Supporting Well-Being
At the heart of justice
Care is our collective capacity to express concern and empathy for one another. It requires that we act in ways that protect, defend, and advance the dignity of all human beings, animals, and the environment. This gets at the core of what justice is about: the act of caring for the well-being and dignity of others.
- Dr. Shawn A. Ginwright
The heart of justice work is upholding the well-being and dignity of every person and group. While dignity is inherent, well-being can fluctuate, and when either are undermined (or worse), this leads to injustice.
As Dr. Shawn A Ginwright writes, “...caring for ourselves is deeply connected to the well-being and concern of others. This is fundamentally what our movements for justice are based on, and there are no movements without shared concern and care for others.”1 When we understand our own dignity - our inherent value and worth - it becomes easier to believe that our well-being is worth protecting and that we are worthy of care. This enables us to have the courage to take action in building and sustaining well-being practices.
Ginwright talks about three levels of care, all of which support well-being: individual, interpersonal, and institutional care.2
Individual care focuses on concern for self, specifically on what we personally want to do and ways we protect ourselves from being hurt. This can often be misconstrued as self-indulgent practices or escapes, but it’s actually a recognition of the ways we are worthy of showing care to ourselves: a way to tell ourselves “I am valuable.” Individual care is necessary to be able to pursue the work of justice and equity. As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” If we deny ourselves practices of care, what we have to give others will eventually run dry, and our relationships and the work itself will suffer.
There are, however, some pitfalls to avoid when it comes to individual care. Individual care is not an end in and of itself. We can sometimes get stuck and not let the care of ourselves produce concern for others. While we do need to “fill our cups,” this needs to result in an overflow to pour into others, not just keep for ourselves. Additionally, if we aren't alert and aware, we can push to care for ourselves at the expense of others. In doing so, we’re harming others for the advancement or advantage of ourselves, and this is not justice.
Interpersonal care is the care in our relationships with others. The quality of our relationships and mutual concern for others connects us and boosts our well-being when we experience compassion and empathy within our community. It recognizes that we are inter-connected, and it acknowledges our collective humanity. Interpersonal care is grounded in solidarity, recognizing that we don’t need to have the identical experience of others for their experience to matter to us.
The potential trap of interpersonal care is that, while we demonstrate care in our relationships, we might only do so with the people who are most like us. Put another way, we only show care to those that we perceive to be in our “in-group” and neglect or disregard the people around us who are in our “out-group,” whom we assume are too different from us. Justice, however, seeks the well-being of every person, whether we view them to be in our “in-group” or “out-group.” Neglecting, or worse - discriminating against - those in our “out-groups” perpetuates injustice in direct and indirect ways.
Institutional care ensures the well-being of everyone within an organization or society through the implementation of policies, programs, and practices that focus on the collective good. Doing so means that institutions look not just at the financial cost (the “bottom line”), but all of the costs, including morale, credibility, resources beyond money, and the impact on specific communities. This requires prioritizing sustainability and often values quality over quantity.
Often, there are policies and practices in place that at least somewhat support well-being (like being able to take leave when you’re sick) or support the well-being for some people but not everyone (like extended medical leave being available for people having surgery and taking maternity leave, but not set up to support other medical needs that could require extended leave, including mental health). This creates and/or maintains systemic injustices. Because of this, the gap between groups widens and a message is sent about who or what (often productivity) is valued at the neglect or expense of others' dignity. In these situations, we find ourselves in the position of needing to advocate for changes that better support everyone’s well-being when and where we can.
We also need, then, to more intentionally lean into both interpersonal care and individual care when the institution isn’t supportive. When I’ve been in need of well-being support (mostly due to circumstances far outside of my control that were nonetheless impacting me greatly), I have at times had people within institutions extend interpersonal care to help meet my needs. Sometimes this looked like helping me navigate the system to get access to support I didn’t know was available. Other times, it was providing support in spite of the system that wasn’t set up to meet my specific needs at the time. I’ve also had many experiences when people have chosen to uphold the system at my expense, and I not only didn’t receive the care I needed, I was further harmed by the system. Unfortunately the latter experience seems to be most common.3
Through these experiences, I’ve realized that I need to take action to support my own well-being and not wait on or expect the institution to do it for me. I need to understand my own dignity and believe that I am worth caring for. This belief will lead to building sustainable well-being practices that nourish me so that I can in turn support those around me. All of us are worthy of care.
What are ways in which you support your own well-being? How do you support the well–being of others?
(I’ll add to the comments a practice that I learned was central to caring for my well-being. It surprised me how much my well-being suffered when I reduced the practice for a time.)
I’m excited for us to be able to learn from each other as I share what I’ve learned. It’s important that sharing and learning be welcoming and inclusive.
Expectations for comments:
Be curious
Be kind
Ginwright, S. A. (2022). Care. The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves (pp.122-123). North Atlantic Books.
Ibid, pp. 123-125.
One of my favorite quotes from Kate Bowler is, “Bureaucracies are automated systems made up of people who must choose each and every day whether their job will require any of their humanity.” May we consider this regularly and choose humanity over an automated system.
Bowler, K. (2021). No Cure for Being Human: (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) (pp. 48). Random House.
Last fall, I realized how crucial reading is to my well-being. I had been too tired to read very much and noticed several areas deteriorating as well. I was able to recognize that reading was at the center of this. It helps me process and decompress as well as regulate my nervous system. It also is often the catalyst for being creative. So now I prioritize having enough energy to read because it affects so many other areas of my well-being.