The word Access represents a lot at OutGrowth. When I built this company three years ago, my aim was to create a bridge between communities through shared immersive experience. I knew that students and professionals needed access to novel experiences that could change the way they approached their life and work. I knew that communities and small businesses needed access to know-how and resources that could make them more sustainable. I knew that what we have access to heavily influences our choices, and that by simply presenting a new option or a new approach, we can change the way we live. I understood the tremendous power in accessing new, unrealized parts of ourselves, and how venturing to walk across that bridge into the unknown creates who we are. So this month, we celebrate Access. It is now 2021, and so we focus on how we can access and unlock parts of ourselves that deserve a voice. We reflect on how we can continue to build a bridge for others, so that they may have access to the opportunities, knowledge and skills needed to reach their true potential. And finally, we pledge to lay the groundwork so that others feel empowered to become their own bridge-builders. Our inspiring contributing writers and batch of monthly resources will help you take your first step today. Here's to a new year and a new chapter! Happy reading. Grow out with us. |
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The Sun Beam Motivational Speaker, Educator, and Award-Winning Spoken Word Poet, Joseph Green Upwards Access to Healing: The Opening of Doors by Cofounder of Sister Song Healing, Allie Fitzgibbon |
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OutGrowth Today Our Monthly Blogger Spotlight + OutGrowth's Top Tip for January The En Root Scoop On Creating Access- Our Top Ted Talk, Database and Book |
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It is 2008, and I am working the counter of my local gym making smoothies and methodically being killed by time. Barely three months into my recovery from a substance use disorder, I was eager to figure out what was next. Soon I would meet an English teacher named Brian Hannon, and we would go to co-create the creative writing organization poetryN.O.W. At the onset of our program, we kept running into the same problem. Willing teacher sponsors with no access to the tools with which to run a successful creative writing club. During the summer of our second year, we retreated to a coffee shop in Arlington and stitched together 40 writing workshops. This became our online curriculum that teachers could use for their clubs and their classrooms. We gave it away for free to any teacher who wanted it, regardless of their interest in starting a writing club. As our organization grew, we merged with another youth-serving organization out of DC called Split This Rock(STR). Our work at STR allowed us an audience with 100's of local schools and over 500 national organizations that also downloaded the workshops. It brings me joy imagining the thousands of writing pieces born of that summer in the coffee shop and our decision to make it free. It's not entirely an act of altruism. I want to raise my children in a world of creative, critical thinkers. To make that idea a reality, I seek to make as much knowledge accessible for free as possible. What is the value of shared knowledge? In the face of the pandemic, YouTube taught me how to record high-quality videos to send out to teachers to better reach students where they were. Endless conversations with well-read friends and free podcasts on road trips have led down endless paths of intellectual inquiry. I meet my wife because of a recipe I found on Pinterest. The Smithsonian museums lit my son's imagination and fed his passion for earth sciences. |
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It is twelve years since my days serving smoothies. I am doubling down on the belief that access to knowledge is vital and should not be impeded by financial restraints. Today, Jan 1, 2021, LMSvoice, the educational consulting company I started three years ago, is launching the next evolution of those 40 workshops with the new LMSvoice Educational and Wellness Resource website. It consists of an ever-expanding library of video workshops and our flagship curriculum- LMSvoice Poetry Curriculum Database. This searchable collection of writing and analytical workshops focuses on poems by a diverse array of socially-engaged artists. In addition to regularly updating the poetry curriculum, we will add at least one new curriculum every month on a myriad of topics ranging from mental health literacy to peacebuilding. Each program is created in partnership with subject matter experts. You can now access our Poetry Curriculum Database at www.LMScurriculum.com Joseph Green is a motivational speaker, educator, trainer, professional storyteller, award-winning spoken word poet, and a person in long-term recovery. More important than those facts are that he is the father of Henry and August and husband to Angelique. |
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In an unjust world, access is one of the main antidotes. From the redlining of Baltimore City (racial segregation that, by design, left Black and Brown neighborhoods underfunded and stripped of resources), to the disparity in education, mass incarceration, lack of affordable healthcare, and food deserts - access is the answer. A little about me: I am an intuitive energy worker, medium, musician, and all-around creative. My sister Abby and I co-founded Sister Song Healing, a small practice where we offer energy healing, tarot readings, and community healing circles. We are invested in removing any blockages that may keep our clients from accessing this magnificent healing power. One of the ways we show up is by offering no-cost sessions to Black and Indigenous clients, people of Color, and our Trans loved ones. We believe that with all that is already kept inaccessible to these communities, inner healing shouldn’t be one of them. We also have regular promotions where a portion of our paying clients’ sessions is donated to organizations tackling these same issues. Heal yourself, heal the world!
