Funders Believe Wellbeing is Essential

November 2022
Your First Fundwell Newsletter

Art can have a powerful impact on your wellbeing. Art can have a powerful impact on your wellbeing.

Through our collaboration with Peter Mortifee, Co-Creation Team Advisor for The Wellbeing Project since 2014, we aim to showcase the link between art and well-being through his stunning photography. Peter’s reflections on well-being are captured in his thought-provoking images accompanied by insightful captions, which invite us to pause, reflect, and connect with our inner selves.

Join us on a journey of self-discovery and explore the transformative power of art and its ability to promote well-being!

Don’t Miss Our Latest Updates!

Follow “Reflections on Wellbeing” in real time at: @thewellbeingp & @petermortifee

Explore Peter’s entire photographic work here.

The Wellbeing Summit 2022 The Wellbeing Summit 2022

THE WELLBEING SUMMIT 2022, PLANTING THE SEED FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE EVENT

The Wellbeing Project believes in environmental awareness and social inclusion. Sustainability was one of the organisational key guiding principles for The Wellbeing Summit’s first edition in 2022. From the event design, inspired by supporting the circular economy model, to measuring and planning for the reduction of carbon emissions; every aspect of the Summit was designed with sustainability in mind.

We set two main objectives:

Implement strategic actions towards holding a responsible event.
Better understand our carbon impact by measuring the event footprint.

We also looked to include programmes and themes in the Summit that would create discourse and raise awareness of our planetary crisis. We were supported in achieving these objectives by our partner UreCulture who specialises in environmental sustainability planning for cultural agents and non-profit organisations.

With The Wellbeing Summit 2022 Sustainability Report we want to transparently share with you our journey and commitment towards sustainability.

Our first steps in 2022Our first steps in 2022

Strategic actions taken to reduce our environmental impact

Travel

As the primary source of emissions during an event, it is essential to be aware of the impact caused by traveling, to monitor it, and put in place preventive measures.

What we did:

Provide recommendations for responsible travel, including the invitation to delegates to make impactful donations in compensation for the carbon impact.
Offer Economy Class tickets to speakers, artists and grantee delegates.
A free hybrid option was also set up, with digital access through our event platform for participants wishing to follow the plenary sessions and have access to online exclusive content.

Materials

During any event, resources are widely used. Following the circular economy methodology, we tried to minimise resource consumption and waste wherever and whenever possible.

What we did:

Paper-free event.
Use of already existing buildings (no event tent/marquee).
All materials for the Welcome Pack were sourced locally (Spain and Portugal).
Yute tote bag instead of cotton tote bag.
No goodies, the only gift was a plantable pin with mint seeds.
All attendees’ badges were made of plantable seed paper and the badge holders of recycled cardboard.
No single use carpet.
All furniture was rented instead of bought and most was made from sustainable or recycled materials.
Stage of the Welcome Cocktail made from recycled wood pallets.
Staff t-shirts made from organic cotton and locally sourced.
No plastic bottles, but water fountains.

Food

The catering offered has an important environmental impact and it is crucial to opt for responsibly sourced food.

What we did:

All our caterers committed to using organic (or equivalent), local and seasonal products.
Vegetarian options were always available (low-carbon options).
Except for the Welcome Cocktail and the Lunch Box on the last day, all attendees were provided with lunch vouchers – to be used in local restaurants close to the main venue – in order to have a positive impact on the local economy and avoid waste systematically created by catered lunches.
The catering offered at specific smaller events was provided by a local association employing young people at risk of marginalisation.

City and venues

The selection of the appropriate hosting city and venues are key to reducing the impact.

What we did:

Selection of a small city and specific venues which were all at maximum 15 min. walking distance between them and, alternatively, reachable by public transportation.
A public bus at an affordable price ran every 30 min. from the airport to the city centre.
For transportation of attendees with specific accessibility requirements, artists and speakers pick ups and production staff, electric cars offered by one of our sponsors were used.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

The Wellbeing Project is deeply committed to inclusivity, therefore creating an event in which everyone would feel represented and included was key. We also believe that the ecological challenge is a global one and that it can only be tackled by a diverse, inclusive and united community.

