Methods for Integrating Transdisciplinary Teams in Support of Reciprocal Healing: A Case Study

Abstract

We live in a time of accelerated environmental change. Links between ecosystem health and human health and well-being are increasingly recognized with ever more awareness of impending environmental catastrophe. There is a need for reciprocal healing on multiple scales. Transdisciplinary teams have the potential to address complex socioecological problems, yet they also have inherent challenges. There is a need for new ways of working. This paper details a collaborative and emergent process undertaken to address these challenges. The methods - a combination of established and novel techniques - are important for facilitating transdisciplinary team development and eliciting commitment to shared work. As an example, we share a case study of team building including exploration of literature about environment and health that will inform future work within a multiphase project, Women's Dreams. Grounded in an emergent strategy approach that values addressing complex changes through relatively small interactions, our process incorporated six methods: individual mind mapping, bibliomancy, group processing using sticky notes and paper, group mind mapping, free writing, and synthetic reflection. Emergent themes included healing, story-culture, encountering nature, place, invitation, re-membering, and gathering together. Recurring concepts running through these themes focused on dis-ease, relationship, ways of being, wild wisdom, and reimagining the future. Along with a generative method of team building, we offer invitations to action, both personal and collective, for cultivating reciprocal healing and a future that is more directly sustainable for all, human and more-than-human.