Guest Post by Alejandra Garza

I had the privilege to represent The Wellbeing Project in the Latin American Impact Investment Forum (FLII) a few weeks ago (Feb 28th – March 2nd, 2023) in Mérida, Mexico and am still reminiscing over all the shared encounters, stories, people, music and color that I got to meet and experience during this inspiring event.

It is with deep admiration and gratitude that I remember each person I met, each story I heard, and each dream that was shared with me so kindly during this wonderful event. It was a short pause for all of us who care so deeply for our region, to meet, share and explore our possible collaborations and hopes towards creating positive change in Latin America today and in the future.

I am especially grateful for being invited to share about The Wellbeing Project’s work in the region in a shared discussion titled “Burnout in the era of Wellbeing.” I had the privilege to share this beautiful space and conversation with Juan Carlos de la Hoz from the Inter-American Development Bank, Nicolas Demeilliers, founder of &you, Anna Corona from ayam, and Daniela Peralvo from IMPAQTO. Through our engaging conversation and Daniela’s key questions, we shared about the importance of wellbeing for social changemakers in Latin America, and the key characteristics that make this region so special and unique.

It was particularly inspiring to hear a collective awe from the audience when sharing that at The Wellbeing Project we truly believe that Wellbeing Inspires Welldoing. I could feel that the phrase clicked with everyone present, and they too recognized the importance of inner wellbeing, as it relates to the success of their projects and work. The conversation ended with a shared mindfulness meditation imparted by Anna from ayam, and we all got 5 minutes to pause, give thanks and reset, amid this lively and exciting event. This helped all of us present to recognize that it is something we have in us and that we can do every day. No matter the situation, it just takes a minute to pause and connect with our breath in the present moment. We all have that superpower within us.

Thank you, New Ventures for organizing this amazing event, and for this opportunity. Thank you everyone in the audience for attending, for your passion, your commitment, and your willingness to be a part of this important conversation for our region. I am honored to have connected with each and every one of you, and I look forward to continuing this amazing journey of inner wellbeing together.

Gaby Arenas de Meneses

TAAP Foundation

Bogota,
Colombia

Gaby is a refugee from Venezuela; she has lived in Colombia for eight years. She is passionate about promoting peaceful coexistence, well-being, and social entrepreneurship through the visual arts and innovation in education. Most of her works focus on the support of the integration of refugees around the world.

Gaby is a Social Communicator who graduated from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello with a specialization in Journalism and a Master’s degree in Communication for Development, specializing in violence analysis, peacebuilding, and Human Rights in Latin America. Rotary Peace Fellow, with a degree in Peace Studies at Chulalongkorn University.

She leads the Art Team at RoundGlass, developing art programs for holistic well-being.

She is the Founder of the TAAP Foundation, an organization created to promote peaceful coexistence and sustainable development in communities that have impacted more than 4.5 million people in 14 countries.

She was the developer and first executive director of Aid Live Foundation, an organization created to support Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.

Gaby is a Rotary Peace Fellow, Opportunity Collaboration Fellow, CAFAM Atlántico Woman, Ashoka Fellow, Perennial Fellow, winner of the Ideas Contest in the Social Entrepreneurship category, and finalist in the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Schwab Foundation and Venezuela Sin Limites Foundation. In addition, the She Is Foundation recognizes her as Social Woman of the Year 2022.

Social entrepreneur, researcher, and professor of communication. She has been part of diverse projects and has been a coordinator and speaker in forums and meetings worldwide on refugee integration, peacebuilding, and social and educational innovation issues.

Since 2008, she has conducted research in communities linked with the analysis of violence, peacebuilding, and the use of communication and art for social development.
Co-founder of the Weaving Lab, Catalyst 2030, and Colombia Cuida Colombia.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

For me, inner well-being is living in peace, recognizing our lights and shadows but being able to heal and improve every day.
It is living positively, connecting with those around you and the environment.
It is living creatively, smiling, and working for yourself and others.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

For me, it is the same as personal well-being but for everyone. I do not believe the world’s well-being is possible if people suffer or feel harm. If we cultivate the emotional, cognitive, social, and planetary dimensions of well-being, we can be more aware and have a world of well-being.

Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?

I meditate, practice yoga, dance, and hug my family everyday.

Why is it important that we prioritize individual, organizational and societal wellbeing?

All of them.

Do you have any favourite books, podcasts, or articles that you believe support, promote, or educate on wellbeing and related themes? 

