April 2026
CBR Community
April has a particular quality to it. Something opens. The light shifts, the ground softens, and what has been waiting underneath begins to push through. This season invites a kind of attention, not just to what is new, but to how we meet what is new. How do we show up, fully and openly, for what is just beginning?
I have been sitting with a recent chapter by Linda Lantieri and Meena Srinivasan, cofounders of Transformative Educational Leadership, published in a new volume on sacred space in the age of technology. They write about what makes a space truly sacred. Not its architecture or its location, but the intention, presence, and care of those who gather within it. A space becomes sacred, they suggest, through the quality of attention its people bring. That idea has stayed with me as we prepare to open new spaces for this community.
The work of resilience is not only personal. It lives in the quality of our relationships, the integrity of our inquiry, and our willingness to bring our whole selves, our cultures, our histories, our questions, into shared space. This month, we are opening new doors: a new online community for CBR practitioners, a training designed to meet you where you are, and a global survey inviting your voice into a larger conversation. What we build together, with care and intention, is what sustains us.
RESEARCH & PERSPECTIVE
Reflections and Insights from the Field
In this space, we share not only research that informs our work, but opportunities to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in our field. This month, we are sharing a survey from a collaborative global network that we believe speaks directly to the communities we serve. This is not a CBR survey, but we are aligned in the shared goal of growing the evidence base for changemaker and caregiver wellbeing, and we are glad to help amplify this effort. We offer it as an invitation. Participate if it feels right and supportive for you. Whether or not you choose to, we will share the findings with this community as they become available, as we believe they speak to something we are all navigating together.
The people who show up every day to support others, nurses, social workers, educators, community organizers, and caregivers of all kinds, are the very foundation of the systems we all rely on. And yet their wellbeing remains deeply understudied. That is beginning to change.
We are glad to share the State of Changemaker Wellbeing Survey, a global research study led by neuroscientist Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Healthy Minds, in partnership with The Wellbeing Project. The goal is to build the first rigorous global dataset on changemaker wellbeing, bringing together voices across roles, regions, and movements to ground future decisions in evidence rather than assumption. Over 600 organizations, foundations, and universities are participating worldwide.
The survey takes 5 to 10 minutes and is available in 12 languages. Participants must be 21 or older. All responses are completely anonymous. No identifying information is requested and your data will not be tracked. The survey is open now through May 22, 2026.
Take Survey
Questions about the survey can be directed to the research team at wellbeing-survey@chm.wisc.edu. If you have questions for us or would like to connect about your experience, we are always glad to hear from you at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monthly Resilience Circle
April 21 | 12:00-1:00pm ET | Virtual
Hosted the third Tuesday of every month, our free drop-in Resilience Circles provide a restorative midday pause for helping professionals. Each session offers guided meditation, mindful movement, and reflective discussion about stress, burnout, and emotional sustainability. Join when you can—no ongoing commitment required.
REGISTER
Contemplative-Based Resilience Training
May 13 | 12-2:30pm ET | Virtual
In May, CBR Director Carlos Rodarte and CBR Faculty member Yikai Xu will lead a training designed for frontline professionals. This session is especially well suited for those working in small nonprofits, solo practices, and community-based settings who want to deepen their understanding of contemplative practices and how to apply them in their work.
We have distilled the core of CBR’s extensive curriculum into this focused 2.5 hour experience. It is designed as a meaningful beginning, an entry point into practices that participants can carry into their lives and work right away.
The training will offer an overview of CBR’s Awareness, Balance, and Connection curriculum, the ABCs of Resilience, and will include periods of instruction, guided meditation, and small group breakout discussions.
Drawing on neurobiology and embodied learning, participants will explore not just what these practices are, but how and why they work in the body and nervous system. A thread running throughout is the importance of bringing your whole self to practice, including your cultural background, lived experience, and the communities you come from and serve. Each participant will receive a workbook and a self-care manual on how to care for others with an open and undivided heart.
Registration is open now. A suggested price is listed, with sliding scale options available for those who need them. Groups or teams interested in registering together are welcome to reach out to us at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
Team Daylong Retreat & Renewal
Spring & Summer Dates
If you lead a care team, healthcare organization, or human service group, we can design a customized daylong experience for you — whether that looks like a full retreat, a staff workshop, or a planning session held in a serene and restorative setting.
The day is built around your team’s real work, with CBR practices woven throughout river walks, time outdoors, and immersive sessions on our forested grounds. Teams leave with greater capacity to care for others and themselves, and a deeper connection to each other and the natural world around them.
There is something well documented in research, and most of us feel it instinctively: Our nervous systems settle more easily in nature. Being outside, near water, among trees, helps the body remember how to rest. We bring your team’s work into these spaces intentionally, because we believe that where the work happens matters.
Spring dates are now available. The day includes program planning and facilitation, use of our sanctuary hall and breakout spaces, locally sourced meals, and access to our trails, riverside paths, and natural sacred spaces.
To learn more, email CBR Director Carlos Rodarte at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
EVENT RECAP
March Resilience Circle
During last month’s Resilience Circle, CBR Faculty member Isabel Unanue led us through a poem and meditation on the many shapes resilience can take. Centering Jane Hirshfield’s Optimism, the session invited participants to sit with a question at the heart of this work. What does it mean not just to endure, but also to adapt and find a new way toward the light?
Hirshfield’s image of a tree turning when its path is blocked offered a counterpoint to the kind of resilience that simply snaps back. The group explored how this more dynamic resilience shows up in daily life, in how we respond to difficulty, reframe setbacks, and stay rooted even as we bend.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Introducing Garrison Institute Commons, A New Online Community for CBR Practitioners
At the heart of the CBR Initiative is a simple belief: meaningful work happens in relationship. It is through these bonds that we better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
With that in mind, we are excited to share the launch of Garrison Institute Commons, a new online community. This is a dedicated space where fellow practitioners can come together, connect in conversation, explore discussion boards, and share practices that sustain them.
We are rolling this out in phases, beginning with those who have subscribed and joined our monthly Resilience Circles (keep an eye out for a separate email with the link to join).
This space has been something our community has asked for, and we are glad to finally be opening the door.
JOIN US
An Invitation
What you bring to this community matters. Your presence, your questions, your care for one another and for yourselves are not separate from the work. They are the work.
Spring is a good time to begin something. We hope something in this month’s newsletter feels like an invitation, to join the new online community, to attend the May training, to take a survey that adds your voice to a growing body of knowledge. Summer offerings are also taking shape, and we look forward to sharing more soon.
Thank you for reading, and for carrying this with us.
With gratitude,
Carlos Rodarte
Director, Contemplative-Based Resilience
carlos@garrisoninstitute.org