TOGETHER WE THRIVE

Upon being surprisingly gifted the keys to an iconic Derby City Centre building we wanted to take the opportunity to make a real difference which we knew we couldn’t do alone.

Our vision for the Thrivemind Village was always going to be a shared one and one we decided and created with members of the community who also want see real change in Derby and the world..

Inspired to take a more regenerative approach we decided to take a year to co-design and co-produce the project with the wider community. After a winter of one-to-one, face-to-face conversations we launched our spring consultation to find out more about the wants, needs, hopes and dreams of the community.

As well as asking for feedback for the space itself we also asked about the values we want the Thrivemind Village and the better worlds we want to be rooted in.

The answers we received are tremendously inspiring and with enough commonality emerging they have allowed us to create a shared sense of the values and visions we want Thrivemind Village to be shaped by as we support changemakers bring about these worlds we all want and need.

OUR SHARED VALUES

  • To overcome the isolation, individualism and division that exists we want to promote a culture of connection, care and compassion where friends and strangers alike help each other out. We want a society where solidarity is shown with those in most need and love is understood as the most fundamental revolutionary principle.

  • Busting the myth that learning only happens when we’re at school, the Thrivemind Village project offers space, books and opportunity through volunteering, skills sharing, home education groups, workshops and gatherings to keep the life-long learning flame ignited.

  • In the post-pandemic context we find ourselves in a holistic health crises with epidemics of trauma, stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression & chronic disease. With increased cuts to funding of an inadequate public health service we want to proactively support and empower people with their health & wellbeing.

  • In a world where authoritarianism, war, competition and abuse are normalised by those in power, our work must be rooted firmly in a compassion that holds space for complexity and imperfection whilst upholding safeguarding, boundaries and accountability. With NVC, Sociocracy and Transformative Justice we can better become the changes the world needs.

  • We’re facing a 6th mass extinction event and planetary health crises like non-we’ve known. We don’t want to sustain things as they are but instead radically heal and regenerate the ecosystems that we’re all part of. This begins with a shift in mindset, daily habits, how we relate to each other, relate to nature and how we take the collective action required to survive and then thrive beyond crises together.

  • 8 billion human lives across earth are interconnected, not just with each other but the wider ecosystems we all depend on. Colonialism & Global Capitalism are at the root of unprecedented inequalities, vast human rights abuses and a planetary health crises that threatens our continued existence on this planet. Radical change is urgently required and we’re here for it.

  • We live in a society divided across various lines of class, race, gender, age, religion, place and more. We believe however that diversity is strength and the key to us growing wiser, healthier, more compassionate and cooperative communities that are better able to adapt, overcome and address the various challenges we face together.

  • Most of us feel we have very little say in the shape of our society and know the official democratic channels offer little hope. We believe everyone should have a voice and be able to participate in shaping the decisions that affect their lives. This is why we aspire for the TMV to be as democratic and participatory as possible. Let us know how we can do better.

  • The inequality, exploitation, debt, poverty and cost-of-living crisis impact upon the lives of everyone and so we want to promote an alternative approach. We want to share what we’ve got, invite people to pay-what-they-can-afford and give & take for free when we can. We want a world where all needs are met and by sharing resources we all get to enjoy the abundance.

  • Hopelessness, pessimism and despair feed into the agendas of the powerful as they continue their plunder and oppression. We know that collectively we have the power to radically transform our society and the hope we need to take the leaps required are found in the next step. By taking action, no matter how small, we find the hope, confidence and encouragement to take more.

  • We need the freedom to explore, subvert and feel a deep sense of joyful engagement to our environment and each other, even more so when we’re experiencing increasingly toxic systemic pressures upon wellbeing that remove our humanity and create loneliness through individualism. Art is a language, a medicine and a path to reconnection and will always be an organising principle of the Thrivemind Village.

  • We want people to be free to lead their lives the way they want and trust that when being able to choose who we are and what we do we will be at our happiest and best able fulfil our potential and contribute our greatest gifts to society. We beleive equality, solidarity and real democracy are prerequisites for us being free.