I have many resources including:

Connect with Gaby Arenas de Meneses on social media :

Geo Britto

Founder and Board Director of ETP

Geo Britto, a veteran Joker. Member of the Board of Directors of School of Popular Theatre- ETP(Escola de Teatro Popular) organization created and founded by himself and Julian Boal. He worked for 32 years at the Centre of Theatre of the Oppressed-CTO in Rio de Janeiro and was one of the first generation of students who trained with Augusto Boal for 19 years.

The ETP have worked with many different grass-roots movements – housing, students, LGBT, land and others – come to learn, teach and become a multiplier. Geo Britto has coordinated and participated in many projects in slums, prisons, mental health institutions, education, cultural and human rights.

He graduated in Social Sciences from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1994) and has a Master in the Graduate Program in Contemporary Studies of Arts-UFF. 2013. He has experience in the area of Arts with emphasis in Theatre Direction. In general, from his education as Social and Political Scientist and simultaneously with the start of interest in the performing arts, he started a process to join the theory of the university campus with the practice of theater. Since 1990, when he met Augusto Boal and from this meeting he has not separated from him, learning continuously a lot in their workshops, laboratories and workshops. From 1993 to 1996 democratized politics through theater as they took the theater into the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro and took the camera for the squares, streets and slums, theatricalizing their discussions and creating the Legislative Theatre. His job, as proposed by the methodology itself, has always been broad and transversely on Human Rights. In this period built and formed groups of slums, street boys and girls, black movement, women, elderly, LGBT, mental health, peasants, ecclesial movements base, students, banking, domestic workers among others were built. After the mandate, and with the experience, I could take the work of the Theatre of the Oppressed, we can call it the Theatre of Human Rights to other social groups and to continue and deepen what they already did. Geo created, as other members of the Theatre of the Oppressed, what he called the Solidarity Network in which through the Oppressed Theatre performed theatrical dialogue where different oppressed groups had for each other. Different oppressed discovered how much their oppressors were similar and many came from the same “barracks”. Today, the Theater of the Oppressed is a present methodology in more than 50 countries on five continents, working on several fronts and themes, always with a human rights focus. He actively participated in the construction of this global network. He continued as a sociologist working not only in the classroom, but in the streets, squares, slums, prisons, settlements, mental health, schools; a practical and theoretical research with the Theatre of the Oppressed his everyday martial art, holding lectures, workshops and theatrical performances in Palestine, Bolivia, Mozambique, Egypt, India, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Germany, England, Canada and U.S.A. He has a Master in Arts-UFF Federal Fluminense University and is also a father of twins.

Connect with Geo Britto on social media :

Voices of Wellbeing | Laura Calderón de la Barca Voices of Wellbeing | Laura Calderón de la Barca

“We need to come together, to heal together”

Words by: Laura Calderón de la Barca, speaker at The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change

The topic of individual, ancestral and collective trauma is huge and very complex. We can best understand it through individual stories that help us visualize the impact of trauma, and the ways it can heal. Also, seeing what has happened to us, has happened to others also, can help normalize the experience, and alleviate the shame that the presence of trauma often brings. In that spirit, I share here part of mine. 

One thing I would like to add to what I said in the interview, is that in this windy and complex journey of coming together to heal from collective trauma, we sometimes need to create particular healing containers for different groups of people to do their particular work before we can come together with enough resources, capacities and in a safe enough way for the joint healing to happen. That means that we need to support people who share lived experience of a certain kind of trauma to come together with the appropriate facilitation to heal together, and then share healing space with others who belong to groups who have hurt them, and vice versa: those who have in their ancestry or in their current experience oppression, need to come together with others to do some healing on their own before attempting to come together with others who are or were hurt by that oppression. I have found that the best facilitation is offered by people who have healed enough from that same kind of trauma, and can bring their wisdom and presence to their facilitation. 

I want to thank: my colleagues at The Collective Change Lab, with whom I have explored the intersection of trauma and social change systems; Thomas Hübl, with whom I have healed, trained and currently work with in collective healing courses and workshops; and the Zapotec communities of the Pueblos Mancomunados de la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, Mexico, with whom I learned about the profound value of their way of life through direct experience, and discovered in the resonances that my heart and body felt, how much of that is still alive in me.

