Details of The Abundant Academy's purpose and programme. Image The Abundant Academy Purpose and programme The Abundant Academy programme is a bespoke coaching programme for university members and communities, recognising the sense of vocation that many of us carry within Higher Education. It is a personal and leadership development programme delivered to university staff and postgraduate students, with a demonstrable ripple out effect upon colleagues and undergraduates. Its creator, Revd Dr Harriet Harris, is an academic writer, lead university Chaplain, and licensed Coach and Trainer. She developed the Abundant Academy out of 10-years’ work with staff and students on the purpose of the University, creating The University Listening Project film and Slow University initiative, and collaborating with the Scottish Government, NHS and global universities on bringing Compassion into the structures and ethos of Higher Education. She has been made an MBE for Services to Multi-Faith Education and Community Cohesion, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for her innovative work in universities. Responding to the epidemic of stress amongst university staff and students, and the challenge that hustle-culture presents to our ability to do meaningful work, the Abundant Academy programme trains us in habits of replenishment, connectedness and efficacy, so that we live and work impactfully and without burnout. The programme is for anyone looking for a heightened sense of vision for their work and wider life. It is particularly effective for those who support, teach and or lead others, and who may become over-extended in their roles. A postgraduate student recently said at our PhD book club, ‘We have no role-models of non-burnt-out success’. We don’t want to keep adding to that picture. Abundant Academy resources teach us how to protect ourselves and others from burnout, and to open up space for living and working in ways that are meaningful, important, and inspired. How people experience the programme 77% of Abundant Academy participants reported feeling somewhat or very overwhelmed at the beginning of the programme, and 73% depleted or somewhat exhausted with 64% saying that they felt anxious all or some of the time. By the end of the programme, 50% said that they were either flourishing or on top of things and 60% said they were abundant or energised with 90% saying that they felt calmer. The Abundant Academy supports you to: Replenish, and model replenishment for others: acquiring habits that powerfully keep overwhelm and burnout at bay, and support your identity and sense of purpose. You will find surprising amounts of time and space for yourself and for what you most value. This opening part of the programme also grows understanding of disempowered behaviours, and equips you in ways of being that have strength and integrity for you and for your interactions with others. Reconnect, with yourselves and others, and with the Source of life: cultivating emotional and spiritual intelligence; (re)-discovering what is important to you; understanding what motivates you, and what hidden-drivers may be directing your choices; overcoming procrastination, and recovering your creativity. Reconnecting is the route to discernment; uncovering your sense of purpose, integrity, joy, and the difference you make to the world. It opens you to a sense of possibility and expansiveness even in difficulties, so that you can respond wisely and compassionately, rather than reactively, frenetically, or desperately, to the challenges you face. Realise, and empower realisation in those around you: finding the steps to take, the collaborations to make, and the support to harness, for fostering cultures and communities that you wish to inhabit and nurture, where life can be lived to the fullest. The Core Programme The Abundant Academy flagship programme is designed to sit humanely across the academic year. It comprises three core courses: ‘Replenish’, ‘Reconnect’ and ‘Realise’ (the 3Rs!). Across your time together, you cultivate increasingly fertile ground for growing your vision and projects. You benefit from the supportive network that you create for one another, and also begin to see your projects take root and your vision becoming realised. You become part a network that you help to foster, and with whom you can continue to meet and enjoy mutual support even after your formal Abundant Academy programme ends. You are invited to join the Abundant Academy Community, which meets for facilitated gatherings, on-going coaching, and personal check-ins on whatever is important to you in your life right now. All core courses run online to maximise accessibility, with some optional ¾-day in-person workshops in Edinburgh. The Replenish Course Replenish, and model replenishment for others. 