MindOpen Learning Strategies

Our clients at MindOpen Learning Strategies are amazing. I feel so fortunate to collaborate with leaders like Marisa Beckley, LMSW and organizations like The Bronx Defenders, who are committed to doing the most healing, affirming work possible within systems they are working to transform. This is why our #deescalation training and capacity-building programs are never one-size-fits-all. It takes a wide range of strategies and resources to ensure emotional and physical safety of all community members in settings serving people experiencing trauma and mental health crises. Safety cannot be achieved in siloes. #legalservices #trauma-informed #nonprofit #professionaldevelopment

The world is burning on the coast and people are freezing on the streets. Being at work while conscious of constant crisis is the new normal.  We can remember that the way we live now is not the way we have to live.  Being a professional who cares about social justice means navigating the knife’s edge between numbness and overwhelm. 

This past Friday I really got to experience two of MindOpen Learning Strategies' core values: #Connection and #CriticalThinking. In the morning, Marcus Galloway, LMSW and I met up for coffee and a great conversation about #trauma-informed #facilitation, #professionaldevelopment, and reflective #supervision. Stay tuned for invitations to connect in community on these themes! Are you a leader in the #mentalhealth profession who wants to keep your cup filled so you can be there for the staff you support? Reach out or leave a comment, we want to hear from you! In the afternoon, I took meetings from the main Brooklyn Public Library and got to see a remarkable photography exhibit: " 'Turkey Saved My Life': James Baldwin in Turkey, 1961-71." I often think of Baldwin in Paris, but was not aware of this formative era where he found familiar elements of imperialism and state violence from the U.S. "arranged differently, from a different perspective." In the wake of the smashing of the Ottoman Empire, Baldwin found an unexpected shimmering artistic and social freedom that nurtured his spirit and some of his best works. Expanding perspectives and community connections could not be more important in today's era of ongoing grief and disorientation. How are you keeping your #mindopen with connection and critical thinking as the #newyear kicks off?

The LCAT Medicaid bill is on the governor's desk as of yesterday morning -- she has until Dec 24th to sign or veto it. Our bill sponsors, our partners (1199, DC-37, H&H, universities), and our lobbyist Denise are working very hard on this -- but at this moment it is unclear on whether she will sign. WE NEED EVERYONE'S HELP TO GET THIS BILL OVER THE FINISH LINE. There are currently 188 bills on her desk -- we need to draw a LOT of attention to ours ASAP. ** Please take 5 minutes & call the governor's office -- ask everyone you know who lives/works in NY to call too! Step 1 - call 518-474-8390 (office hrs are 9am-5pm) Step 2 - when you reach a person, say this: Hello, my name is ____ and I am a: (choose 1-2) Licensed Creative Arts Therapist / licensed professional (MD, LCSW, NP, etc) / 1199 member (or other union) / concerned constituent, calling from __(city/county)__. I am calling to ask Governor Hochul to improve access to much-needed behavioral health care in NY by signing A9018 into law. Thank you.” Step 3 - ask/beg/bribe at least 20 people who live in NY -- they do NOT need to be LCATs to call. Thank you!

This Monday, December 16th, the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies is holding a critical public hearing in Queens. Reparations are long overdue to address the unpaid debts our society owes generations of Black people. While that debt can never be repaid, New Yorkers of all backgrounds can show up to say it's time to move forward! Location: Rochdale Ballroom 169-65 137th Avenue Jamaica, NY 11434 Time: 5:30-9:30 PM Transit: Q, F, R, E, or 6 trains #NYReparations #SocialJustice #Equity #CommunityEngagement #NewYork

