Jo Musker-Sherwood, the Founder Director of Hope for the Future, is my guest on this episode of Coaching Conversations. Jo is one of the special people that I have been fortunate to encounter through my commitment to talking with guests who are supporting people to face into the climate and ecological emergencies. Hope for the Future, the organisation that Jo left just before lockdown last year, is an organisation dedicated to supporting people to engage their MPs on these issues.
As Jo explains, rather than taking an adversarial approach, which works in certain lobbying settings, Hope for the Future views 1:1 meetings with an MP differently;
It’s about cultivating empathy, taking a coaching approach, understanding the emotional blockages of an MP. Quite a lot of that is around eco-anxiety and training people to unlock those blockages is what we did.
Jo and I talk about how she came to be the first director of Hope for the Future and why, as it was becoming very successful, she left to establish her own business, Climate. Emergence. She had experienced burnout and seeing parallels with her own emotional collapse experience and the potential for earth’s systems collapse, she committed to sharing with others what she had learned. She now offers ‘a place where we can process what on earth is happening to us and our planet.’
I think that one of the primary tools that we have at our disposal when we try facing an issue that we can’t control [as I did] is to engage with that challenge by finding meaning in the process… It is one of the tools that we have at our disposal to build resilience for climate change, you know, where can I find my small bit of the jigsaw puzzle. I love writing and that’s part understanding our narrative and our story of what’s happening.
Jo publishes a weekly blog and mentors people to be able to continue to live fully whilst also living with the unfolding crisis. One of her beliefs is that we have everything we need within ourselves to halt catastrophic climate change. She recommends a four ‘Gs’ self-care plan for living with the climate and ecological emergencies:
Grace – truly connect with being enough as you are through a daily stillness practice;
Grounding – through daily contact with nature;
Gratitude – keep your heart open for the ten things that you’re grateful for each day;
Growth – by journaling as the story unfolds.
Jo’s own journaling means that that there is a book, a memoir of her recovery to look out for, though not just yet.
Mentioned in this podcast
Jo’s links
Climate.Emergence:http://climateemergence.co.uk
Hope for the Future http://hftf.org.uk
Other links
Climate Coaching Alliance http://climatecoachingalliance.org
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