Day 1: KEYNOTE: The Power of Recovery Knowledge for Fire Impacted Communities with Jolie Wills

 

“After disaster, there is plenty of information that you have to absorb, there’s plenty of decisions you’ve got to make, there’s plenty of problems you’ve got to solve, and prolonged stress impacts our ability to do all of those things.” —Jolie Wills 

 

2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

 

After a disaster, it’s crucial to equip local communities with the knowledge and resources they need to navigate the recovery process. By sharing practical insights and strategies, we can empower disaster-affected people to make informed decisions and support one another during this challenging time.

Jolie Wills is a cognitive scientist and disaster survivor who has dedicated over a decade to supporting communities through their recovery journeys. Her personal experiences and research-driven approach make her a valuable resource for those navigating the complexities of disaster recovery.

Tune in as Jolie speaks about the importance of empowering local communities with recovery knowledge, the power of community, the role of self-care in ensuring long-term recovery, and more. 

 

Highlights:

  • 02:13 4 Ways to Empower Communities 
  • 06:58 Sharing Recovery Knowledge Into the Locals
  • 11:38 Where Support Comes From
  • 14:17 Self-Care is Crucial in Long-Term Recovery
  • 17:07 Are You a Martyr or a Professional? 

 

Tweets:

Disaster recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Tune in as Hummingly CEO and disaster survivor Jolie Wills offers a wealth of wisdom and inspiring stories that shed light on the power of community, self-care, and resilience in the face of disaster. #Recover #Rebuild #Reimagine #podcast #wildfire #DisasterRecovery #AfterTheFire #2024WildfireLeadershipSummit  #CommunityResilience #CommuntiyEngagement #Recoveryknowledge #RecoveryStrategies #leadership #selfcare #EmergencyManagement

 

Quotes: 

01:31 “After disaster, there is plenty of information that you have to absorb, there’s plenty of decisions you’ve got to make, there’s plenty of problems you’ve got to solve, and prolonged stress impacts our ability to do all of those things.” —Jolie Wills 

02:30 “Every disaster is unique, every community is unique. We have to hold that at the heart of everything that we do.” —Jolie Wills

04:07 “Numbers don’t do justice to the lived experience.” —Jolie Wills

08:25 “Lots of locals have experienced disaster recovery firsthand. And there’s nothing like locals in terms of what they know from disaster recovery, and there’s nothing like the support of others who’ve been through something similar.” —Jolie Wills

11:46 “The fabric of a community— that’s where you get your support from.” —Jolie Wills

15:33 “Self-care is the only way that we can continue with long term recovery.” —Jim Alvey 

 

Meet Jolie Wills, CEO of Hummingly

Jolie has a Masters of Science in Cognitive Psychology and is a leading psychosocial expert in disaster and disruption. Jolie has studied how the mind works under prolonged pressure, how we make decisions and how our reactions and behaviors are impacted by stress. Jolie is a survivor of the Christchurch earthquakes and has lived disaster recovery with her family first-hand. She led the psychosocial recovery program for New Zealand Red Cross in response to the earthquakes and has supported those working in disasters around the world. Jolie is a Winston Churchill fellowship recipient, a Leadership New Zealand alumna, an Edmund Hillary Fellow, and is an advising member to the global Counter Terrorism Prevention Network. She is primary author of New Zealand’s Psychological First Aid Guide and is a co-author of Leading in Disaster Recovery: A Companion through the Chaos.

 

Meet Jim Alvey, VP of Disaster Recovery at Good360

Jim Alvey is the Vice President of Disaster Recovery and Philanthropy at Good360, a nonprofit organization which leads global distribution of donations through partnerships with socially responsible companies. Jim’s work includes cultivating partnerships with foundations and companies to expand the organization’s product donor network, increase nonprofit sector collaboration, and connect with different government agencies. He focuses on medium to long-term disaster recovery efforts. 

Connect with Good360:

 

Transcription:

Jolie Wills: I’m from New Zealand, Aotearoa. So in New Zealand, we are taught to really start with our ancestry and our turangawaewae, our place that we stand. The place that is our home in terms of our ancestors, our place, our belonging. So just for those here, that’s what I’ve done. 

