The Mindful Social Innovation (MSI) Lab program is an experiential, collaborative and cross-sectoral experience for individuals and organizations in low- to high-resource settings globally to partner with people with lived experience in order to identify complex mental health system challenges and co-design mental health social innovations.
In this flagship program participants will:
By the end of the program, participants will have developed a wide array of deliverables that can be used to fund, implement, and evaluate their social innovation, including: a full grant proposal and pitch deck, a stakeholder and donor engagement plan, a monitoring & evaluation framework, a risk and mitigation strategy, an implementation plan, and a budget.
Participants will also have exclusive access to opportunities led by the Global MINDS Collective that support pitching, seed funding, and on-going coaching and mentorship.
is both a deeply personal and highly social undertaking. It requires a belief in oneself to be an agent of change. It entails a deep awareness and understanding of what the current state is, but also an unwavering optimism and commitment to imagining and striving to achieve what could be. It involves an intentional practice of being non-judgemental and open to learning from multiple perspectives. It necessitates an ability to embrace uncertainty and failure as opportunities for growth, and not to fear or avoid. Above all, it demands compassion and authenticity, including a profound acceptance of and connection to the self, to others, and to what is ‘bigger than ourselves.’
Starting in 2024, the MSI Lab program will be offered virtually twice per year, run by Dr. Arlene MacDougall (Founder), Raksha Sule (Co-Founder), and other advisors and coaches within the Global MINDS Collective network. Details about cost, course
duration, and session dates will be available in early 2024.
The program “empowered me to feel like I could contribute to creating innovative solutions
to complex challenges… the program has directly created new and exciting opportunities
for me in my career.”
“I gained a genuine sense of being part of something. It is exceedingly rare to participate in a program and leave instilled with the message ‘we are always here for you,’ and to believe it.”
"I thoroughly enjoyed taking this graduate course as it challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone and think creatively. Through collaborating with my team, I learned the importance of diverse perspectives in solving complex challenges. It was especially impactful to have our community partner's perspectives guiding our project. Overall, this course was an excellent opportunity for both personal and professional growth!"
