In a time of multiple crises, all people are challenged. In particular people who volunteer or work full-time for a strong society and a sustainable environment need stability and healthy working conditions.
Our approach
By the term wellbeing, we mean the ability to deal mindfully and consciously with inner tensions that arise from increased perceptions of complexity and uncertainty. This includes developing a new balance between our basic needs of security and freedom.
The world of work is also increasingly changing, and with it health prevention, especially for social entrepreneurs working in coworking spaces or organized in networks. Through long-term research, the well:being program pilots health promotion in new forms of work in small and micro enterprises and coworking spaces.
betterplace well:being 2.0
The revised betterplace well:being program started at the beginning of March 2023 and will run until the end of 2024. In the last two years of program work, on the one hand, we have been able to gather insights into how the five-part workshop program affects those engaged. On the other hand, we were able to ask representatives of the target group about the circumstances and their specific needs. Evaluation 2020-22
We translate this into three pillars in the new run:
Pillar 1: The basic workshops for volunteers and full-time employees.
Pillar 2: a research phase in which we aim to expand the target groups and reach more people
Pillar 3: The "Community Health Manager" training program, which advocates for health care in hubs, coworking spaces and social entrepreneurs organized in networks.
Pillar 1: Workshops for socially engaged people
With our five-part workshop program, we want to support volunteers and people who engage for social change. Each workshop lasts three hours and contains a mixture of impulses from the trainers, reflection exercises in small groups and elements of bodywork. You want to know what to expect? Then take a look at some experience reports. You can either participate as an individual or pack your whole team and go on a journey together. The individual workshops build on each other in terms of content, so it makes sense to attend them one after the other.
The five modules build on each other.
Once again at a glance:
- 5 beginner workshops for inner strengthening
- open to all participants who engage in full-time or do voluntary work
- in German and partly English language
- duration of one workshop: 3 hours
- time period for participation in all 5 workshops: approx. 3 months
- workshops are repeated more often, so that a longer period for participation is possible
- mainly digital, partly also analog at bUm - space for engaged civil society in Berlin
The next workshops will start in autumn. Sign up for our info letter - here you will be the first to know about new dates.
Meet Yourself! (workshop 1/5)
Strengthen self-awareness on a mental, physical and emotional level
Only when we are in contact with ourselves can we make contact with others. Self-contact has at least three qualities: it is physical, emotional and mental. In the first part of the workshop, participants practice perceiving themselves on all three levels. Then, participants look at their relationship to two of the most important basic human needs: On the one hand, we need a sense of belonging & security. On the other hand, we need autonomous self-expression and with it the feeling of innovation and change. In everyday (professional) life, inner tensions often arise, for example when our sense of security is shaken by a challenging project.
Here you learn to...
- perceive yourself on all three levels (physical, mental and emotional)
- find out how this perception changes in contact with others
- give a name to experienced sensations and to understand them better through well-founded psychological concepts
- name/describe the inner tension that arises when the basic needs for security and change come into conflict with each other
The right to exist (workshop 2/5)
Uncovering unconscious thought structures and pressure to perform in order to move from a more relaxed attitude into action.
In our society, we are used to defining ourselves by our "doing." We subconsciously believe that we are valuable or deserve to belong to a group if we achieve something. This often results in a demand on ourselves that is almost impossible to fulfill. In the work context, for example, this can manifest itself in the fact that we want to prove ourselves to colleagues and put ourselves under unnecessary pressure. But what happens when we really understand that we have a right to exist as human beings? That we are allowed to "be" even without achieving anything. From which motivation and attitude do we then act in the world?
Here you will learn to...
- uncover unconscious thought structures with regard to your striving for achievement
- create space within yourself to perceive that your right to exist is inviolable
- strengthen your contact with yourself in order to come into action from a relaxed attitude
Say no (workshop 3/5)
Better decisions through more contact with one's own will and "gut feeling".
Making decisions can sometimes be quite difficult. In order to know how we want to decide, we should know what we want. But how do we best find that out? How good is our connection to our "gut feeling"? And what happens when we actually feel that we already have enough to do, but colleagues ask us for a favor? Do we manage to refuse in a friendly way or do we go beyond our own limits? In this workshop, participants will improve their decision-making skills.
Here you will learn to...
- find out how easy or difficult it really is to say "no".
- how to make better decisions
- strengthen the contact to your will
Embodiment (workshop 4/5)
More energy and better decisions through a more mindful awareness of your own body.
Our body gives us strong signals and direct feedback on our behavior every day. Through it, we perceive how we are feeling at the moment and what we need. We do not always succeed in listening to our body's signals in everyday life. For example, we often smile even though we don't feel like it. This costs energy. In this workshop, participants will learn through various exercises how to show their inner authentic state to the outside world through good body awareness. This leaves more energy for the important things.
Here you will learn to...
- listen better to the signals of your body
- increase your energy level
- make decisions more easily
Meditation (workshop 5/5)
Get to know different meditation techniques and choose the one that suits you best.