I’ve been to Maui a couple of times during the wildfire recovery, and there’s something that feels very like home to me whenever I come to Maui. So for those in the room that will understand what that is about. So a couple of things to know about me, I’m a cognitive scientist. That means that I’m really passionate about the psychology of disaster. Has anyone experienced fire brain? Yeah, a few nods. In my case, it was a quake brain. So it’s a very real thing. So the cognitive science piece has been really helpful in my disaster recovery and in the work that I do. Because after a disaster, there is plenty of information that you have to absorb. There’s plenty of decisions you’ve got to make. There’s plenty of problems you’ve got to solve. And prolonged stress impacts our ability to do all of those things. Second thing to know is probably the most important thing, and Jen’s touched on that. I am a disaster survivor myself. I have experienced recovery firsthand in my community with my family, and have since spent more than 10 years supporting other communities, other leaders who have been through something similar. You can see why Jen and I get along so well. Huge proponent and supporter of After The Fire. So this session, we’ve got four areas that we like to support in harmony. This one in particular is about empowering communities with recovery knowledge. 

So when I think about the four ways that we can support as an organization, when you see things playing out again and again after a disaster, it’s really tough. I’m a big believer that every disaster is unique, every community is unique. We have to hold that at the heart of everything that we do. But even within that, you start to see some common challenges, some common patterns playing out, some common strategies that are really helpful. And so I know, just like Jen experienced, the weight of responsibility you feel as a recovery leader after a disaster trying to get it as right as you possibly can for your community. And I remember thinking just going about it blindly, did not feel like the right way of doing it. I really wanted to learn and understand what others had learned. Avoid some of those potholes, and pull together some of the lessons. So here’s the four ways that we support. How do we make it easier for leaders who carry so much weight after a disaster? And I’m just going to highlight this. We’re not going to cover this today. But if anyone is a free resource, please. If this is useful to you, reach out. I’ll let you know how to get hold of one. Second one I am really passionate about, how do we sustain the supporters? And we’re going to have a session on that. 

Next, how do we really help recovery agencies or organizations that are interacting with communities to understand how to work well with disaster impacted communities, so that they aid rather than inadvertently add stress to communities. And the one that we’re going to cover today, how do we empower disaster affected people? I’m just going to put a photograph up here. This is my event. This is when it all started for me. So September the 4th, 2010, we had a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. I don’t want to spend long on this little one, just going to share a couple of numbers. And I know stats and numbers just don’t really do justice to the lived experience, but just to give you just a quick context. So a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, incredibly shallow, very close to our city. We had a population of 400,000, 9 out of 10 homes damaged or destroyed. 75% of our horizontal infrastructure. So a huge rebuild process. 15,000 aftershocks. You heard that right? 15,000 aftershocks over a period of five years. And one of those aftershocks claimed 185 lives. So just to give you a sense of just the scale that we were dealing with at the time. We always hear that recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. We always hear that, and it’s very easy to focus on the bricks and the mortar. I’m a big fan of focusing on the people in the community, on everything that is so important. And so I would just want to put a face to our experience when we talk about it being a marathon, not a sprint. 

These are my two kids at the time of the Christchurch earthquakes. So in the middle, it’s probably an hour or two after the initial earthquake. We had no electricity at that point. We’re just sheltering in place. We’re trying to make a game of it. I promise that I did not take a photograph of my kids in the middle of the event. There’s a whole terrifying story I am not going to share today, but that is them sheltering in place, trying to make a game of it. The photograph on the left is my six year old helping to dig liquefaction. So liquefaction is when the ground liquefies every time there’s a big quake, and then dries into this horrible stuff that needs to be dug and leaves voids behind. But the photo that is most important, I want you to have a look on the right hand side. This photograph here is a photograph of my kids when our house was finally repaired. So when we talk about it being a marathon and not a sprint, at this point, they were way taller than me. And you can see there’s liquefaction here and everything going on there. Very different. Just in terms of that photograph I put up of the initial earthquake, that’s just the beginning of recovery. It’s just the start. And between these two sets of photographs, there’s a million decisions, a million challenges that I had to make, my family had to make, our communities had to make as we reimagined our future. 

