People Before Patients

16/10/2025

Starting January 21, 2026 / 7-week program

THINGS ARE PERFECT AS THEY ARE
(And there's always room for improvement)

People often describe being stuck in a pattern that they want to break free from. So how do we loosen the ties that bind?

Ours is an age that demands relentless self-improvement. Everywhere you look, someone is tracking, tweaking, upgrading or transforming. Maybe you’ve tried some of it. Maybe it helped a bit. Or maybe it just made you notice how worn out you already were.

Conventional thinking is that you start from a place of not good enough until you find some promised land and some better version of you. But what if that thinking is only making the problem worse?

Together, we’re going to explore the roots - the patterns that hold you, shape you, and sometimes trap you. We’ll notice where life has been stripped of its meaning and begin to find aliveness again in yourself, in your days, in the world around you.

Seven weeks. Seven ways to notice, loosen, and play with the patterns that move through your life.

This is not about perfection. It’s about noticing. Shifting. Experimenting. And maybe, just maybe, discovering that the world — and you — are a lot more alive than you ever realized.

REGISTER HERE:

People often describe being stuck in a pattern that they want to break free from. Join us as we explore how we can loosen the ties that bind.

12/06/2025

To our friends based in and around Montreal ---> All are welcome to join.

CE SAMEDI! ⏰
Une expérience unique conçue pour connecter directement avec la richesse et la créativité de l’intelligence collective.✨ Cette proposition immersive nous invite à explorer la complexité du vivant — économie, santé, écologie, etc. — à travers des discussions fluides et transcontextuelles, nourries par l’écologie de l’esprit de Gregory Bateson. Une occasion unique de s’inspirer pour nos projets et de renouer avec le potentiel créatif du collectif !

Billets selon notre tarification sociale (5$ à 25$) : https://www.breches.org/warmdatalab.

***

THIS SATURDAY! ⏰
A unique experience designed to connect directly with the richness and creativity of collective intelligence. ✨This immersive offering invites us to explore the complexity of life — economy, health, ecology, and more, through fluid, transcontextual conversations inspired by Gregory Bateson’s ecology of mind. A rare opportunity to find inspiration for our projects and reconnect with the creative potential of the collective!

Tickets available through our social pricing model ($5 to $25) : https://www.breches.org/warmdatalab

23/04/2025

A Warm Data Lab: Practicing Possibility Together

On May 21st at 1:00pm EST please join us for a very special live workshop being co-hosted with Emergent Futures Lab.

Because if you find yourself wrestling with questions such as:

• What is possible when people meet as people—not as roles, titles, or experts?
• How might our understanding deepen when we see each other in our full complexity, interrelatedness, and interdependency?
• How do we navigate life in these challenging times?
• How can we weave things back together when they feel like they’re falling apart?
Then this live event will resonate with you!

Join us for an ongoing exploration of the connections that shape our lives.

At a time when individuals and communities face complex challenges, we’re creating a space for meaningful, vibrant conversations that surface unexpected insights and awaken new perspectives.

What is Warm Data?

Developed by Nora Bateson (author of Combining), Warm Data helps groups understand how the contexts of their lives overlap and influence each other. It introduces participants to the complexity of their own lives so they can better appreciate the complexity of others. Through this discovery, we begin to see why it’s vital to care for our families, communities, and the land.

This Emergent Futures Lab WorldMakers workshop will be led by Mark Stolow, Founding Director of People Before Patients.

❤️ TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE ONLINE EVENT:

Join us for an ongoing exploration of the connections that shape our lives. At a time when individuals and communities face complex challenges, we’re creating a space for meaningful, vibrant conversations that surface unexpected insights and awaken new perspectives.

27/03/2025

Health care can be infuriating—sometimes even traumatizing. Sure, there’s lots of good in the system, yet it’s often hidden beneath experiences that lack the warmth of human connection.

Long waits. Poor communication. Feeling invisible. Constant repetition. Never quite getting what you really need. Feeling like the system sees you only as parts, not as a whole person. The list goes on. And if we mostly agree on the problems, why is it so hard to find solutions?

People Before Patients challenged this problem-solution cycle with a concept called Unadvocacy.

Building on that, we’re inviting you to a gathering designed to rethink how we’re thinking—transforming frustration into fuel for seeing in a new way.

In order to join, you must be human and have read Unadvocacy - https://peoplebeforepatients.com/publications. It’s also possible that you are feeling pi**ed off, but that’s not a requirement to join us.

