Designing for Wholeness
Ever Present Life creates comprehensive, customized, scalable solutions for organizations seeking to establish a culture of wholeness. The tools and strategies associated with the Wholeness Framework™ can be implemented for both internal and external use within:
- Colleges and universities
- K-12 Schools
- Nonprofits
- Government organizations
- Forward-thinking businesses that value quality of life and the importance of a supportive workplace culture
We take a design thinking approach to the initiatives we develop in order to:
- Empathize with the individuals and groups the solutions are intended to serve.
- Define the problem(s) from the user's perspective.
- Ideate solutions that meet the user's needs.
- Prototype without fear in order to "fail forward faster" and find the solutions that work best.
- Test the validity of the potential solution(s) by seeking user feedback and continuous improvement.
The methodology behind design thinking was developed by IDEO and popularized by the Stanford d.school as a way to create real-world solutions to real-world problems. At Ever Present Life, we begin and end with the user in mind, which allows us to develop initiatives that are more impactful and sustainable than those developed through typical top-down approaches.
Case Study
How Saint Mary's College uses the Wholeness Framework to help students more effectively manage stress and reduce anxiety
Overview
Saint Mary's is a Catholic women's liberal arts college in Notre Dame, Indiana. Similar to other college students around the globe, young adults at Saint Mary's have experienced a significant increase in stress and anxiety over the past ten years. Recognizing the need to improve student wellbeing on campus, the college partnered with Ever Present Life to create a new peer-to-peer life coaching program and to develop additional initiatives that would empower students to overcome adversity.
Approach
Becky Lindstrom evaluated the needs of the college relative to the existing campus culture and available resources, and then created the Wholeness Framework to establish a shared vision of what it means to educate a "whole" student. The Peer Mentor program at the college was strengthened to provide first-year students with the tools and strategies they need to increase emotional resilience. Becky also created the Wholeness Coaching Method™ to train the first cohort of Peer Coaches at Saint Mary's. With 12-16 hours of online training, students were able to develop the basic coaching skills necessary to actively listen to, validate, and empower their peers.
Results
- Pre and post-assessment data shows that first-year students experienced statistically significant improvements in self-awareness and self-worth during their 8-week college orientation course.
- With enthusiastic support from student leaders, staff and administrators, President Katie Conboy, the President's Cabinet, and Board of Trustees, the new 10-year Strategic Plan for the college now includes the recommendation to expand use of the Wholeness Framework campus-wide.
Conclusion
According to one student leader who served as both a Peer Mentor and a Peer Coach, "Our generation needs help seeing the challenges of life as opportunities and not as threats to our success. This framework helps make that shift." Her sentiments are more true than ever in light of the challenges we now face on a local, national, and global scale. Ever Present Life is honored to empower Saint Mary's students to care for themselves, cultivate emotional resilience, and connect with the world around them as they discover their place in the world.
If you'd like to discuss what's possible for your organization, please fill out the contact form below...