And so one of the things I thought about is, how do we make this just a little bit easier when we’re starting to see some of these common things playing out. Communities grappling with some similar things again and again. And for me, it was this understanding that one of the reasons it is so hard is because at this stage, most people haven’t been through a disaster. They don’t have a sense of what’s ahead and how to navigate their way through it, let alone how long it’s going to be right. And so thinking about, well, how can we put some of that recovery knowledge that we’ve learned from many, many different disasters into the hands of locals themselves, because knowledge is power, right? And it’s the locals, as we know on the ground, who do the hard work. So they are the ones that are going to lead their family. They’re the ones that are going to support their neighbors. They’re the ones who are going to make informed decisions and advocate for their communities. So it was really important to us to gather some of that useful knowledge around recovery, and make sure it goes into the hands of locals. And so that’s where the cards for calamity came from. Initially, we wrote a book. We started with writing a book. Then I thought, I’m a cognitive scientist, and I’ve lived through disaster recovery. No one’s got time to read a book in the wake of disaster, so it got deconstructed into the cards for calamity. 

Today’s session, I really want us to spend most of the time having a conversation. I’m going to ask you, and I’ve got a lot of people outside. I’m going to ask you to come in and grab a seat at a table. I know this is scary, but I promise that it’s going to be worth it. If you’re sitting with people, if you could just get up and move to a different table, not together as a group, to a different table, to split up, be great. Because one of the best things about this conference, as Jen talks about, is we are bringing people together with incredible experience. Lots of locals who have experienced disaster recovery firsthand. There’s nothing like locals in terms of what they know from disaster recovery, and there’s nothing like the support of others who’ve been through something similar. Okay, the conversation’s going to be really simple. It’s really easy. We’ve got some instructions. Are you all ready? Okay, all ears, this way. On your table, there’s an envelope that has got some cards for calamity. Very random selection of cards. I’m going to ask you to do a couple of things. I’m going to ask everybody to grab a card each out of that pack just randomly. And what I want you to do is read your card aloud to the group. I’m going to give you all the instructions at once, and I’ll come back. So everyone gets one card each.

Once you’ve got one card each, what we will do in a second is we’re going to read your cards aloud. Because everyone will have a different card. And then here’s what we’re going to do for the next 25 minutes. I want you to each share the card that you heard that resonated with you. And why does it make sense? And it’s not even about the cards, it’s about the conversation and the wealth of knowledge you have sitting at your table. They’re just a way of sparking the conversation. So we’re going to read the cards aloud to each other, and then share which card you heard that resonated with you, and why? And it’s totally up to you how deep you go with that. It could be that one just surprised me in terms of, say 50 today. You can just share as much or as little as you like which card resonated with you, and why? And I would encourage you, if you can, to share a story. Any questions for that? So I’m going to read the cards aloud, and then we’re going to share which card we heard that resonated with us and why? And hopefully share some stories. 

So we’ve got about 25 minutes, almost let you take it away. All right, so how was that? I Met some good people, and had some incredible experiences here in this room. There’s nothing like the experience that people have been through, something like yourself. People who kind of get it who understand some of the challenges. All right, so on your table, there are some cards for calamity that I also have a set. These are for you to take away. Thanks to the generosity of Good360. We’ve got Jim Alvey in the room here with his team. So huge. Thank you Jim. And if anyone wants a Spanish set instead, please let me know. We do have them in Spanish. I just want to share what you’ve got. There are 70 cards in the pack. Again, they are amazing for doing things like normalizing what people are going through now. People often say, gosh, someone, somewhere else on the planet has gone through something similar. It’s not just me. There’s something about people’s shoulders coming down from around the ears when they realize they’re not alone. They’re also really good for connecting people with some of those positive, hopeful strategies around the things that we know can be helpful. And lastly, one of the reasons I really love them is they’re so good for connection and conversation. Because we know the fabric of a community, that’s where you get your support from, the people around you. 

So I just wanted to share some ways in which they have been used, because we developed them thinking that they would be that private resource that someone would put on their bedside table, or their coffee table, or their bookshelf, and they would kind of dip in and out of as they felt the need through their recovery. Wanted something that would be there through the long term. But what we didn’t anticipate, and we should have, is how communities have used them. They’ve done really amazing things with them. 

So in Australia, you remember when it felt like the whole country was on fire? A couple of summers ago. It was absolutely horrendous. We partnered them to have the cards for calamity where we distributed into every community that was impacted. And again, we thought that they would just sit on people’s shelves. But no, communities are amazing, as we know. We had a rugby club, make a calendar out of their favorite 12. These are pretty burly blokes in Australia. There’s something about being able to talk to a card. It’s much easier. And then we had the local general store put a different card up every week on their noticeboard. We had a local radio station who would read a different card aloud, and then open up the airways for people in the community to talk through their experience. 

