What does it mean to serve our community?
When I tell others about my role at In Harmony, I usually say something along the lines of “I serve on the board of directors”. Indeed, I have the pleasure of serving with several other humans, from various walks of life, with an array of experiences and skill sets. These are folks I might not know if it weren’t for our shared service on this board- that is our common ground.
But what does that word mean? Service. And who, more importantly, do we serve?
We talk regularly amongst ourselves about what this organization will look like when “we”- the current humans in these roles- are gone. What tone have we set for the folks who will fill our positions? How do we ensure that centering the community is integral to the long-term culture of our organization?
For me, it always comes back to those quiet moments that oftentimes are not seen nor talked about. We serve our community best when our trauma-informed practitioners know how to safely support a client who is having a rough day. We serve our community best when we expand services to center the whole family so that the benefits of our therapeutic arts interventions become a shared experience for clients and their loved ones. We serve our community best when our leadership remains open to constructive feedback and encourages each other to trade ego for ethics. We serve our community best when we align our funding efforts with long-term investments into our core values instead of grabbing a couple quick bucks.
Service happens inside the hearts and minds of the folks who commit to it. It happens when we make the daily choice to show up and try again. And again. It happens when we never exhaust from the pressure to grow as individuals so we can in turn grow as an organization and as a field. After all, it’s in our name! We can live in harmony with those around us when we cultivate harmony within ourselves. Service is not an action item to be checked off, but a committed practice to being empathetic to the lived experience of others and finding common ground- and with any luck finding the place where one person’s strengths can uplift another in their moment of need. That’s what we continue to try to do at In Harmony Therapeutic Services- use our strengths as therapeutic arts service providers to support the people of greater Cleveland in cultivating their own harmony. That is the legacy we hope to leave.
I want to make sure I publicly thank our executive director, Alicia Hrubey, who embodies the idea of service with her whole heart. I want to thank our staff, volunteers and Board of Directors for continuing to answer the call to serve. And lastly, I want to thank you, the reader, for donating your time, talent and treasure to this organization and the work that we do. If you would like to explore further opportunities to be involved at In Harmony, please email me personally at kathryn.bates@inharmonyservices.org It has, and continues to be, an absolute honor to continue to serve my neighbors on the board for In Harmony.
Kathryn Bates
President, Board of Directors