Meditation is an often used tool of self contact. Because in silence we find back not only to ourselves, but also to what motivates and inspires us. Connecting deeply with ourselves in mindfulness offers the possibility of regulating our own nervous system, connecting more deeply with our own momentary experience, and thereby experiencing more inner focus and clarity. For many people, this is empowering. Participants* in the workshop will experience different meditation techniques and learn how to anchor them in their everyday work.
Here you will learn to...
- get to know different meditation techniques: breathing meditation, presence meditation, walking meditation
- choose the right meditation technique for you
- share with others the difficulties you may encounter while meditating
Pillar 2: Research on the target group
The program partners involved, consisting of BKK VBU, pronova BKK and Salus BKK, as well as the betterplace lab, have set their sights high: In the future, people who have not yet dealt with the workshop topics should be addressed within the target groups. For example, more males should be motivated to participate, as the proportion of females was significantly higher. Diversity among the participants and the inclusion of people with experiences of discrimination also represent an important concern in order to have a holistic and intersectional effect.
In the next program run, therefore, concrete research is to be conducted into how people with multiple stresses, people with experiences of discrimination and men in the social sector can be addressed in formats of prevention and health promotion at the workplace and what an offer must look like that is oriented towards their needs.
Pillar 3: Pilot "Community Health Manager*in/Lots*in"
The world of work is changing, and so is preventive health care. In recent years, the number of coworking spaces has risen sharply - in 2020, 1286 were counted in Germany.
Since many social entrepreneurs and socially engaged people work in professional environments where there is no classic company health management, it is up to their own efforts how and if they deal with their health. Through numerous interviews with the target group of small and micro entrepreneurs in the social sector and engaged people in network organizations, we know that there is a need for an interface in networks and coworking spaces that performs the functions of occupational health care.
That's why the betterplace lab is working with BKK VBU, Salus BKK and pronova BKK to develop the "Community Health Manager*in" training module for workplace health promotion and prevention. The newly trained "Community Health Managers" know the stresses, needs and wishes of their colleagues and are to become effective role models in non-profit (network) organizations or coworking spaces.
The betterplace well:being program is a project of the betterplace lab. The two pillars for the research of the target group and the development of the further education tool "Community Health Manager*in"/Lots*in are supported by the BKK∙VBU, pronova BKK and Salus BKK.
How can I stay up to date?
If you are interested in the workshop program, you can sign up for our info letter. We will then inform you about the latest developments of the program and the upcoming dates.
Team
project lead: Isabel Gahren isabel.gahren@betterplace-lab.org
As a freelance coach, trained psychological counselor and alternative practitioner of psychology, Bettina Rollow brings a great deal of experience in translating wellbeing approaches for everyday professional life. Through her trainings in Thomas Hübl's "Timeless Wisdom Training" and in Gestalt therapy, she has also gained several years of experience in guiding self-awareness. Together with Joana Breidenbach, she shows in the handbook "New Work Needs Inner Work" that every external change of structures and processes must necessarily be accompanied by an inner transformation.
Anjet Sekkat is a certified midwife and alternative practitioner of psychology. In her work as a trainer for Transparent Communication according to Thomas Hübl, she has been leading groups in self-awareness, meditation, communication and self-care since 2014. Furthermore, she has deepened these competencies in assisting the 3-year Timeless Wisdom training. She has been working as a mentor, coach and supervisor for different online programs (Conscious-U and Academy for Inner Science) since 2015. Furthermore, she has built up and is running a training and further education series for therapists* and coaches since 2015.
Jana Schmitz has been working as an M.Sc. Psychologist and Trauma Therapist (NARM) at the Heiligenfeld Clinics since 2015, first in Bavaria, since 2017 back in her hometown Berlin, where she accompanies people in both individual and group settings. She is trained in Transparent Communication according to Thomas Hübl and has built up her knowledge of consciousness and personal development as well as meditation in many seminars, workshops and trainings. She is currently completing her training as a process facilitator with a focus on New Work, self-organization and collective leadership, before beginning her licensure as a systemic psychotherapist in the fall.
Sucha Gesina Wolters holds a degree in education and has worked for many years as a lecturer and social worker in adult education. She is a trainer for communication in community building processes and trained in transparent communication according to Thomas Hübl. She works in her own practice and in a psychosomatic clinic as a SE therapist / trauma counselor according to Peter Levine and assists in SE training. She also works as a coach and supervisor for individuals, couples and groups.
Rivka Halbershtadt is a qualified somatic trainer with over 15 years of professional experience. She works with individuals, groups and teams to facilitate change in all areas of life. Through various approaches to bodywork (Biodanza, Shiatsu, Tui-na) Rivka's work aims to expand her clients' freedom of choice so they can discover and live out their potential. Her coaching sessions have a strong transformative character - both on the physical and spiritual level - and enable participants to integrate her insights into their everyday practice from the very beginning.
Rainer Höll is an executive coach, organizational developer and one of the pioneers of social entrepreneurship in Germany. He has worked in social change for 15 years and has personally advised and supported more than 100 social entrepreneurs all over Europe. Coaching clients typically work with him on difficult decisions, overwhelm, existential crisis, being on the brink of burnout, self-exploitation, conflict with their colleague, investor, the team, their co-leader.
Background: https://www.rainerhoell.net
Picture lighthouse: Simon Kiepe