For over two decades Chris’s passion has been creating healthy communities. His work focuses on providing training and technical assistance to enhance relationships between individuals, organizations and the natural world. Assisting nonprofits and government agencies Chris has developed and coordinated numerous community stewardship programs to improve natural systems. Early on in his career he recognized a precursor to maintaining healthy ecosystems is healthy community members. Chris found laughter as a wellbeing practice four years ago and has been blending in the understandings of Non Violent Communication and Interpersonal Neurobiology. His program “Laughing to Thrive” is a simple and effective way to empower individuals to enhance their mind/body connections so as to have a greater capacity to be present, make life affirming choices both for themselves, and the world at large. Chris supports a wide range of clients including those struggling with physical and mental trauma.
Go back to the 2016 conference agendaKeynote #3: Laughter and Mental Health: Laughing To Thrive
Saturday 10/08, 11am - 11:45am
Laughing To Thrive is a fun and quick way to improve wellbeing, exploring and integrating the “thinking you”, the “feeling you” and the “social you”. Laughing To Thrive focuses attention on engaging and integrating the nervous system to increase awareness and decrease anxiety. You can make sense of a world that before seemed overwhelming, live more authentically and respond appropriately. The practice seeks to enhance ones capacity for empathy, compassion, and developing healthy boundaries.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to describe
- An irritant or “trigger” commonly encountered when laughing.
- Define a need linked to this irritant.
- Describe the difference between ones capacity to give and receive support when focused on the irritant as opposed to the need.