Smiling Mind CEO, Dr Addie Wootten reflects on the year that was.
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2017 has been a year of strategic thinking and planning for Smiling Mind. We have been working hard to refine our strategic goals and initiatives to pave the way for greater reach, positive impact and new national programs.
As Smiling Mind grows and evolves our areas of focus have broadened and we now support a range of sectors spanning many generations of people. As a result we have refined our organisational vision and mission. Whilst education remains a key pillar of the work we do we recognise the need to have an organisational vision that drives all aspects of our work.
As Smiling Mind's CEO, I am very excited to announce that Smiling Mind’s new vision is;
To help every mind thrive.
Our mission is;
To provide accessible, life-long tools, to support healthy minds.
Our goal to have mindfulness on the National Australian School curriculum remains and is now positioned as our driving goal in our education stream of work.
We think our new vision and mission, and the strategic work that underpins these will place Smiling Mind in a strong position to have significant and long-lasting impact on many people.
As 2017 comes to a close it’s a great time to reflect and acknowledge all of the achievements of the past year.
Gratitude is a much talked about practice, with known positive benefits on mental health and wellbeing - and this year Smiling Mind has a lot to be grateful for. It’s been a very successful year for us and we could not have achieved it without the support of many different people and organisations.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the passion, commitment and expertise of the Smiling Mind staff and board. 2017 has been a year of deep thinking, developing a clear strategy and executing some major new initiatives and none of this would have been possible without such a great team of high achievers - thank you all for all your hard work.
I would also like to deeply thank the many partners, funders and donors who have all generously supported our work. It’s humbling every day to see such generosity and commitment to supporting the work we do.
Looking ahead to 2018 there are many exciting new initiatives that we will be launching - there are some big and exciting projects that we are almost ready to announce. I think 2018 will be another great year.
Here's a beautiful video that captures our Smiling Mind team journey in 2017 and here is where you can continue to follow the Smiling Mind journey;