We are excited to share what we do because we LOVE IT! We love connecting with our clients' needs, offering a listening ear for all they want to share. In sessions, we are able to tap into our mediumship abilities and draw on healing wisdom from their ancestors and messages from loved ones on the other side. We connect with our client’s energy body and are able to visualize their struggle in a new way, and then take healing messages back to them. The post session debrief is incredibly exciting, as we piece together all we saw and experienced with our client. Even in the time of COVID-19, we are able to offer our sessions virtually, at a safe distance. We have witnessed how that distance is no obstacle in the potency of our sessions. It is truly a magnificent process to behold and play a part in and we get to witness the groundedness and clarity that graces our clients as a result of our time together, which in turn brightens our lives. |
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We want everyone to access this healing, so we accept trades and offer our services on a sliding scale. As mentioned above we also each have one no-cost session per week for our BIPOC and Trans friends. For those who can pay, that helps us be able to sustain ourselves and continue this incredible work. Access your inner world, witness how magical you are! You have the ability to heal yourself, and you don’t have to do it alone. You’d be surprised how many answers to your questions lie inside- in your heart, in your ancestry, in your inner worlds. What healing messages await you? We will make sure nothing stands in your way of accessing them. Want to try a mini session? Email us at SisterSongHealing@gmail.com with the code- AccessToGrowth and you can schedule a 1 hour energy healing session for $44! Check us out at www.SisterSongHealing.com to read about all we offer! Allie Fitzgibbon is a Baltimore native who creates music and is incredibly invested in the healing transformation of our world. She is cofounder of Sister Song Healing - an energy-healing practice offering individual sessions, tarot readings and musical meditation as well as a monthly community healing circle. She also creates mystical music with her five-piece electric band- GingerWitch. Love, creativity and healing guide her through this strange and vibrant world. |
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| | Monthly Blogger Spotlight "Accepting Each Moment" by Ori Gutin 'Accept each moment exactly as it is, whether good or bad. It is in our aversion to the bad times, and our clinging to the good times, that we create most of our unhappiness. Remember, each moment whether good or bad, is impermanent, and will pass. Allow yourself to feel each moment fully while it's there.' Ori is an east coast transplant currently living in Berkeley, CA. He is currently working to get his Masters in Counseling Psychology at The Wright Institute in the hopes of becoming a youth therapist. Outside of his studies, Ori is a budding children’s book author, having just released his debut picture book, The Butterfly Who Flew in the Rain, a mindful educator, an Ironman athlete, a Vipassana meditator, and an avid traveler, adventurer, and nature lover. Follow Ori’s latest releases on Instagram, or by signing up for his newsletter: www.orisstories.com/newsletter | | |
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| | OutGrowth's Top Tip On Access: Take 5 Minutes OutGrowth is all about building bridges, but when it comes down to it, building a bridge can be much simpler than we realize. When we take a closer look at the concept of access, we can clearly see how, bottom line, real systematic change is needed in order to provide true access- to resources and to opportunities across all communities and income levels. That said, there are many ways that we can create small-scale change today. How are you sharing your industry knowledge with people and communities who could benefit? How are you creating connections at work and within your circles so that others can build strong networks? As a leader, how can you amplify the voices of your colleagues? Yes, major systematic changes are needed, but on an individual basis, we have the power to promote access, and we can do it in five minutes or less. | | |
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'With his work with Libraries without Borders as his foundation, Chang discusses the differences in access and accessibility and what is required for a movement to reach their entire intended audience. Allister Chang is the Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders, a non-profit whose mission is to reinforce the autonomy of disadvantaged communities by expanding access to educational and cultural tools.' | | |
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In the words of Joseph Green, "This searchable collection of writing and analytical workshops focuses on poems by a diverse array of socially-engaged artists. In addition to regularly updating the poetry curriculum, we will add at least one new curriculum every month on a myriad of topics ranging from mental health literacy to peacebuilding. Each program is created in partnership with subject matter experts." | | |
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'The father of the new science of positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it. Offering many simple techniques, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an “I—give-up” habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style for interpreting your behavior, and experience the benefits of a more positive interior dialogue. These skills can help break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and make you happier.' | | |
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