Blog

My Step Into the Unknown

Posted on June 22, 2017

Hi Community,

Today’s post will be my last as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Coldspring Center. As a co-founder of Coldspring, I feel a great sadness as I type these words. Over the last three years, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing people, collaborating to develop and further the critical mission of Coldspring Center. My co-founder Bettina Harmon, my teammates Olga Vera, Kate Leos, Robert George, and Brooke Bender, as well as the founding board members Jeff Somers and Mae Desaire, have all played critical roles in helping and challenging me to be a better version of myself, both personally and professionally.

Coldspring Center has also allowed me to travel this country, talking to people about my passion for healing and change. I am incredibly humbled to have found myself in a professional situation where people seem inspired and motivated by my message. Regardless of the political environment we exist in today, I feel confident that the amazing people I have met around this country will continue to advocate and care for those struggling in our communities.

This humility extends to the fact that thousands of people have chosen to be part of the Matt’s Mumblings community. As you well know, there are billions of thoughts bouncing around my head, and the fact that so many brilliant people find what I write meaningful blows my mind. It will never get old to have someone I don’t know come up to me at a conference, give me a hug, and tell me they love the blog.

While my name is on this blog, each post is a team effort. Over the years, nearly everyone who has worked at Coldspring has taken their turn editing the chaos of my first drafts. For the last three years, this unenvious task has fallen to Kate Leos. Every week, I dump on her desk a pile of dirt, and she sorts through it all, finds the good, and scraps the unnecessary. In the end, something readable and meaningful emerges. Thank you, Kate, for everything you’ve done, and all your patience over the last three years.

Though I’m leaving Coldspring, my plan is to continue writing, training, and speaking about my passion for the trauma informed paradigm. During my transition, there might be a week or two without new posts. However, the next time you hear from me, the blog will have an improved format, and I will have a couple of big announcements that I’m incredibly excited to share with you all.

While tomorrow fills me with excitement, today I sit with the sadness that accompanies any major transition that includes loss. While I hope that my professional connections with Coldspring Center will continue in some form, I feel a tremendous loss in leaving my brilliant team, who are more friends than co-workers. I want to thank them for putting up with me for all these years, and for helping turn my sometimes-scattered passion into something pragmatic and meaningful for programs, consumers, and communities.

I will see you all again shortly, but for now – for the last time as the Chief Innovation Officer of Coldspring Center – I wish you a happy Friday and a great weekend. Take care, my friends.