Chris Corrigan Menu
  • Blog
  • Services
    • What I do
    • How I work
  • Resources
    • Books in my library
    • Facilitation Resources
    • Open Space Resources
      • Planning an Open Space Technology Meeting
  • Courses
  • About
    • Books and Papers
    • CV and Client list
    • Music
    • Who I am
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Services
    • What I do
    • How I work
  • Resources
    • Books in my library
    • Facilitation Resources
    • Open Space Resources
      • Planning an Open Space Technology Meeting
  • Courses
  • About
    • Books and Papers
    • CV and Client list
    • Music
    • Who I am
  • Contact

Studying what makes recovery possible

June 28, 2010 By Chris Corrigan Appreciative Inquiry, BC, Facilitation

A key part of supporting community resilience lies in accentuating what is working in communities, giving it attention and putting to use.  Today my friend Jerry Nagel wrote from Minnesota to ask for advice about what to do with some of the communities who have been devastated by tornadoes in the last week.  My reply:

Might be useful to go through an appreciative process of studying what happened to get people back on their feet.  What aspect about our community made it possible to look after those who lost their homes?  What stories of response do we need to harvest and celebrate and what do those tell us about our community?  Where did those values come from and how as a community can we support the continued development and practice of those values as we rebuild?  I would keep the questions quite grounded on people’s personal experiences and not do too much abstract reflection while the need and hurt is still very close to the surface.  The point of appreciative inquiry at this point is to surface the stories of life in the community and harvesting them so that the community knows its intangible assets better.
I have done similar inquiries in communities that have been hit by tragedies like suicides and chronic drug use or violence.  It helps a lot with the healing and it harvests what’s working to put all of that to use.
Communities do this anyway.  With the perspective of time, everyone will tell the stories of how we came together and what worked and how we survived it.  For those that arrive in the community from this time on, they will always be “outsiders” to some extent for not having gone through the experience with others.

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Share
  • Tweet
Shocking!
Scrubbed clean...details to follow
Find Interesting Things
Events
  • Art of Hosting Fall 2023 with Caitlin Frost, Kelly Poirier and Kris Archie Vancouver or Bowen Island, BC Canada.
  • Complexity from the Inside Out with Caitlin Frost, April - June 2023
Resources
  • A list of books in my library
  • Facilitation Resources
  • Open Space Resources
  • Planning an Open Space Technology meeting
SIGN UP

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
  

Find Interesting Things

© 2015 Chris Corrigan. All rights reserved. | Site by Square Wave Studio