Meet Dieticians on a Mission!

Dietitians on a Mission is a group of registered dietitians whose purpose is to advocate for healthy environments in the Moncton area. Their goal is to have fun while working on projects to further their goal of creating awareness and inspiring change.

We met for two sessions, for about three hours each. From the feedback and from my feeling about it, we realized that two is not the ideal number of sessions. But these girls were courageous and willing to do the work in that time.

Here are testimonials, comments from the feedback forms, and a link to the results of the  “before” and “after” surveys.

Feedback

Hi Lori,

I think your project is wonderful and I hope you will have great success! I think my favourite part was the first meeting when we all shared together. It created opening and empathy. The second meeting helped us to connect and communicate.

I really appreciated your sharing and all the examples that you gave to us along the process.

This project helped us for the Dietitian in a Mission but I think it will help us in every part of our life. We can use that experience for are family or other groups. Thanks

Meggie Bisson, Nutrition student, Université de Moncton

Our group really benefited from Lori’s expertise on community building. From the beginning, Lori created an open-minded environment where we felt we could share some personal experiences and thoughts without judgment. This workshop was really helpful for our group as we learned more from each other than we could have expected.

We defined our next priorities as a group and Lori gave us really good advice and strategies to improve our community building. I feel like our group could be defined as a community now.

I hope to see you soon.

Véronique Thibault, Dt.P./RD, MSc

Lori instantly became part of our group, she facilitated our communication with each other naturally and effortlessly.

This experience allowed me to see my colleagues differently….I felt more empathy towards them because we had shared intimate details about our lives.

I loved reading Lori’s book “Sounding the Drum: Community Building in the Digital Age”, it was easy to read (I had a hard time putting it down), yet it was insightful and personal.

The community building exercises and book made me see a potential for building community in many areas of my life. For example, with my spouse, my family, my coworkers and my friends. I started to notice when groups I am part of would shift from pesudocommunity to chaos, then sometimes get glimpses of community building. I found the chapter on raising community builders inspiring.

I think many groups or teams could potentially benefit from this program.

Claire Johnson, Registered Dietitian, professor in Health Care Management at the University of Moncton

Dietitians on a Mission had fun working with Lori!

This community building workshop is well designed and accessible to all; Lori made us all quickly feel at ease to share our stories. Getting to know each other on a more personal level definitely helped our group cohesion. We are now ready to tackle our next projects!

I recommend this workshop and her book to anyone who has challenges with any working group.

Gina McGraw, RD

This team building training went very well and, I believe, everyone really opened up to each other. That was the next level with this group, and we all participated in the workshops (everybody got involved in this activity) because we were stuck trying to find a new project this year.

Lori was very flexible in meeting times as I am sure it was not an easy task to accommodate all our busy schedules. She was indulgent and a great facilitator.

I would not hesitate to consider using Lori services for other groups who need to make connections and work better with each other. The activities have facilitated the groups discussion without prompts and I feel closer to the members of the group.

Mélissa Couture-Léger, M.Sc.,Dt.P., ÉAD/M.Sc., RD., CDE.

Inspiring, enlightening and motivating; those are the words that best describe this workshop. Lori was a wonderful facilitator. She helped our group communicate and connect in ways that will enable us to grow and move toward our common goals. Lori created an environment that sparked empathy, compassion, understanding and creativity among our group. Because of this workshop, I feel closer to my colleagues than I ever have before and am excited to continue this community building journey with them.

I would highly recommend this workshop and Lori’s book to any group that wishes to achieve professional and personal success.

Stephanie Ward, PhD, Registered Dietitian, professor in Nutrition at the Université de Moncton

From the Feedback Forms:

Question: What changed for you as a result of this training?

Answers: Awareness of levels of community in various settings … Openness to share with the group and understand one another’s realities better … I learned a lot about the others in my group and about myself. I feel more connected to everyone, even if I felt connected before … I feel closer to the group … I feel closer to my colleagues … I am more aware of the importance of decreasing our judgement and being more empathetic.

Question: What did you find most useful about the workshops?

Answers: The sharing of our opinions/experiences/feelings with one another … The first session when everyone opened up … Sharing personal stories with the group … The personal questions that allowed us to get to know each other and the “consensus” activity – it was a great brainstorming activity … I felt we became closer … The information about “emptiness” before empathy; the chapter [in Sounding the Drum] about raising community-minded children …

Question: What skill(s) do you feel you now have as a result of attending the workshops?

Answers: Listening without ego, trying to prove my competency, my worth, etc; being inclusive and welcoming to new members … To be able to look at each situation and think better; to be more open to one another … How to better communicate and be a better listener … Understanding the importance of group sharing at an intimate level … Learning to try to be less judgemental … Being able to communicate my opinions and to listen carefully to the opinions of others; being able to recognize chaos

Question: What is your biggest takeaway?

Answers: There are a lot of communities around us … We need to be in a community in order to reach our goals as an organization … Applying these principles to other groups around me … The importance of “emptiness” and how simply being there can be incredibly powerful … I really like the book and all the stories that the facilitator shared with us to illustrate the points. I learned not to judge other people in the group but to be more open and to listen to everyone … Everyone needs community and connection

Other comments:

I really liked the sharing – it was perfect for our group … You are doing a fabulous job – I loved your book!

Survey Results

If you’d like to have a visual of the impact this program had on the group, view the results of the survey.