We are working to save lives and to improve the quality of life throughout our communities. We do this with relational events, public campaigns, and specific capacity-building projects. All or our public efforts are posted on our calendar. However, so much more work is done backstage.
EVENTS
First, our core work involves face-to-face peer support for small group gatherings. Each type of gathering is its own event. One type of gathering will build connections to local area providers of alternative and complementary care, including care at the very front end of chronic anxiety. A second event will provide peer support for parents and friends who have seen anxiety and poor choices take the lives of their loved ones. And a third event will include public briefings, demonstrations, and conversations.
CAMPAIGNS
Second, we have launched a public awareness campaign for managing anxiety with a walking meditative labyrinth — or two. We known that this is not a magic bullet. No two persons get the same benefits from meditative walking. But we also know that meditative walking can be part of a healthy mix of anxiety management tools. This campaign includes tours to nearby labyrinths. We have been and will continue recruiting organizations and institutions as inspirational partners for this effort. Together we will work toward a major public event, possibly as soon as fall of 2025.
The outcome of a town-wide briefing on the virtues and varieties of labyrinths will tell us when and where the town would like to see labyrinths installed. With installation sites and preferred labyrinth types for each site, we will begin seeking corporate, individual, and foundations to fund public installation events. We are committed to creating community ownership of the labyrinths and to spending no tax dollars on the effort. As each labyrinth is installed, we will look for groups who will adopt them and serve as stewards. This campaign creates many opportunities for volunteer’s.
PROJECTS
Linking the arts with health and wellness is a strategy for sustainable caring. Our lead capacity building project involves developing skills for expressing our anxiety through writing, and specifically through poetry. We will coordinate locally hosted readings of this poetry and may find support for compiling the poems into an anthology.
We are happy to explore many other capacity building projects to the extent that we are able. Blue Skies RI is a very young organization, and it will grow organically only as others find ways to become part of the effort. We are optimistic that Blue Skies will be around for a long time.