Resources Library
Here you’ll find over 10 hours of video resources including the 6 Week Introduction to Resilience course, bonus live events, and one-off workshops and exercises. Have a browse and let us know if there is anything else you would like to see here.
If, through your involvement in the Rest of Activism or at any point generally, you realise that you are in need of therapeutic support please take a look at the Climate Psychology Alliance’s website that has a comprehensive list of climate-informed therapists and which offers three therapy sessions for free. This resource is aimed at people in the UK, US and Canada but does not exclude those from other countries. You may also signpost any members or people within your networks here if you are concerned about their wellbeing.
6 Week Introduction to Personal Resilience
This six week course was the original pilot of the Rest of Activism (known then as the Wellbeing Membership). Have a listen for a better understanding of some of the stories and theories that underpin the approaches I use in the membership.
Week 1: Watch this half hour Introduction to Resilience video from our first session, giving an overview of the approaches that will inform the techniques shared throughout the membership.
Week 2: Watch this powerful talk from the amazing youth activist Katie Hodgetts all about ecological activism, mental health and burnout. You can find out more about Katie’s organisation supporting young activists, The Resilience Project, here.
Week 3: Catch up on this 20 minute session on Eco-Anxiety; What is it and how do we work with it?
Week 4: Listen to Mark Leonard talk on Mindfulness, agency, and social change. This session includes a 7 minute exercise drawing from the metta bhavana meditation practice.
Week 5: In our fifth session, we focus on ways we can cultivate self-compassion as a boost to our resilience levels.
Week 6: Our final session.
Meditations, Workshops & Exercises
Working with our Climate Guilt - a mini workshop
Why are boundaries so great? Jo talks about why setting boundaries are so important for wellbeing.
A short meditation based on the 5-4-3-2-1 technique to help us ground when things are feeling especially stressful.
The Hero’s Journey Part One The stages of the Hero’s Journey,
Heroes Journey Part Two Are there limitations to seeing ourselves as heroes? What happens when we get stuck in hero mode? And what can we do about it?
Processing COP26 Part One Using the first 2 parts of Joanna Macy’s spiral from ‘The Work That Reconnects’ to discuss and process reactions to the work done at COP26.
Processing COP Part Two In this session we revisited Joanna Macy's 'spiral' to work through our feelings and experiences during COP26. The poem that is shared at the end but not included in the recording is 'Impossible' by Harry Baker.
Meditation with Vivian Winterhoff
2nd Meditation with Vivian Winterhoff
Building resilience to shame and how it affects our climate work. To learn more about the Power of Vulnerability (mentioned in the workshop) by Brené Brown watch her TED Talk.
Short Stress Exercise An introduction to a breath exercise that can alleviate stress in as short a time as 10 seconds when used regularly throughout your day.
Tension Release An 8 minute exercise to release tension from your body and ground in the present moment.
Reduce Stress A 10 minute exercise taken from the Positive Intelligence Coaching Framework to reduce stress by helping us to see that we can convert any of our everyday stresses into a gift.
Seminar Videos
(Seminar videos are hosted on YouTube - clicking will open a tab to my YouTube feed)
Becoming a Joy-Fuelled Activist
An introductory workshop to support climate activists to fuel ourselves, our work and our life with joy.
Constantly facing into the climate crisis as a climate activist or professional can leave us feeling overworked, overwhelmed and even despairing of the meaningfulness of our efforts. The risk of burnout on a planet that is burning, is high and if we’re not careful, this is where fear-fuelled activism can easily take us.
Joy-fuelled activism, on the other hand, enables us to embody sustainability from the inside out. Joy-fuelled activism sustains us by putting the very things we are fighting so hard to protect at the heart of everything we do.
It reduces our risk of burnout and enables us to live our lives more fully in spite of all that is unfolding, even unraveling, in the world. And in so doing our message to the world becomes an irresistible invitation to be part of something beautiful.
A Virtual Pilgrimage through Climate Sorrow
I spent 10 days walking 160km along the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route in Spain. I walked as a way of navigating my increasing sense of climate sorrow, and it was a truly profound and healing experience.
In this virtual pilgrimage we created our own journey through and even beyond climate sorrow, from the comforts of our own homes. Please ensure you're sat comfortably where you won't be disturbed (if possible); you might find it useful to have a notepad and pen handy, and also a rounded rock, pebble or weighted item to hold in your hand.
Is there time for Self-Care in a Climate Emergency?
As the window of opportunity to halt climate change grows ever tighter, it would not be surprising to find ourselves wondering if there is really time for self-care in a climate emergency. Additionally, emerging from lockdown, many of us experienced challenges in this current pandemic that have had unprecedented and profound impacts on our wellbeing. With that in mind, back in July 2021, I hosted an evening with award-winning author, Minna Salami, British MP Tim Loughton and Maddy Carroll of the European Climate Foundation.
Each of our panellists gave a short overview of their understanding of the interplay between self-care and the climate emergency, followed by questions from Jo as chair, and the final 45 minutes for Q and A from the audience.
Take a look at the recording above (click the image) to hear some wonderful insights on self-care in a climate emergency.
