Life changing opportunity to develop the essential emotional and psychological skills to be a transforming influence in the world.

Problem

Social change agents need to develop the emotional and psychological skills to be a transforming influence on the world today. It takes inner strength to get out of the cycle of burn-out, reactive righteousness and hopelessness. It takes commitment to develop the intra-personal, relational, self-care and spiritual skills that make activism effective and sustainable.

Solution

The Inner Activist is an innovative adult education initiative serving change makers. We help the people that have chosen to dedicate their lives in spiritual service to others. Our programs are designed to support change makers to be the best they can be, given that they work cross culturally, with limited resources and a constant sense of urgency and overwhelm. We support the spirit of service that brings them to this work and their need to be sustainable for themselves, their organizations and the work itself. We serve the servers. Founded in 2006, our initial research culminated in a report entitled "Chronicle of Progress", identifying specific service gaps that change agents identified as being critical to their success. Subsequently, we developed curriculum weaving a combination of personal development approaches and practices with a deep understanding of the critical analysis of systemic barriers to social justice, ecological balance and environmental sustainability.

Example

Our programing consists of a combination of residential and online programs to support change agents. We designed five residential workshops focused on critical needs of change agents including: • Building Personal Mastery • Building Strong & Respectful Relationships • Building Conscious Use of Power • Building Common Ground and Capacity for Social Change • Building Sustainability • Inner Essential cCourse The cost of the residential programs are out of reach for many change agents, so we also developed the Inner Essential eCourse delivered at a modest cost to anyone who identifies themselves as a change agent. It was designed by highly experienced personal development curriculum leaders with the intention that any change agent could benefit from our concepts in the comfort of their own home. It is a self paced 52 week program that delivers a "mission" each week on a specific topic of relevance to change work. What are people saying about our programs? "All activists could benefit from an opportunity to shine light into their personal “dark spots” and gain both insights and tools to build genuinely sustainable activist practices." - Deblekha Guin, Executive Director, Access to Media Education Society "The Inner Activist program builds an environment where you learn practical tools as well as deepen your own emotional understanding of the world you want to live in and see being made possible for everyone around you. It challenges you to be and do better starting by looking at yourself." - Hawa Mire, Executive Director, Leave Out Violence

Marketplace

Our peers include Hollyhock, Rockwood Institute, Process Work Institute, Haven Institute, The Work That Reconnects, NVC to name a few. However, our curriculum is unique because it weaves a combination of personal development approaches and practices with a deep understanding of the critical analysis of systemic barriers to social justice, ecological balance and environmental sustainability. This approach arises out of our research which culminated in a report entitled "Chronicle of Progress" (see www.inneractivist.com/inner-resources). It identified specific service gaps change agents believed were critical to their success. Our program continues to informed by prominent activists and leading personal development facilitators who have a lived experience of being a social change agent.