You can find more information on the systemic and collective dimensions of trauma and collective healing at the following sites:

collectivechangelab.org

pocketproject.org

Collective Trauma Summit

If it’s of interest, you can also read my thesis by clicking here.

Cómo los líderes empresariales pueden enfrentar la crisis de salud mental Cómo los líderes empresariales pueden enfrentar la crisis de salud mental

Es el Día mundial de la Salud Mental y aún es un tema que nos elude en el mundo empresarial. Tal vez porque se siente como un tema privado, difícilmente entendemos nuestro rol frente a un reto que es altamente público.

Hace unos meses, tuve la oportunidad de tener una experiencia inmersiva en uno de los encuentros más importantes a nivel global. Entre las  palabras de bienvenida, un líder empresarial explicaba: “El bienestar emocional tiene un rol central en el sector privado, es fundamental para la innovación y colaboración,” dijo Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner de Dalberg, frente a más de 1000 personas que se dieron cita en la ciudad española de Bilbao la primera semana de junio.

El encuentro global “The Wellbeing Summit” o Cumbre del Bienestar, juntó a las mentes más influyentes en la intersección de la salud mental, el bienestar integral, el activismo  y la investigación científica. Este encuentro, este año 2022 no es para menos: de manera colectiva, los ponentes presentaron un reto enorme al que nos enfrentamos como sociedad de frente al bienestar integral y la salud mental.

La OMS define a la salud como “el estado de bienestar físico, mental y social, no solamente la ausencia de enfermedad” y a la salud mental como “el estado de bienestar en el que cada individuo logra su potencial, se enfrenta a los estreses normales de la vida, puede trabajar productiva y fructíferamente, y puede contribuir a su comunidad.”

La pandemia y sus secuelas presentan retos sin precedentes para la humanidad en términos de salud mental. En los últimos dos años, la estimación conservadora de suicidios está en 700,000 personas anuales; sin explicaciones alternativas, los médicos continúan atribuyendo más y más enfermedades al estrés.

Si el número previo nos genera una fuerte impresión, al llevarlo a un lapso más concreto, cada hora del día, se suicidan 81 personas en el mundo; y a ello, también encontramos el fenómeno aterrador  de school shootings, los feminicidios, los enfrentamientos por causas raciales, y más. Se estima que la mala salud mental le cuesta a la economía mundial entre $3 y $5 trillones al año en productividad reducida.

En América Latina, la salud mental continúa acarreando un tabú en el mundo empresarial, se lo habla poco pero se siente su efecto cada vez más seguido. En el mejor de los casos, se lo aborda de manera tangencial, solamente cuando los impactos se hacen visibles. Pero los diagnósticos de patologías de salud mental son sólo el primer paso. El liderazgo integral debe abordar el tema mediante prácticas, servicios y acciones tangibles que arrancan desde el lado preventivo.

Uno de los ponentes del Wellbeing Summit, el neuro-científico Richard Davidson , presentó una colección de hallazgos científicos sobre lo que él llama la “neuroplasticidad’ del cerebro – nuestra cualidad de tener una mente que puede ser moldeable mediante repetición y prácticas que re configuran cómo está programada. La tesis principal es que la compasión y felicidad es un habilidad que se puede aprender:

  • El cerebro de un monje en estado meditativo es algo replicable –   Davidson propone que la habilidad de estar presente, consciente de sus propios pensamientos es un camino de prevención buscando el bienestar mental. En un estudio del 2004  (Lutz et. al) se midieron las oscilaciones gamma, que predicen niveles de claridad de percepción, en el cerebro de un monje budista con años de experiencia en meditación. Las oscilaciones de las ondas en el cerebro de los monjes en estado meditativo eran significativamente más amplias. Es decir, cuando el cerebro se encuentra presente y perceptivo, las ondas gamma se abren. En estados de miedo o incertidumbre se contraen. Lo importante, es que los monjes tienen la capacidad de controlarlo con práctica, y que la incorporación de hábitos de manera consistente puede crear el mismo efecto en la población general.
  • La capacidad de conexión con otros re-configura el cerebro – Un estudio del 2013 (Weng et al) trabajó con un grupo de personas ofreciéndoles capacitación en técnicas meditativas de cultivar compasión. En sólo dos semanas, los neurocientíficos encontraron diferencias tangibles en imágenes de escaneos cerebrales de quienes habían participado – sus niveles de “conectividad DPLFC-Nacc”, que se asocia con comportamiento altruista (un indicador de salud mental), se muestran claramente dilatados en los scans.
  • El sentido de propósito correlaciona con la longevidad – Un meta-análisis de estudios de la última década (Cohen et. al, 2016) determinó que el sentido de propósito (incluso en las actividades diarias más mundanas)  es un predictor potente de longevidad y prevención de eventos cardiovasculares. Los efectos del bienestar son reales – un estudio del 2019 de Evans y Soliman presentaron una fuerte correlación entre la expectativa de vida promedio y el bienestar en 151 países: aquellos con percepción de bienestar más alta tienen hasta 30  años más de vida en promedio que quienes viven en países bajos niveles de bienestar emocional.

