Wellness Check
Staying Grounded While Leading Through Uncertainty
Wellness Check
Earlier this month I implemented Wednesday Wellness Checks with my department.
My department is 71% transgender and gender nonconforming and 57% people of color. Everyone is reeling. Traumatized. Three team members, including myself, don’t have access to their passports, which are being held by the federal government. Others watch members of their community rounded up in handcuffs by ICE. Leaders across our organization are navigating enormous levels of direct and indirect trauma one moment, then troubleshooting operational challenges, providing patient care, and running team meetings the next.
This is not normal. It never should be. And yet, this is the current reality for mission-driven leaders across the country.
From lawyers to USAID workers, business leaders, and advocates, the last three weeks have presented unprecedented challenges to what resilient leadership looks like. We are traumatized and retraumatized every hour by the news, by events unfolding around us, and we have no choice but to digest and absorb. It’s hard not to move through each day in utter shock. How do you create resources for communities needing answers when everyone is navigating this for the first time? How do you motivate staff when it’s hard to get out of bed? And how will we sustain the work when existential dread looms over us like a cloud?
While the answers to these questions are daunting, thousands of people across the country are waking up, drinking their coffee, and getting shit done.
Resilience is possible. There are tools for our success. Accessing them requires intentionality, practice, and so much grace with ourselves. Where do we begin?
Ground Yourself in What Is True
Three weeks ago, I sat with people from across the country at Creating Change, hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force. I attended a session led by K. Thomas, LPCC, NCC, on trauma-informed leadership. Several truths from that session stuck with me, reverberating long after I left, echoing the wisdom of adrienne marie brown, bell hooks, and Parker Palmer. Their words have been scribbled on paper and taped to my wall over the last two years–a source of truth when my well runs a bit dry and I feel untethered.
Our experiences of trauma are real and valid. Trauma alters our brain chemistry, nervous systems, and physiology. In short, we’re not making this up. Our experiences are valid.
We all deserve safety. Everything rests on physical and psychological safety. In a world of increasingly organized and well-funded hate against transgender people, this truth is not a given. Safety is critical.
Rest is critical. Without it, we cannot heal, grow, or sustain the work. We have to slow down. We are not the only act in town.
We have accountability to our community and to each other. Now is the time to show up, to put our foot on the gas, and to lean into the transformation necessary to take our work to the next level.
Find strength in evolution. My life isn’t comprised of different chapters, but entirely different stories. All things change. Move through resistance to find opportunity. It’s okay to move slowly, but we must adapt to survive. Be like water.
Resilience is possible and all around us. When our communities are under siege, it’s easy to lose sight of that, but we just have to look for it. Every win—whether it’s a critical judicial ruling, a successfully executed program, or a moment of repair after harm is caused—buoys us to the next right action.
Change How You Spend Your Time
As I’ve worked to acknowledge the level of trauma so many are experiencing, I’ve realized we need to think about our time differently. What you need may be different, but here’s what’s on my list:
Slowing down. My energy is at 75% of what it usually is, and my focus is shot. On Monday, I came into work, stared at my computer for 20 minutes, and realized I just couldn’t focus. I closed my laptop at 1 p.m., napped for two hours, and then hit the golf course. On a coaching call this week, I was told—plain and simple—to add two-hour blocks to my calendar that are non-negotiable and just for me. If we don’t slow down, our bodies will do it for us.
Checking in. Our teams are not okay. From team meetings to one-on-ones to conversations with cross-functional colleagues, creating structured and unstructured ways for people to share how they’re doing has been critical. This has surfaced not only the specific ways the political environment is impacting individual work but also the practical tools people need to achieve their goals.
Expressing appreciation. As often as I can, I make sure to tell people they’re doing a good job. I said this to my bosses in a recent 2:1, and they literally stopped in their tracks. Perhaps no one had said it to them in a long time. Everyone deserves to hear it, and research shows it makes a difference.
Breaking problems down, step by step. The challenges we face are complex and systemic, professional and personal. The need for thoughtful, adaptive leadership has never been greater. But knowing where to stop and being able to interrupt our own and our team’s spiraling is critical to effectively moving forward.
We are living in an era of immense challenge. But resilience is not just possible—it’s necessary. Grounding myself in what is true and changing how I am spending my time is enabling me to keep moving forward. What’s helping you?