Hello
For decades folks around the world have been working to get people out socializing and connecting in order to combat loneliness but we are now at epidemic levels. Why? At Social Tinkering we believe the elephant in the room is the lack of acknowledgement of the complex barriers to meaningful connection and true belonging.
As an individual, if we were to seek to heal our pain, we must first slow down, identify the source, and then learn about it before we can finally take action to begin to heal. This is the slow, long work, and work worth doing that helps us to successfully heal our pains in order to live happier and healthier lives. These are the same intentional steps we must do as broader communities in order to heal the pervasive lack of connection that is preventing us from thriving.
At Social Tinkering we are slowing things down and acknowledging how painful loneliness and isolation can be, as well as the joy we can experience when we are really connecting with each other. We are working on clearly identifying the barriers to connection that so many people are facing. Our programming is set up to break away the complex barriers and to provide spaces to practice meaningful connection so that we can rebuild trust and grow compassionate belonging together.
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Join our connection movement!
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Our Story
Our Founder and Director began Social Tinkering because of her own life experiences with social isolation, loneliness and the meaningful social connection that has helped her to heal, grow, and thrive. She grew up Catholic in a family of 6 in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana. Despite loving the mountains, rivers, and peace of Montana, she never quite felt like she belonged in her community or in her own family and later in life had to make some really hard decisions to break free of generations of unhealthy family relations to raise her own children. always curious and questioning the world and being one to name and acknowledge when things didn't feel right or
Our Values
Wellbeing & Compassionate Belonging
We believe the ideal form of Belonging develops from a central core of Connection through which compassion for self and others, embedded in kind, equitable, just, and inclusive actions work to ensure opportunities for all people to feel seen, heard, valued, and supported. All of this fosters regenerative and diverse cultures grounded in connection and compassionate belonging, ultimately helping us all and our planet to thrive;
Humor
We believe that infusing our work with humor is critical to our success, in boosting our collective immune system, and empowering us to be human together;
Honesty, Integrity, Authenticity & Grit
We encourage each other to engage honestly and authentically to foster learning and growth. We believe that upholding integrity in our internal and external relationships drives trust and genuine connection. Through all of this, we support each other and our communities, and we persevere through the most challenging moments to continue implementing creative and regenerative solutions for lasting change.