Hace un siglo, el hábito de tomarse 3 minutos después de cada comida para lavarse los dientes no existía a nivel global. Sin embargo, como sociedad, lo incorporamos como una acción de importancia para nuestra supervivencia como especie. Este principio de incentivar hábitos, promoviendo  una mente más saludable, puede tener efectos enormes en las distintas crisis que enfrentamos. La diferencia es que esta vez contamos con avances de tecnología móvil y de wearables (relojes inteligentes, tracking devices, etc) que nos permiten acelerar la incorporación de buenos hábitos de manera exponencial.

Por esta razón, no sorprende que el Dr Barry Kerzin, el médico personal del Dalai Lama, se apoya en una aplicación móvil para hacer prácticas de compasión y altruismo más accesibles a la población, o que Betterfly , la start-up unicornio Latinoamericana incentiva buenos hábitos meditativos  recompensando a los usuarios con medallas que facilitan la donación a causas. El potencial de generar impacto positivo mediante modelos de negocio que innovan con propósito es enorme.

Los retos más grandes que enfrentamos como humanidad siempre han presentado oportunidades para el empresariado que quiere marcar una diferencia.

Las buenas noticias son que podemos entrenar nuestros cerebros para crear bienestar mental y que podemos promover estos hábitos gracias a los avances de la tecnología móvil.

Con una oportunidad como esta, es cuestión de tiempo para que el sector empresarial tome el liderazgo para escalar la construcción de una sociedad más conectada consigo mismo y con su propósito. Así es cómo el mantra intangible de que “la paz interior puede crear paz para el mundo”, se convierte cada día en algo más tangible y viable conforme esta intersección única de maestros de meditación, científicos y empresarios convierten sus voluntades en una nueva realidad. Así es como el mundo empresarial puede enfrentar la crisis de salud mental: no solamente con voluntad, sino también apalancándose de tecnología y ejerciendo el liderazgo que este reto público exige.

Author bio

Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is the Global VP of Purpose and Communities at Betterfly, the first social unicorn start-up, with operations across Latin America. Before her current role, Michelle was the CEO and co-founder of IMPAQTO, a B Corporation with a mission to support impact entrepreneurs reach their goals by building the ecosystem and network they need to thrive. Michelle is a recent mother of twins and a member of The Ecosystem Network at The Wellbeing Project.

How business leaders can face the mental health crisis How business leaders can face the mental health crisis

October is World Mental Health Month yet, mental health remains a topic that eludes us in the business world. Perhaps because it feels like a personal issue, we hardly understand our role in the face of a challenge that is highly public. 

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to have an immersive experience in one of the most important global meetings related to mental health and wellbeing, which is a more holistic way to explore it. From the very first welcoming remarks, I was all in:  “Emotional wellbeing plays a central role in the private sector, it is essential for innovation and collaboration,” said Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner of Dalberg, in front of more than 1,000 people who met in the Spanish city of Bilbao the first week of June 2022.

The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change brought together the most influential minds at the intersection of mental health, holistic wellbeing, activism, arts, and scientific research. In the convening, the Summit speakers collectively presented the enormous challenge that we face as a society and the wellbeing of our people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as “the state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease” and mental health as “the state of well-being in which each individual achieves his or her potential, copes with normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to the community.”

The pandemic and its sequels present unprecedented challenges for humanity in terms of mental health. In the last two years, conservative estimates of suicides are at 700,000 people per year; with no alternative explanations, doctors continue to attribute more and more illnesses to stress. If the previous number makes a strong impression on us, when taken to a more specific period, every hour of the day, 81 people commit suicide in the world; besides, we also find the terrifying phenomenon of school shootings, femicides, clashes for racial reasons, and more. Poor mental health is estimated to cost the global economy between $3 and $5 trillion per year due to reduced productivity.

