Recognizing, Sharing and Creating Joy

As we welcome December 2020 and celebrate Giving Tuesday, I’ve spent some time considering and seeking joy in different ways. How can we recognize joy in this challenging year? How can we share joy at personal or professional levels? How might we help to create joy?

At IHQC, our mission is to build the capacity of our audiences – to increase the quality and accessibility of safety net healthcare. For me, anchoring on this mission, my joy professionally comes from those “aha” moments that I have witnessed with our audiences, alumni, and colleagues: when topics, resources, and skills we’ve shared are adopted and applied to the priority work for providers, leaders and staff, or when I hear about the great work they are doing and how something we shared helped them along the way. Many of us as capacity builders point to these moments with joy.

So today on Giving Tuesday – IHQC celebrates those “aha” moments and hopes to support another organization of advocates and capacity builders who bring skills and strengths to their communities of focus. IHQC has contributed to the California Black Women’s Health Project (CABWHP) – a statewide non-profit focused on “…improving the health of California’s 1.2 million Black women and girls through advocacy, education, outreach and policy.” For nearly thirty years, CABWHP has focused on how to build skills for personal health and advocacy for policy change – to address the disparities, injustice and inequities that impact black women’s physical and mental health.  Check them out at www.CABWHP.org. Thank you CABWHP for the important work you do!


On a personal note – with great JOY – the IHQC team announces the arrival of the newest member of the “family” – our Program Director Chris Hunt recently welcomed a new baby boy into his family. Everyone is home, healthy and settling into some much-deserved time together.

What are some of your moments of joy? Feel free to reach out and share!

Bridget Hogan Cole

Bridget Hogan Cole, MPH, is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for High Quality Care.

Bridget Hogan ColeRecognizing, Sharing and Creating Joy