[content warning: violence] 💔 This week's NYC news stories are spotlighting the justification of murder in the courts of both law and opinion. Seemingly different cases, on the subway and in front of a hotel, but both reflective of a society where institutions are allowed to degrade, dehumanize, and divide us. 💭 Ask yourself privately, what are your first responses when you think about the killers and the deceased in this week’s news stories? Can you be honest enough to notice the split-second narratives that your brain comes up with, who it codes as having more or less value, more or less justification for their actions? 💡 You don’t need a DEI training to learn about bias. You know your own mind better than anyone else. Connection, compassion, courage, and critical thinking are available to you at any time. ⚖️ Let’s hold our institutions accountable for failing our loved ones, and hold ourselves responsible for unlearning the biases we’ve been taught.  Our collective safety and survival depends on it. #socialjustice #collectiveaction #systemicchange #leadership MindOpen Learning Strategies

Let's talk about the invisible emotional labor required when we are constantly exposed to public leadership communication that lacks consistency-- through backtracking, tone shifts, or dismissal of previous statements. Regardless of individual political views, it is now normalized for the highest offices to put the burden on the public to figure out what is true. This requires people to use tremendous mental energy trying to: 💭 Determine which version of a statement is operative 💭Predict how to safely respond 💭Navigate the gap between what is said and what is meant 💭Maintain stability while processing contradictions This cognitive and emotional labor isn't just exhausting - it's trauma-activating. Many people developed these hypervigilant reading-between-the-lines skills as survival mechanisms with caregivers, authority figures, or intimate partners in previous unsafe environments. The cost of constant recalibration is both personal and organizational. Given the prevalence of violence and abuse in our world, we can assume that people are carrying layers of trauma. As leaders, even (or especially) when we are surrounded by toxic examples, we can activate our influence to: 💡 Recognize how our communication style impacts psychological safety 💡Commit to consistency and transparency in our words and actions 💡Acknowledge that navigational stress affects different team members differently based on their lived experiences 💡Actively reduce unnecessary cognitive load through clear, reliable communication and follow-through True organizational health requires understanding these invisible dynamics. When we create environments where people don't have to expend energy decoding mixed messages or bracing for shifts, we free up that energy for innovation, collaboration, and genuine engagement. What invisible forms of emotional labor are you becoming aware of in your organization? How do you reduce unnecessary cognitive load for your teams? #OrganizationalCulture #PsychologicalSafety #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #EmotionalIntelligence #TraumaInformed #Inclusion

Reflections on holidays and days and hashtags and humanity: Dreaming of a day when pandemics are prevented, science is borderless, and no lives are stigmatized When people over profit returns to the norm, organizations don’t have to beg for scraps to provide essential services, and abundance is community safety When gratitude is a way of life, and the truth of the lands we are on untwists at the roots letting the soft light reach. #WorldAIDSDay #GivingTuesday #Thanksgiving

Content warning: #femicide #intimatepartnerviolence How can anyone stay silent? This does not happen in a vaccum. #InternationalDayforthe EliminationofViolenceagainstWomen https://lnkd.in/efcaVpX7

This morning someone sent me this #goodnews about the girls champion wrestling team of Alexandria City Public Schools, where I grew up. Circa 1980s, I had tried to start a girls wrestling team. Not because I even remotely had the skills, but because I hated the unit in gym where the boys got to practice wrestling while the girls were sent to something called “Slimnastics.” 🙄 Yes really!I have always been someone who bristled against having to do things based on who others perceived me to be. 🤼♂️ A forward-thinking gym teacher said “If you can find someone in your weight class, we can propose it." I couldn't find anyone then. But seeing today’s champion girls wrestlers is a reminder: change comes from the people, and momentum can be blocked but it doesn’t stop. 🌱 There’s another positive in this story. Someone knew to send me this article today because they knew and loved that middle school girl I was, and where to find me now. 💡This is nothing to take for granted. This kind of connective tissue is among the incalculable loss in a world where so many are forced to leave their communities to survive or when their homes and communities are destroyed. 📖Everyone deserves to thrive in support built over generations, in a place where their stories can unfold and be remembered. 🏆Congratulations to this winning team! May we all continue to progress, and recognize the interdependence that it takes to survive and thrive. PS: My brother DID become the champion wrestler in the family 😂 #OrganizationalChange #SocialJustice #Community #AcesTooHigh #Trauma-informed