Contemplative Inquiry for Making Meaning Among Social Work Scholars and Educators

As a values-based profession, social work is rooted in social justice, and social work faculty are tasked with teaching and studying through a time of great injustice, threats to human rights, and sociopolitical uncertainty. Developing practices to ground our social work scholarship and education in what is most meaningful may sustain us through tumultuous times.

Contemplative inquiry is a reflexive research method that invites diverse ways of knowing through participants’ deep introspection, mindful awareness, and insight building. Some practices include internal meditation and journalling, while others involve sharing stories, photos, poems and artifacts with others. Often contemplative inquiry invites participants to share insights and to mirror reflections back to one another in small groups, allowing for dialogic understanding of the intersections of our personal and professional journeys. Thus, contemplative inquiry offers us a methodological approach by which to understand – and to make – meaning of our moment and conditions.

This workshop is for those who want to learn more about using contemplative inquiry as a research methodology, a social change intervention, or a practice for sustaining meaning in their own communities. The workshop introduces participants to the science and practice of contemplative triads by building on a study of a contemplative intervention in which faculty at a school of social work (N=33) participated in two-hour triads to share stories of meaning, listen deeply to one another, and reflect back key threads of importance. Designed to improve perspective taking, compassion, connection and sense of belonging, and ultimately to develop a sense of personal and collective meaning related to social change work, this workshop brings this meaning making intervention to SSWR scholars and educators to experience and reflect upon.

The workshop will include:

Introduction: The workshop will begin with a brief overview of how contemplative inquiry supports meaning making, particularly during times of strain and transition. The facilitators will then lead participants through a brief individual reflection, grounding them in moments of meaning in their work.

Meaning Triads: Participants will then be broken into triads and facilitated through a series of prompts that invite them to share about: 1) meaningful influences in their lives, 2) stories of meaning in their work, and 3) how they have navigated threats to meaning. Each participant will have the opportunity to share their story, listen to their triad members, reflect threads of meaning, and witness the storytelling of their peers.

Reflection: Following the triad experience, participants will be invited to reflect on the feelings and insights generated through participation in their triad and to consider how contemplative inquiry and meaning making can be supportive in one’s own academic home community.

Conclusion: The workshop will conclude with the facilitators sharing empirical findings about the outcomes of contemplative inquiry in their original study and the ideas generated for collective meaning making strategies in their project.

Contemplative inquiry may be transferable to other social work academic and movement spaces struggling with how to cultivate belonging and collaborate on social change work amidst various forms of existential distress.