Radical resourcing for environmental professionals, grassroots activists & the climate concerned.
In Spring 2021, I set up The Rest of Activism Membership to support professional activists to resist burnout and restore their joy in taking climate action. The programme, which has supported some of the UK’s most influential climate NGOs, is now also open to grassroots activists and climate concerned citizens!
Anger. Anxiety. Grief. Overwhelm. Frustration. Guilt. Despair.
If you’re awake to what is happening in the world right now, chances are you’re awake to these emotions too. Perhaps more than you would like to be.
Maybe you know that leaning into the climate crisis has the potential to unlock profound inner transformation within you, but you’re yearning for the community, guidance and regular resourcing we all need to facilitate our most resilient responses.
Many of us begin our activism fired up and eager to make a difference but have found ourselves ground down over time. For others of us, we want to do more but we don’t currently have it spare to give. Scary news headlines and global inaction can add further layers of immobilisation, until our joy at the prospect of making a difference can become the fear that maybe nothing we do matters anymore at all.
As ‘activists’ we might learn about campaigning, or living a low carbon lifestyle, but where do we learn how to sustain ourselves? And who is holding us whilst we seek to hold the world? What of taking time to enjoy all the very things we are fighting so hard to protect?
And that is the rest of activism. The filling up of our cups so that we can overflow, rather than emptying ourselves, to the world around us. It’s the art of the long-haul journey amidst a crisis that would have us sprinting every day.
I’m interested, tell me more…
The Rest of Activism is a community of activists exploring what it means to sustain joy amidst the sorrow of living on a planet in desperate need of healing. We meet weekly with structured space— half an hour— to fill up our cups and support each other to do the same.
I bring the meditations, reflections, visualisations and exercises that most help me as an activist, and you bring your authentic self. It’s a wonderful combination!
In addition to our weekly meetings, when you join the Rest of Activism membership you’ll also receive…
Access to a whole library of online resilience resources, including over 10 hours of recorded workshop content
Weekly resilience strategies AND regular ‘practice prompts’ mailings to support you in your self-care practice
Bonus sessions with guest speakers, such as mindfulness teachers and resilience specialists
The opportunity to buddy up with members to journey deeper together with guided discussion and accountability questions
Sounds great! What’s the investment?
I am delighted to be able to offer the membership to the first 120 climate concerned citizens for just £12 ($15) a month, due to grant funding!
The membership’s total monthly value (weekly live sessions, online courses, bonus workshops and meditations, monthly guided discussion and personal reflection questions etc) is £120 a month. For individuals within climate not-for-profits, however, I have been offering the membership for £35 a month.
This year, however, I applied and was successful in receiving funding that allows me to offer the membership to the first 120 grassroots activists and climate concerned citizens for just £12 ($15) a month!
That’s less than the price of a cup of coffee each week… and what’s more, if you sign up now you will be guaranteed that price for a lifetime.
Simply sign up using the button below to join :-)
“Work was my antidote to climate sorrow, and when I was too burned out to do that anymore I fell apart.”
A little bit about me…
Hi, I’m Jo and for six years I directed a small campaign to become one of the UK’s fastest growing climate charities influencing at all levels of government.
I loved it. Whenever I felt anxious about climate change, I turned up to my work feeling good that I could make a difference.
Until, I didn’t anymore.
I worked more and more, but felt less and less satisfied. Funding pressures took a grip, emails mounted up, I never switched off. I became jaded, cynical, hopeless. Then my body started talking to me. Before long, I was so burned out I couldn’t work and I found myself in and out of hospital with symptoms that doctors couldn’t get to the bottom of.
Work had been my antidote to my climate sorrow, and when I couldn’t do that anymore, I fell apart.
“I still grieve but it no longer takes away my joy. In fact, I’ve come to see it as a necessary part of it.”
This is the heavier side of environmental work. And whilst my example is a pretty extreme one, it can affect anyone and everyone with eyes to see what is happening in the world right now.
But here I am, on the other side, with my love of planet-care restored. Sure, I still grieve, get angry, have moments of despair. But it no longer immobilise me or takes away my joy. In fact, I have come to see it as a necessary part of it.
I am so excited to make this offering in the world! This membership is what I needed when I was burning out, and now it’s at the price I needed it to be when I could no longer work.
If you would like to join us you are so very welcome. Sign up using the link below…
Hope to see you soon!
Jo x
FAQ’s…
When are the weekly meetings and what happens if I can’t make them?
The membership meets at noon UK time (GMT/BST), for half an hour, every Thursday. The ‘input’ of every session (meditation, reflection, exercise, workshop) is recorded and available for you to re-watch or catch up on if you’re not able to make it. We don’t record the discussion part in order to maintain confidentiality. If you would like to join the membership but can’t make the normal meeting time, please get in touch with me here to discuss.
Is ‘restoring joy amid climate sorrow’ really possible, or even appropriate?
So much climate activism understandably focuses on urgency, scarcity and fear. These are important motivators, but over time we may find that operating from this place becomes unsustainable and impacts our ability to turn up in the world in the way we want to. Taking the time to restore our joy as an integral part of our sorrow about the state of the world helps mitigate these risks. And yes, it is my deep conviction that this leads to more resilient, sustainable and effective activism. We cannot cure a crisis with the same scarcity mindset that led to the self-focused and individualistic mindset that caused it. Finding our joy is one of the most powerful acts of resistance we can take as climate activists.
Can I join from outside of the UK?
Absolutely. We already have members from both the UK and US, and other members from all around the world are very welcome. Simply find out how ‘noon UK time’ translates into your own time zone, and join us for the live sessions. If the sessions don’t work for your time zone, please get in touch with me here to discuss.
What if I want to join but I’m already part of an environmental organisation?
This current membership offer is for anyone who is engaging with environmental issues and could not otherwise receive this kind of wellbeing support. So, even if you are employed to work on environmental issues as a professional, if you’re employer is not providing this kind of support you are still very welcome to join. If you think your employer would be interested in providing this kind of support— and perhaps even for others in your organisation— please get in touch with me here to find out more.
What if I want to join but don’t consider myself an ‘activist’?
I have a very loose understanding of the word activism. It is my understanding that activism is more of a personal identity than something we do. If you care about the planet, if you’re hurting because the planet is hurting and if you want to see that change— even if you don’t have capacity to do much about that right now— then you are very welcome in this membership.
Who else is in the membership?
The membership has been piloted for the past year with a range of professional climate activists from some of the UK’s most influential environmental NGOs. Now that the Rest of Activism is open to the general public, our community is growing so that membership will be a mixture of professional and grassroots activists, and members of the general public. We’ll be a diverse community from across the world with a whole range of perspectives, insights and experiences. If you’ve any questions about whether you feel you’re a good fit for the membership, you are very welcome to get in touch with me here to discuss.
How much will I be expected to share from my own feelings and experiences?
There’s absolutely no obligation to share anything within the membership that you don’t want to share. This isn’t group therapy and you will not be asked to take a deep dive into your emotions or experiences unless you want to. If you want mainly to listen, your presence exactly as you are is welcome. If you want to share, your contribution in that way is welcome too.
What if I want to cancel my membership?
You can cancel your membership at any time and without giving any notice. Simply go to the members area and cancel— no questions asked.
