Attending Community

Welcome!

In this podcast, Jamie Emery and I explore our connection to Windhorse Community Services, a community we have been members of for over three decades. Windhorse is an intentional community and clinical service that works with people who experience the complexity of extreme states. It is a place that stretches, grows and cultivates health. It is a place to overcome loneliness and isolation—where people come to feel valued as they are.

The Windhorse community is a diverse array of families, clients and staff who have joined in partnership to explore the workings of community and how it can promote health. What draws us together and binds us is deeply personal and yet universal… At Windhorse, we trust and know that we are intrinsically healthy and sane, that we are inseparable from our environment, and that recovery is possible and mutual for all.

Over the years, much like a tree growing toward maturity, there are rings that reflect seasons of both abundance and drought. We have learned much as we cycled through these together. In this season we find ourselves in a time of transformative tension: a precursor to growth. We are harnessing the intelligence of community—by promoting and listening to all voices with their unique perspective and offerings. We are deeply reflecting on elements of our work: where there is cohesion, up-uplifted and wholesome engagement as well as areas of diminishment and lost vitality. We are putting into practice what we know to be true: when an environment is synchronized, mutual recovery is possible, and with the belief in basic goodness our community can thrive and most importantly be sustained. In this season of growth, we seek balance between the evolving architecture essential for a functioning business and the fluid space within—crucial for our hearts and minds to flourish. Confidence arises, and our community is best served when this balance is struck.

We hope that you, the listener, will take in what Jamie and I share and make a personal reflection on what communities you are involved in—a closer look, perhaps, from a new perspective based on listening to the podcast.

With appreciation,

Eugenie Morton