GAB SUMMARY: PROSPECTIVE OPEN NIGHT FOR DISCUSSION
December 17 2019
The meeting last night I feel was therapeutic for the adults in the room. It was a chance for everyone to “reband” together and realize that we all have a common goal. Everyone has a different perspective, which will only strengthen the cause as we move forward. I do think we should have more open nights like this moving forward. A chance for people to share out, express, validate feelings, and brainstorm ideas of how to “fix”. After all, it’s our kids we are saving.
I am a bit remiss that (I) didn’t head down with the kids and do some of the same conversation with them. Let them talk in that setting, express, validate, give their ideas to help fix. It’s a missed opportunity that I hope we can recreate moving forward. Creating that safe space where they feel important and listened to. Sort of like a mini session of the Peer Ambassador program on site. Again, opportunity missed last night. Hopefully, these open house Mondays will be able to allow this to happen moving forward. Maybe with the adults in one space and the kids in another.
That being said, those who would like to be a part of a more succinct, executive type planning meeting, where we can focus on message, growth, logistics, and upcoming events, training and the like, please put your name in. Alongside of that, we can plan and facilitate more nights like last night for both the adults and the kids. It was very helpful and needed. (We are also going to need some sort of “titles” of what to call those nights/sessions, so that there is a clear understanding of what we are there for).
I know we sort of ignored the kids last night. I hope they weren’t too put off by that. Hopefully they will come back one more time to give us a try. Let us show them that we are there mostly for THEM. We can then re-open the communication between the adults and kids and help the adults reconnect with their kids.
Bullying is a passionate, gut wrenching issue with sometimes extreme results. It tears apart our kid’s mental view of the world, it creates cynicism and disdain for how they see the world, and it destroys community in its wake. It not only bewilders parents, but it causes pain in their hearts – to see their life’s work, their kids, lose faith in the world and the adults around them which in turn crushes hope, destroys trust, and isolates purpose. Hopefully we can do some stuff here to change that tac, sail off in a new direction, more than one kid at a time (I don’t think we have time to focus on one at a time anymore). Let’s do this.
Thanks for reading, and Godspeed to Upstanders!