Belonging Matters Foundations

Many systems, policies, practices and even attitudes and behaviours are outdated and contribute to the social and environmental challenges facing our communities and our world. More and more leaders recognize what does not work and seek a fresh approach to build connected communities for meaningful action.

The Belonging Matters Foundations five-part training series provides practical tools and approaches to build cultures of belonging. Adopting these foundational steps is essential to engage diversity, unleash dormant talents, and ignite collaboration in order to address complex social problems.

Roadmap for Community Change

We all know top-down solutions to our most complex social problems are no longer viable. And bottom-up approaches tend to amplify voices but rarely achieve lasting system change.

In this training, Jessie Sutherland will share insights from over 30 years of designing, facilitating and supporting community-led change processes locally, nationally and internationally.

Her 5-step proven roadmap has a track record of creating lasting personal and system change and has reached over 2.5 million people around the globe.

In Roadmap for Community Change, participants will learn where and how to focus their efforts for the greatest impact in their social change efforts.

Upon completion of this training, participants will have a clear plan to bridge the gap between people with lived experience and system influencers so that, together, they can facilitate lasting personal and system change in addressing their priority social problems in their unique context.

CREATE YOUR COMMUNITY CHANGE PLAN

Being a Belonging Champion

Many social and environmental change efforts fail or get side-tracked because of infighting due to polarized positions, lack of intercultural awareness and understanding, or unexpected changes in the wider community.

How people respond to personal, workplace and community challenges can either build belonging or inadvertently fuel divisions.

In this training, participants will re-exam their beliefs about the world and their values while learning a new approach to responding to these challenges.

talk to jessie about building belonging

Essential Worldview Skills For a Rapidly Changing World

Often, the conflict and exclusion we encounter, both individually and in communities, is due to a lack of understanding around worldviews and how to approach highly-charged, values-based conversations.

Worldviews transcend all sectors. Whether we are looking at the need to create long-term change in our workplace, our community, our families or within ourselves, worldviews are key.

In this training, participants will learn what a worldview is, why it matters, and how to use their new awareness to support long-term transformative change in individuals, organizations, and communities.

gaiN essential worldview skills

Addressing Racism From The Inside Out

When racism is not dealt with effectively, the stress wreaks havoc in our families, workplaces and communities. Relationships are damaged, trust eroded, and conflict becomes more deeply rooted and protracted (which translates to “much more difficult to resolve”).

In this training, participants will learn how to address racism effectively from within themselves, as bystanders and as targets to help create safe, respectful workplaces and community cultures.

address racism effectively

How to Unleash Dormant Talents

The key to building true belonging is learning to listen in new ways, act on what we hear and build supportive networks.

In this training, participants will deepen their capacity to listen for worldviews, strengths and needs. And most importantly, they’ll generate creative ideas to address needs through individual and group strengths.

The tools presented in this training will unleash dormant talents in any group and have the potential, if used skillfully, to generate actionable innovation.

talk to jessie about strength-focused ideas

About Jessie Sutherland, Director

An international speaker, trainer, and consultant, Jessie Sutherland works with organizations and workplaces to engage diversity, build belonging and ignite intercultural collaboration.

Recipient of BC Community Achievement Award (2023), her approach creates sustainable community change that effectively addresses complex social problems.

Jessie Sutherland, Director of Intercultural Strategies

Jessie’s work has been delivered in over eight languages and has taken her across Canada and around the world to support workplaces in their efforts to address challenging issues including workplace inclusion, poverty, homelessness, the overdose crisis, elder abuse, reconciliation, youth engagement and more. Many of her clients go on to win awards for their work in engaging diversity and fostering collaboration for sustainable and lasting change.

As founder of the organization Intercultural Strategies, Jessie helps leaders and groups build cultures of belonging to create change in an inclusive and positive way. She is the innovator of the award-winning Belonging Matters framework and community change model designed to change mindsets, deepen interconnections, impart greater social capital and build stronger workplaces.

Jessie holds a M.A in Dispute Resolution, is a TEDx speaker and author of the book, Worldview Skills: Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out.

How Belonging Matters Foundations Impacted Participants...

Sarah Common

Hives for Humanity Co-founder and Executive Director

“

I can foresee using these tools and lenses in conflict resolution...

