HSI Showcase: Final Projects

Hany Wajeeh Shokair

About the project: For my final project, I partnered with a grassroots non-profit organization supporting survivors of sexual violence to address acute staff stress and systemic burnout. Through an intentional, invitation-based diagnostic process and 12 deep interviews, we unmasked the problem—shifting the understanding of burnout from purely external workload pressures to internal relational friction, communication avoidance, and structural gaps within their horizontal governance model. In response, I designed and facilitated a transformative five-hour interactive workshop centered on collective diagnostics, reflective storytelling, and systemic action mapping. The intervention empowered the team to co-create concrete operational agreements, structural boundaries, and ongoing rituals of collective care. In my current role as a community support and activity coordinator, my aim is to bring an anti-oppressive lens to process consulting, transforming organizational systems so they sustainably serve and support the people within them.

Amy Macdonald

About the project: I partnered with a social justice-oriented organization led by volunteer members and supported by a small paid staff team. The organization was undergoing internal changes that affected leadership dynamics, and wanted to strengthen shared leadership across staff and volunteers. I supported a small design team from within the system to explore their experience of shared leadership, including the tension between the ideal and the possible. In these sessions, the design team identified a need for conversations that gathered siloed teams to explore the relational impacts of the recent changes, as well as the practical ones. Drawing on Deep Democracy and Liberating Structures, I facilitated two discussions that created shared understanding and sparked concrete proposals to nurture stronger connections within the organization.

Marie LaRochelle

About the project: My client was a small team within a larger foundation who didn't feel adequately supported by other parts of the organization. They felt alone and misunderstood, which affected their level of engagement, their sense of agency and their ability to collaborate with other departments. I started by helping my client gain insight into their experience and develop a shared understanding of the broader system, including barriers to effective collaboration. I also gave them tools designed to increase their awareness of system limitations and opportunities.

A few weeks later, I met with them again to build a vision of their desired future and design a path forward, including realistic goals and a timeline. They felt empowered to take action and were encouraged by the changes they could already see within the system.

Through the course of this project, my client realized what was within their sphere of control in regard to effective collaboration. They were able to yield productive results, especially in relation to one other department which they often had to work very closely with.