What we did:

The Wellbeing Summit 2022 was a “by invitation only” event in order to carefully curate the invitee list and ensure diversity and inclusivity. An example: 83 different countries and 6 continents represented. Still, anyone could express their desire to participate through a self-nomination process and each candidate was taken into consideration and carefully evaluated before being invited.
Selection of speakers and artists to ensure diversity and inclusivity. An example: 54.2% female speakers; 60.2% female artists.
Sponsoring for delegates with diverse backgrounds: 53.4% of delegates had a subsidy of their ticket. This could range from a partial subsidy all the way to a free ticket to attend TWBS 2022. For 10.4% of delegates The Wellbeing Project covered the ticket, the flight and the accommodation.
Management of visas to ensure diversity: 151 visa requests were managed by The Wellbeing Project.
All venues were accessible for people with disabilities or impairments and a support team was available on demand to guarantee full accessibility to everyone. An example : 7 accessibility requests for the full duration of the event were promptly attended.
Yoga mats and pillows were redistributed to local associations working with homeless people.
The catering offer at specific smaller events was provided by a local association employing young people at risk of marginalisation.
A contact list of babysitting services available in the city was provided on TWBS 2022 website.

Measuring our footprint: Our 2022 carbon audit

Like any human activity, major events impact their environment and the planet. We are fully aware of this responsibility and understand the opportunity The Wellbeing Summit has to lead by example. It was crucial for the Wellbeing Summit to carry out an audit and measure the carbon impact of the event, as we can only change what we measure.

The Wellbeing Summit 2022 carbon audit and footprint will act as our baseline to track and measure improvements in our 2025 edition.

Raising awareness for our planetary crisis to help create change Raising awareness for our planetary crisis to help create change

We considered it fundamental to include environment-related content in the Conference and Arts Programmes in order to inspire, help raise awareness and create change.

What we did:

Examples of environment-related content in the Arts Programme:

Yazmany Arboleda – Hospital for the soul
Himali Singh Soin – Ancestors of the blue moon
Mohau Modisakeng – The water drummer
Daniel Steegman Mangrané – Fog dog

Examples of environment-related content in the Conference Programme:

Satish Kumar, peace-pilgrim and environmentalist – Opening Plenary Session and morning meditation
Kumi Naidoo, human rights and environmental activist – Closing Plenary Session
Laureline Simon, founder and director, One Resilient Earth; Mallika Dutt, founder Inter-Connected, activist, social change leader; Carolin Schmee, partner at Manejo Ambiental; Clare Celeste, artist – Workshop “Our Relationship with Nature: How Climate Change Impacts Emotions”

The Wellbeing Summit 2022 Sustainability Report

Discover The Wellbeing Summit 2022 Sustainability Report, created in partnership with UreCulture and its team of environmental researchers and climate change consultants. With this report we have taken the first step in the fight against climate change: measuring carbon emissions.

The report outlines all the sustainability actions taken during the 2022 Summit and reviews the event’s carbon emissions. This is a significant step towards a more sustainable world and a great tool to identify areas of improvement with a commitment to continuously advancing.

Sustainability Report

Looking Towards The Wellbeing Summit 2025

In 2022 we planted the seed to align with best practice in sustainable and responsible events planning for The Wellbeing Summit 2025.

Some preliminary ideas include:

Study environmentally-friendly modes of transportation to travel to the Summit.
Deepen our knowledge on how to reduce waste and support a circular economy, in collaboration with our providers and partners.
Look for providers and partners who share our values and are taking concrete steps to reduce their environmental impact.
Research innovative solutions for inclusivity as, for example, access riders.

Over the next two years we will continue to research and look for innovative solutions to reduce our environmental impact, promote eco-friendly and socially inclusive practices and design a sustainable experience for our attendees and stakeholders.