Sanctuary Starts with Us

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Sanctuary Starts with Us

The rubber is meeting the road in The Wright Center’s commitment to the Sanctuary Model as the first of two five-day training sessions has been completed. Members of the Boards of Directors, the executive team, and clinical and administrative departments learned together, and are already making changes that will have the potential for a tremendously positive impact.

It is a busy week, so feel free to delete this message, but if you want to know more about the training and the next steps The Wright Center is taking toward Sanctuary, read on.

One of the most valuable takeaways is that it starts with each of us individually. More on this to come in the weeks and months ahead as we explore the Seven Commitments of Sanctuary as well as the Sanctuary Toolkit.

The five-day training is a deep immersion into Sanctuary’s whats, whys, and hows. There is a lot of discussion on what a given aspect of Sanctuary actually looks like inside an organization, its boardrooms, its examination rooms – everywhere for that matter. It is an incredibly valuable experience, particularly for the skeptical.

Not everyone will get or need, the five-day training. Most of us will get exposure over time through smaller modules and other training opportunities, as well as through the cultural changes that are already occurring as The Wright Center progresses on the Sanctuary journey. We will develop a shared language that will support the work each of us must do within ourselves to be able to support the work we do with one another.

Next time we will begin the review of the Seven Commitments of Sanctuary. These commitments provide a framework for a shared understanding of how we might most effectively engage with one another, and to which we can hold one another accountable while still accomplishing the important work of mission delivery. The Seven Commitments are:

  • Nonviolence
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Social Learning
  • Open Communication
  • Social Responsibility
  • Democracy
  • Growth and Change

Quick Tip

The folks who are attending these first training sessions might be a little overwhelmed. Not only is there a lot to catch up on when so much time at work is missed, but also we will be catching up with new, and imperfect, intentionality and awareness as we seek to implement the lessons of the training into daily work. Patience and compassion are appreciated, both by our colleagues and by ourselves. This work starts within each of us as we become aware of what causes us to act in certain ways and to hold one another accountable, all the while understanding that the work of The Wright Centers – caring for communities and training the future workforce – can be difficult. Here is to hard work and all its rewards.


Thank you.

Meaghan P. Ruddy, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Academic Affairs, Enterprise Assessment, and Advancement,
and Chief Research and Development Officer
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

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