In Latin America, mental health continues to be a taboo topic in the business world, it is rarely talked about but its effects can be noticed more and more often. At best, it is approached tangentially, only when the impacts become visible. But diagnoses of mental health pathologies are only the tip of the iceberg. Business leaders must address the issue through practices, services, and tangible actions that start from the preventive side.

One of the speakers at the Wellbeing Summit, neuroscientist Richard Davidson, presented a collection of scientific findings on what he calls the brain’s ‘neuroplasticity’ – our quality of having a mind that can be molded through repetition and practices that reconfigure how it is programmed. The main thesis is that compassion and happiness are skills that can be learned. Below are a few of the findings that back up this theory that we can train ourselves to shape the health of our brain:

  • The brain of a monk in a meditative state can be replicable – Davidson proposes that the ability to be present, and aware of one’s own thoughts is a preventive path toward mental well-being. In a 2004 study (Lutz et. al) gamma oscillations, which predict levels of perceptual clarity, were measured in the brain of a Buddhist monk with years of meditation experience. The wave oscillations in the brains of the monks in a meditative state were significantly broader. That is, when the brain is present and perceptive, the gamma waves open up; in states of fear or uncertainty, they contract. The important thing is that monks have the ability to control it with practice, and incorporating habits consistently can create the same effect in the general population- we don’t necessarily need to be super-meditators to reap the benefits.
  • The ability to connect with others reconfigurates the brain – A 2013 study (Weng et al) worked with a group of people by offering training in meditative techniques for cultivating compassion. In just two weeks, the neuroscientists found tangible differences in brain scan images of those who had participated – their levels of “DPLFC-Nacc connectivity”, which is associated with altruistic behavior (an indicator of mental health), looked clearly dilated in the scans. Again, visualizing scientifically the effects of human connection on our brains.
  • A sense of purpose correlates with longevity – A meta-analysis of studies from the last decade (Cohen et. al, 2016) found that a sense of purpose (even in the most mundane daily activities) is a powerful predictor of longevity and prevention of cardiovascular events. The well-being effects are real – a 2019 study by Evans and Soliman found a strong correlation between average life expectancy and well-being across 151 countries: those who live in countries with the highest perceived well-being levels live up to 30 years longer on average than those who live in countries with low levels of emotional wellbeing.

A century ago, the habit of taking 3 minutes after each meal to brush your teeth didn’t exist globally. However, as a society, we incorporated it as an important action for our survival as a species. This principle of encouraging habits, and promoting healthier minds, can have enormous effects on the different crises we face. The difference is that this time we have advances in mobile and wearable technology (smart watches, tracking devices, etc.) that allow us to accelerate the incorporation of good habits exponentially.

For this reason, it is not surprising that Dr. Barry Kerzin, the Dalai Lama’s personal physician, relies on a mobile application to make practices of compassion and altruism more accessible to the population. Or that Betterfly, the Latin American unicorn start-up, encourages good meditative habits by rewarding users with medals that make it easy to donate to causes. The potential to generate a positive impact through business models with purpose-driven innovations is enormous.

The greatest challenges we face as humans have always presented big opportunities for the business community that wants to make a difference. The good news is that we can train our brains to create mental wellbeing and that we can promote these habits thanks to advances in mobile technology.

With an opportunity like this, it is a matter of time before the business sector takes the lead in building a society that is more connected with itself and with its purpose. This is how the intangible mantra that “inner peace can create peace for the world” becomes more tangible and viable every day as this unique intersection of meditation teachers, scientists, and start-up leaders turn their wills into a new reality. This is how the business world can face the mental health crisis: not only with will but also by leveraging technology and exercising the leadership that this public challenge demands.

Author bio

Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is the Global VP of Purpose and Communities at Betterfly, the first social unicorn start-up, with operations across Latin America. Before her current role, Michelle was the CEO and co-founder of IMPAQTO, a B Corporation with a mission to support impact entrepreneurs reach their goals by building the ecosystem and network they need to thrive. Michelle is a recent mother of twins and a member of The Ecosystem Network at The Wellbeing Project.

“TO REALIZE IT’S OK NOT TO CONTINUE AND TO TAKE SOME TIME AND BREATHE BEFORE CARRYING ON.” “TO REALIZE IT’S OK NOT TO CONTINUE AND TO TAKE SOME TIME AND BREATHE BEFORE CARRYING ON.”