And a couple of my favorite one of the schools there was a group of parents who dropped their kids off on a Friday, and they turned up with their favorite card that was resonating with them that week. And then they had a walk and talked with the people together as a group. We call disastrous dinner with a difference is kind of what we’ve done here tonight. So one of the communities said, every month, we’re going to have a barbecue because. Not everyone was able to stay, and so they have a reason to come back and reconnect so that people can have a break from that relentless to-do list. Just hang out with each other and have a bit of fun. So every month, they had a barbecue, and they put under everybody’s plate a different card for calamity so that you could start the conversation. It’s that social capital. There’s connections in the room that are so powerful for people’s healing and the support to each other. So that’s essentially what you’ve just had an experience of. So these are cards you can take away and use in whatever way you find helpful. But Jim, I would like to hand it to you. A huge THANK YOU to you for making sure these are available. 

 

Jim Alvey: I’m going to say I am a huge fan, which I am. I won’t talk long because I don’t want you to get sick of me. I’m up here a little bit later. But when we met, it was around the time that we went to Lahaina and met these wonderful people that are here who had been working at that time in December, non stop every day, 24/7. Nicole’s over there. I know she put stuff in her driveway, in her car. I was in that mobile warehouse that went on and on, and on. The response phase for this fire was the longest that we have ever seen. That first phase of just, let’s get started. Took a year, and that’s too long for people who just stay on that 24/7. So when we talk about it, we need to make sure these guys are taking care of themselves. This is a reminder for all of you that have been working on this for so long to do that. And so my team, and when I say WE, I mean Peyton, Maddie, they do all the work. But we said, this is something we want to do. We want to support this on Lahaina, but also elsewhere. And if you guys can be disciples for this, kind of get it out there and start talking to people about taking care of yourself, self care is the only way that we can continue with long term recovery. So thank you. 

 

Jolie Wills: Thanks Jim. I just want to finish with a story. Those of you who were here last year would have heard the story, so I apologize. But I know how important the story was for me. It’s a question when we’re talking about self care, and it’s a nice segue to the next session, which is going to be about sustaining yourselves as leaders in space. But Jen mentioned, I talked to over 100 recovery leaders around the globe, again, trying to work out how we went about it ourselves, and making sure that we could pay those lessons forward. And one of the leaders shared with me, she said, Jolie, and she’s been part of my crew along the way. I can tell you incredible stories around how she got me through some of the leadership work that was happening in Christchurch in Otautahi. 

So she said, I’m going to share a story with you because I think you know this is helpful. Not just to you, but to others who might be in a similar role. And she said, when she went for her first job interview, right? So she was a social worker. I went to my first professional job interview early in her career, she said, I turned up, and I was really nervous. But I was really well prepared, and I kind of was nailing it. She said she had all the answers to the questions. I was feeling really, really good. And then the hiring manager asked her a question that she didn’t quite know what to do with. And I said, what was that question? And she said, well, Kate, I just want to know, are you a martyr? Are you a martyr, or are you a professional? And Kate sort of said, I’m sorry, I don’t really understand. What do you mean? And she said, it’s really simple. You’re a martyr. You’re going to be the first one here. You’re going to be the last one to leave. You’ll fill every gap in my roster. There’ll be very little barrier between home, and you know the role that you have here to play. You’re going to do amazing things. You will, but you’re going to burn bright. And then you’ll burn out. Not a lot of points in me investing in you professionally, she said. But on the other hand, if you are a professional, you will still care deeply about this mission. It’ll still be really, really important to you, but you will model some self care practices. You’ll put some boundaries in place. You’ll sometimes say no. I need you to say yes, and you will endure. And the work that we are doing with this community will endure as a result. And together, we will do amazing things for this community. So which is it, Kate? Are you a martyr, or are you a professional? 

Kate shared that story with me because she wanted me to share it with you. But also because I think I needed to hear it at the time. I know Brock said he was a “recovering female administrator.” I like to say that I’m a recovering martyr. I just want to share that story. Because that question I keep in my back pocket, and I check in regularly to make sure I’m on the right side of that equation. It’s an evolving practice, and it takes practice. So am I a martyr, or am I a professional? So thank you. I’m going to finish there because I want to give lots of time for our next session. We’ve got some fabulous speakers around sustaining ourselves as leaders and disaster recovery. So thank you for being good sports. Thank you to Jim Alvey and Good360 for the cards for them that you can take away. Thanks very much.

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