As a result of the Belonging Matters Foundations: Being a Belonging Champion training, I am viewing myself more as someone who has experience in this work to share. I am feeling inspired to continue to build out and share the lessons, structures, and tools so that others may benefit from the work and be supported in leading their own change. The training offered useful frameworks which I will apply to my work and myself, allowing me to see some of the conflicts I am in, from the personal to the larger societal systems, from a new perspective.

The pre- and post-training readings are valuable and help me to process the workshop content and apply it to my work and thoughts in between each class. I can foresee using these tools and lenses in conflict resolution in my near future.

Shelley Nessman

Director of Family Support and Leadership for PLAN and a Co-Founder of In the Company of Others

“

The world has opened up for me about the possibilities for people with intellectual disabilities...

I’m feeling gratitude having attended the Roadmap for Community Change training with Jessie Sutherland. I see both the Belonging Matters framework and the 3 lenses perspective as valuable. The experience also impacted my worldview, demonstrating the endless possibilities of connection and our “hive mind”.

Importantly, the world has opened up for me about the possibilities for people with Intellectual Disabilities and their networks.

Elaine White

Cultural Coordinator, Shawendaasowin Child & Family Services

“

Miigwech for your excellent work on bringing people of many cultures and nations together.

When I participated in the Belonging Matters Conversations Facilitator Training and then the Belonging Matters Foundations series with Jessie Sutherland, I appreciated that if you want to see and “be the change” in this world, you need to have patience. The training series also helped me to see who I am, what I need to work on, and what change means in a worldwide view.

As a trainer and facilitator, Jessie has a lot of compassion for people, while also bringing out their best. She is trustworthy, open and honest. She’s thorough, listens, is patient, and knows the material. As a facilitator, Jessie covers all the material and stays within time frames.

Gchi Miigwech for your excellent work on bringing people of many cultures and nations together. Keep it up, Jessie!

the benefits of Belonging Matters Foundations

Lisa Emkovik

“

These discussions regarding worldviews, cultural diversity, understanding, and cooperation are very timely.

Attending Essential Worldview Skills For A Rapidly Changing World helped me realize the importance of understanding the history of how different cultures around the world arrived at their worldviews. These discussions regarding worldviews, cultural diversity, understanding, and cooperation are very timely.

I felt a shift and increase in my awareness of my own worldviews, especially the internal and external pathways taken to arrive at my views. I also learned to examine and try to understand the pathways of other cultures and individuals. I foresee that if I am involved in a conflict with an individual regarding worldviews, I’ll be better able to examine and assess the situation in the heat of the moment.

I appreciated the guest speakers’ personal stories of their journey and the feeling of hope they provided. In addition, Jessie brought her own passion and motivating thoughts to the topic. The workshop was very well organized and ran smoothly.

Judi-Ann Payne

Administrator, Touchstone Family Association

“

I learned what it means to really listen…

When attending the How to Unleash Dormant Talents training, I really loved Jessie’s stories and examples of what worked to gain trust from people. When building supportive networks, I learned what it means to really listen and know who people are and what they do.

Nancy McRitchie

Executive Director, Urban Horse Project Society

“

I am feeling more confident and skilled in bringing this anti-racism work to my team.

Thanks to attending Addressing Racism From the Inside Out, I came away feeling the impacts of 3 important ideas: a) my knowledge that racism divides and hurts us all, b) my discomfort and then relief in acknowledging one of my unconscious biases, and c) my gratitude for Jessie’s teaching around compassion and providing soft landings.

I particularly appreciated Dr. Roberta Hunte's honesty at the pain she experienced and her thoughts on what white people can and need to do. I also really valued the combination of Jessie Sutherland’s kindness and her challenge / push for change and accountability. She helped us connect with each other, across differences, without pushing anyone out. Thanks to her facilitating style, my experiences included senses of safety, respect and honesty.

The Addressing Racism workbook is very well organized and visually well set up to help me reflect on experiences and consider next steps. It is strength-based, with a building blocks approach. I also look forward to accessing further learning resources and the Community of Practice support calls.

Overall, I am feeling more confident and skilled in bringing this anti-racism work to my team.

Learn more about Belonging Matters Foundations...

talk to jessie about the essential steps to build belonging