3x2 hours and 1x4 hours, fortnightly Continual Replenishment, why we need it and how we can get it Understanding disempowered behaviour in ourselves, our teams, and families. Harnessing empowering archetypes for leadership, self-care, and healthy role-modelling Embedding the archetypes, and releasing limiting beliefs, emotions and behaviours (4-hour session) Timings: 2pm-4pm, Tuesdays 31 October –28 Nov; 1-5pm Tuesday 12 December 2023 (online via Zoom) Plus two optional bonus ¾-day workshops: In-person workshop Monday 30 October – ‘Embodied learning: using your full intelligence' University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre 11am-3pm Online workshop Friday 17 November – ‘Handling perfectionism and imposter syndrome’, Zoom 11am-3pm The Reconnect Course Reconnect, with ourselves and others, and with the Source of life 5x2 hours, fortnightly A primer on replenishment and empowerment: impact without burnout Discovering your values and unconscious drivers Understanding emotions and how they work for you Responding to procrastination and what gets you stuck Finding wisdom for the next steps Timings: 2pm-4pm, Tuesdays, fortnightly, 30 January – 26 March 2024 (online via Zoom) Optional in-person workshop, 19 February: ‘Saying “No”, so that you can say “Yes” to what is most meaningful’, University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre 11am-3pm Optional on-line workshop, 15 March, ‘Asking for what you need, for individual and group endeavours’, Zoom, 11am-3pm The Realise Course Realise, and empower realisation with others 3x2 hours, weekly, plus a ¾ -day workshop Tuning into your deep-rooted desires Exploring meaning and purpose Creating networks of support and collaboration Timings: 2pm-4pm, Tuesdays, 7, 14,and 21 May 2024 (online via Zoom) Plus an in-person ‘Day of inspired, visionary planning (outwith SMART goals)’, 28 May in-person, , University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre 11am-3pm (this day is integral to the Realise course, and an online option will be made available for those who cannot attend in-person on 28 May). Optional online workshop with the AbAc Community, ‘Do More Great work’, date tbc Participants receive: 26 hours of small-group coaching, delivered in confidential groups that enable strong bonds to form and individual coaching to take place, delivered over nine months 3 ¾-day in-person workshops, catering included 3 ¾ day online workshops Welcome packs and resources Full notes every fortnight with assignments to help you absorb and embed the learning. Access to blogs and podcasts to support what you are learning in the Abundant Academy Invitations to Away-days with the Abundant Academy community, and on-line training days On-going membership of the Abundant Academy Community with regular up-dated input, resourcing and laser-coaching; a great network of support and continual learning, for check-ins, coaching, coworking/cowriting sessions, and bonus workshops. Costs The full value of the course is £2,500. For 2023-24, we are offering a reduced cost for early-client institutions. Total cost of the programme per participant for 2023-24 is £1800 Excl VAT, which gives participants the full programme and resources, plus on-going membership of the AbAc Community for continual learning and communal support. For enquiries about the nature of the Programme, contact Harriet, h.harris@ed.ac.uk For bookings enquiries and enrolment, please contact Monica.Dearden@ei.ed.ac.uk Words and testimonials from previous participants ‘AbAc is time very well spent, for it actually gives you more time, not less. It helps you focus on your values, so that you find yourself concentrating on those things that energise you and that are meaningful to you, discarding what is trivial and unimportant’. Pauline Phemister, Professor of the History of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh. Together with colleagues, I have had the wonderfully stimulating, but calming, experience of Harriet’s exceptional delivery of development based on the Abundant Academy programme. Coming to know oneself and others, learning to manage energy and to find ways of always looking forward with anticipation and compassion to the next challenge: these have been gifts to us and would be to any colleague in our sector. I cannot recommend Harriet and the Abundant Academy programme highly enough. Catherine Martin, Vice Principal, Corporate Services, University of Edinburgh Both this programme and Harriet are great. Harriet brings so much passion and professionalism, which really comes through in the set-up and the delivery. Feedback from participants has been excellent. Harriet recently ran a session for my HR team who really loved her approach and humanity.” James Saville, Director of Human Resources, University of Edinburgh ‘The Abundant Academy has been a real-life saver for me. I feel it provided much needed solace, support and clarity of thought throughout the year, I genuinely connected with the teachings and with the cohort.…Also, I have raved about it to so many family and friends who do say they see a profound change in me, a change I attribute to this course. Thankyou!’ Project Manager ‘I would recommend the course. It felt like a relatively big-time commitment, but I came out of each session feeling like it was worth the time. The overall progression of the course was really meaningful…culminating in what I felt to be a very fulfilled and empowered outcome’ PhD student. ‘Being part of the wonderful group has been amazing, I have so much respect and care for all the course participants; at a time, I was feeling a bit oppressed by the machinations of [stuff at work], it reminded me why I love the university ... the people in it!’ Director of Professional Services. ‘The AbAc course supported me greatly throughout a challenging period of my life. I had thought of myself as someone who was being mindful about a balanced daily life, but the course made me aware of how much I had been pushing myself in both my professional and family life and of how emotionally exhausted I was after two years of Covid. It helped both me and my partner to make important decisions: reduce our work, take more shared parental leave, make time and space for proper replenishment.’ PhD Student ‘Harriet is a compassionate and thoughtful facilitator, and the discussion groups felt very safe and supportive.’ NHS Consultant and Educator ‘The course was really well set out: exercises lead to deep reflection and inspiring conversations. The sharing was often intimate even though most of the participants had never met before, I think this is because Harriet's wonderful facilitation made everyone feel safe and appreciated. I learned from the exercises as much as I learnt from what others were saying about their lives, and people were clearly becoming more optimistic as the course went on. What a wonderful experience - I am very grateful that I stumbled upon AbAc in a newsletter and would not hesitate to join again if it was continued!’ Suzy Paulus, PhD student. ‘Before taking Abundant Academy I was challenged by exhaustion and managing work/life balance. I was experiencing burnout, with work and home pressures, compounded by Covid and family illness. It was difficult finding the opportunity to switch off from work, as I had a work mobile, and we were short staffed. I had no real summer break and was feeling overwhelmed. I was signed off work for stress for a couple of weeks, but this was an indicator that I seriously needed to look at my wellbeing. Harriet, I have always admired your work, so when I saw the Abundant Academy programme it sounded a great opportunity.’ Student Support Officer ‘On the Abundant Academy Programme, I have found everything useful and interesting. I particularly enjoyed connecting with other people, in such an open and supportive way, the opportunity to share, reflect, and listen to others. It made me realise that many people have challenges, and perhaps feel lonely – connecting with people is so important to wellbeing. My partner in particular has commented that I have more energy since Abundant Academy. It has helped my energy levels, and clarity of thought. I feel wiser and more confident since the programme. I use the archetypes a lot. They are really useful in many different situations, such as when I have had a stressful time or busy day, when I am worried about my family and times of uncertainty, when we think about the world’s future, in giving permission to do things for the greater good without feeling guilt. Fear, guilt and perfectionism are what can hold me back – understanding the inner critic has been really helpful.' ‘Taking part in the programme made me realise that many others have these challenges. I feel this is just the beginning of a new journey, and am thankful for being part of the Abundant Academy community. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity.’ Student Adviser ‘This work [Abundant Academy] feels very precious and brings with it all manner of abundance. I find myself passing on a version of your notes to my grown-up daughter. The wonderful thing about your record of the meeting is that it is genuinely personal and conversational, and it works its way into my relationship with my daughter. There is an internalising that precedes the passing on, and this is where the work is done…I also wanted to tell you that I feel genuine affection for and solidarity with my mighty companions. This is remarkable, given that we've only 'met' three times, and it can in large measure be attributed to the ineffable qualities you bring to the sessions. To say you are an 'effective facilitator' doesn't really come close, which is not to say that there isn't a particular 'skills set' in the background. The real mastery, it seems to me, is that you keep it in the background. This is rare, in my experience….In short, I really don't know how you do what you do. I'm just so very glad that you do it.’ Dr. Annie Pirrie, Reader in Education, University of the West of Scotland. ‘Thank you for the incredible mind-boggling, life-changing support, wisdom and insights you have given us on the Replenishment course and the brilliant bonus days. You feature very heavily in my gratitude-diary. Your killer opening salvo at the last session about why are we here and honing our sense of purpose are such fundamental and necessary questions that just get drowned out in our daily to-do-lists and gave me a lot to think about and helped me make sense of some recent events. The Replenishment course has been invaluable for my own well-being but it also enormously helped me with dealing with students, my personal tutees in particular and some struggling students on their Year Abroad. Even seemingly simple ideas like treating yourself before tackling a chore was a revolutionary concept for me (delayed gratification was a cornerstone of my upbringing!). And I don´t understand how Jung and the archetypes have passed me by for so long. They are absolutely fascinating and such a great tool for analysing and understanding behaviour. I have been given an award nomination from one of my tutees. The course helped me so much with finding ways to support her and I wanted to feed that ripple-effect back to you.’ Dr Annette Gotzkes, Lecturer in German Studies, University of Edinburgh ------ Image Edinburgh Innovations (EI) is the University of Edinburgh's commercialisation service. EI leads the University's Activities in Industry engagement and business development, enterprise support for students and staff, and the identification, management and commercialisation of University intellectual property. EI supports around 130 collaborative research projects a year between the University and business, public sector bodies and other organisations, including international and multinational partners. This article was published on 2024-06-24
