In September, our program opened the 2024-25 academic year with two days of leadership activities including the annual tradition of heading into the woods for an afternoon of team building at UNH’s Browne Center. This outdoor experience provides a memorable opportunity for faculty and trainees to get acquainted and sets the stage for a full year of personal growth and professional development. Trainees and faculty laughed together and supported each other through numerous experiential activities laying an inclusive foundation for reflective communication and respectful collaboration.
Sarah Smith, our new Program Director, reflects on one activity led by the Browne Center staff. “While dropping a slip of white paper, the facilitator called out a person’s name to catch it before it landed on the ground. Catching that paper was frustrating, perhaps impossible, as gravity won more times than not. The facilitator challenged the group to create a solution. We collaborated to amend the rules so that we could collectively help keep the paper up in the air long enough for the named person to solidly grasp it. The outcome? The paper never again touched the ground.”
“This memory of many gentle hands coming and going from all around the circle and the fall light glittering through the trees and into our circle will live in my mind for years to come. Not really knowing each other yet, the hands of new trainees and faculty danced together without being asked, simply responding to the need, so that no paper fell to the ground. This is the collaborative work to which we aspire while walking the path together to improve our systems of care. I look forward to our NH-ME LEND year ahead!” - Sarah Smith
LEND trainees hit the ropes on the Browne Center low ropes course.
LEND faculty and trainees participate in a group activity in the woods at the Browne Center.