YOU CAN REGISTER HERE: https://peoplebeforepatients.com/events/pi**ed-off-frustration-as-fuel-what-happens-when-we-ask-better-questions

Health care can be infuriating—sometimes even traumatizing. Sure, there’s lots of good in the system, yet it’s often hidden beneath experiences that lack the warmth of human connection. How do we transform frustration into change?

14/01/2025

A Special Community:
Helping You Make Sense of What the Good Life Really Means

2,500 years ago, Lao Tzu wrote The Tao Te Ching, a book that offers timeless wisdom for living harmoniously. But what does it mean to live harmoniously today? What does a “good life” look like in our fast-paced, complex world?

That’s the mystery the Tao Te Ching invites us to explore—a life filled with balance, clarity, and serenity. Yet, finding that balance isn’t always simple. Most of us know what we don’t want, but the journey toward a truly fulfilling life often starts with asking the right questions. Outdated thinking and worn-out questions can keep us stuck in patterns that hold us back.

Perhaps 2025 is the year you want to step off the treadmill of old patterns and begin seeking fresh perspectives that open up new possibilities.

This year, we’ll come together through Fireside Chats to explore the Tao Te Ching, meditate on its wisdom, and discover the deeper truths hidden within.

Whether you’re navigating changes at home, in your work, with your health, or across your inner landscape, this is a community for those seeking clarity, freedom, and a richer understanding of what it means to live well.

How Fireside Chats work:

-Fireside Chats take place every second Wednesday at 1 pm EDT. Our next session is on January 22nd. Here is the link to join: https://huddol.zoom.us/j/89299885916?pwd%3Df6RpGiLO6J1DWj0oJDWCczcIJm7aLT.1
-These gatherings offer a relaxed, low-pressure space to explore the questions that matter most to you. Drop in and try it out—no commitment required. Simply click the Zoom link above to join.
-If it resonates with you, you can subscribe for $40 CAD/month. Stay as long as it feels meaningful, with the freedom to cancel anytime.

Whether you’re new to these ideas or have been on this journey for some time, you’re welcome by the warmth of the fire.

20/11/2024

At our last Fireside Chat, this question bubbled up from the warmth of our conversation:

How do you live your way to what you want?

Something shifted in the room—a spark, a sense that this was a question that truly mattered. You could feel the pull to explore it more deeply.

Maybe it doesn’t surprise you that a question like this would ignite something in a group. For the next few Fireside Chats, we’re going to tend the fire of this question and see what emerges. How might your life expand if you were living in close, unshakable contact with what you truly want?

If this question stirs something in you, we’d love for you to join us by the fire on Wednesday, November 27 at 1 PM EDT using this link: https://huddol.zoom.us/j/89299885916?pwd=f6RpGiLO6J1DWj0oJDWCczcIJm7aLT.1

What you can count on at Fireside Chats:

-No bots. Just 100% human-grade wisdom.
-A space where you’ll be heard, seen, and appreciated for where you’re at.
-A warm place to come home to, every time.

How it works:

-Fireside Chats are a low-pressure space to explore questions that matter.
-Drop in and try it out—no initial commitment. Simply click the Zoom link above at the scheduled time.
-If you like it, we meet every second Wednesday at 1 PM EDT. You can subscribe for $40 CAD/month. Stay for as long as it feels meaningful. Cancel anytime.

14/11/2024

The question of: How do we change healthcare may be binding us to the wrong question, because healthcare is quite fastidiously bound to a longstanding frame.

What would be a more beautiful question? Please feel free to share in the comments.

24/10/2024

What if every conversation was a chance to turn toward something that matters, not alone, but with others.

A good conversation is like an intricate web. Every interaction shapes our shared experience. Our words and actions are interconnected, weaving a complex pattern in this human fairy tale. Let's be mindful of the impact we can have, fostering understanding and positive connections. In the realm of our Fireside chats, each exchange contributes to the collective experience. Together we go places that are difficult to traverse alone - this invites emergence ; ways of seeing new openings to old problems.

Here is some terrain we have explored in our Fireside Chats so far:

🔥Living an authentic life
🔥How do you understand your time on this Earth?
🔥What is the dream you haven’t dreamt yet?
🔥Holding many views all at once
🔥The regrets of the dying
🔥The process is the goal
🔥Doing nothing and getting everything done

Where will you be the next time we meet by the Fire? Where have you always longed to be?

Join us on October 30th at 1 pm EDT via Zoom for our next Fireside Chats: https://huddol.zoom.us/j/89299885916?pwd=f6RpGiLO6J1DWj0oJDWCczcIJm7aLT.1

You can also join us more regularly - we meet every 2nd Wednesday at 1 pm EDT. Sign up here: https://peoplebeforepatients.com/events/fireside-chats