Brielle Giard, certified CWA from Christ Episcopal Church in Cedar Park, Texas shares her progress with Living Compass.
At Christ Episcopal Church (CEC), we are beginning to name and define wellness, and finding the best ways to organically weave the Living Compass model into the fabric of our community. I have been using Living Compass materials since 2014, so was beyond thrilled when our leadership was ready to move forward with a focus on congregational and community wellness. Prior to my Living Compass Training in March 2017, I had already jumped into using the resources for the six-week circle, both as a participant and as a facilitator, and had just started facilitating a six-week group for the Listening Well through Lent series.
In February, our Rector, Trawin Malone, invited several people to meet to start a wellness commission. Our first meeting was on March 7, and then you all blew on my spark March 9-11. The wellness commission has met monthly, since March, and have developed and started implementing a plan to roll-out a vision of wellness and the use of Living Compass materials to our congregation. In April, we also had a group of ministry leaders attend the one-day Living Compass Introduction with Scott and Holly in Austin. In April and May, I met with our vestry and our senior circle ministry to talk about wellness programs and the resources provided through Living Compass. In September our youth will begin using the Teen Compass as part of their formation. Collectively, our leadership feels strongly that Living Compass offers a wonderful umbrella under which we can live our lives in wellness, as we follow the greatest commandment.
Our Reach Out Resources include a dedicated Living Compass space in our library with all the brochures and copies of the different Living Compass materials. We have also changed the header of our weekly e-letter and bulletin to include heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also links to the Living Compass website and Weekly Words of Wellness. You can also find the links on our website.
Our vestry, staff, and wellness commission completed a group assessment and based on those results we held a 4-week Mindful Eating group in August in addition to a Wellness Circle that met weekly online. We have also had three other staff and vestry members attend the CWA training in Chicago, and I feel confident that number will continue to grow.
In August, we officially rolled out the Wellness Assessment for Congregations. To date, the congregational assessment has been taken 52 times! This will allow us to best determine our wellness programming based on the needs of our community.
I've already seen the Holy Spirit working through the Living Compass program. Thank you Scott, Holly and Edith for your faithfulness and for sharing these amazing gifts with the world. I look forward to being a part of the Living Compass program as a Congregational Wellness Advocate for many years to come.