Being surrounded by speakers on stage and new friends off stage, all striving for their homelands and causes they care about, was profoundly moving. These conversations have sparked something within our team. We’ve begun to ask: how might our own studio contribute more to our hometown and its people? Thanks to the inspiration we received during the summit, we’re hoping this new space can also offer something to the public—sharing our place, our skills, and our knowledge with others.

In a time where wellbeing is often reduced to self-care checklists or corporate perks, The Hearth Summit offered something rare: a living architecture of what real, collective wellbeing can look and feel like. This wasn’t a gathering that asked for performance. It invited presence.

A gathering that transcended the usual definitions of a conference. From heart-led storytelling and collective reflection to music, mindfulness, and deep dialogue, it was a powerful convergence of academics, activists, artists, healers, and global changemakers. Each session peeled back new layers of what it means to live, lead, and transform through wellbeing.

It was my first trip out of Lebanon since everything changed. And in this space of listening, art, and presence, I found something I hadn’t felt in a long time: I felt held. Held with care. Held in community. Held in the trembling awareness that wellbeing is not a luxury—it’s the soil from which well-doing grows.

Few events in my life have impacted my personal wellbeing as profoundly as the Hearth Summit did (…) I returned to South Africa feeling re-energised, revitalised, and deeply motivated to care for my own mental wellbeing while continuing my work as a changemaker (…) I came back filled with renewed purpose, reminded that I am not alone, and inspired to continue leading with hope – not only within Goedgedacht, but alongside my colleagues, and in wider networks of changemakers around the world.

My journal left packed with insights that I pray will be markers to keep the embers going.

Thank you so much for all your dedication to connecting and supporting through the Hearth Summit. We were held with deep care and kindness (…) It really feels good to be part of this family.

What an opportunity life gave me this week to participate in the #hearthsummit2025 (…) I took responsibility for spreading the importance of the topic of wellbeing in social change and attracting the attention of my peers to do so.

This gathering was enlightening, offering a wide diversity of perspectives, traditions, and ways to innovate in the constant pursuit of social transformation, always with a primary concern for well-being, both internal and external within organizations.

Returning with a happy heart from the Global Hearth Summit, we meet more people who are putting their lives into making this a fairer and better world, each in their own way, in their spaces and passionately following what they love. An honor.

What you offered was not just an event, but a carefully tended relational field. The courageous perspectives, the interweaving of earth, language and cultural expression, ritual, art, and song, visual and word, the commitment to spaciousness and complexity—they were invitations into a different way of being-together. Wellbeing in form. 

It’s nearly impossible to capture in words an experience so profoundly moving, where no single moment can fully convey the overall impact. It remains, hands down, the most powerful summit I’ve ever attended (…) We met each other exactly as we were: human to human.

To call the experience transformative feels like an understatement. Through powerful conversations and an intentional infusion of the arts, we explored the many layers of well-being — individual, interpersonal, and collective (…) As I return home to my little ones, I carry with me a heart full of reflections and a continued commitment to centering well-being in all that I do. This is ongoing work – work rooted in care, courage, and community.

The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change in Bilbao was the most transcending and grounding gathering I’ve ever attended, with one touching, inspiring, and motivating talk and artistic performance after another from around the world.

Home from The Wellbeing Summit 2022 in Bilbao, Spain. Deeply grateful for such a rich experience connecting with change leaders from 60 countries across the globe, events around the gorgeous city, the speakers, art, music, hope and action around a healthy, equitable, sustainable world.

We just had the incredible honour of being invited to Bilbao for The Wellbeing Summit…We have come away with many new friends and a great deal of inspiration about ways we can promote wellbeing through our music and throughout our lives. I (Suz) was brought to tears multiple times a day witnessing the unbelievable words and voices. And it made me feel even more committed to continue the conversations around mental health and the ways we can heal through sharing these stories.