Knowledge Centre
Browse our latest insights on on behavioural science, job loss, job search motivation, wellbeing, and more.
The Cognitive Effects of Feeling Safe
The Cognitive Effects of Feeling Safe In This Article: Why Psychological Safety Matters in Stabilization Work In community support and stabilization settings, engagement challenges are often interpreted through a behavioural lens. Missed appointments, difficulty following through, inconsistent communication, or trouble retaining information may be viewed as motivation or compliance issues. But in many cases, these behaviours are better understood as cognitive responses to stress. When people do not feel psychologically safe — when they anticipate judgment, uncertainty, conflict, or instability
Small Words, Big Shifts: Using “Saying-Is-Believing” in Stabilization Work
Small Words, Big Shifts: Using “Saying-Is-Believing” in Stabilization Work If you work in stabilization, you’ve seen this pattern. A client comes in overwhelmed. Rent is due. Food is tight. Transit is uncertain. You make a plan together—something practical, realistic, and achievable. And then it doesn’t happen. Missed follow-ups. Partial steps. Silence. It can be tempting, especially when services are stretched, to interpret this as a motivation problem. But the evidence points somewhere else. Scarcity changes the conditions under which people
The Quiet Weight of Caring: Burnout in Community Resource Centres and What the Evidence Actually Tells Us
The Quiet Weight of Caring: Burnout in Community Resource Centres and What the Evidence Tells Us In This Article: What the research says — and why the usual advice often misses the point There is a particular kind of exhaustion that builds slowly and quietly in people who chose their work because they wanted to help. It doesn’t announce itself the way a broken bone does. It shows up as a shorter fuse with a client who didn’t deserve it.
The Quiet Case for Brief Coaching in Community Resource Centres
The Quiet Case for Brief Coaching in Community Resource Centres What the evidence says — and what it looks like in practice Front-line advocates are busy. Most carry more cases than anyone intended, navigate systems that weren’t built with their clients in mind, and are asked to do more with less — every year. In that environment, adding a new practice framework can feel like one more thing on an already full plate. But what if it wasn’t something to
The Long Middle of Winter: Behavioural Science for the February Trough
The Long Middle of Winter: Behavioural Science for the February Trough Why momentum thins out—and how supportive practices help people move forward By February, many people start telling a harsh story about themselves. “I had momentum in January.” “Now I’m behind.” “I should be doing better than this.” From a behavioural science perspective, that interpretation is often too personal and not contextual enough. What many people experience in February is less a failure of character and more a period of
The New Year Fresh Start: Behavioral Science for Stabilization Work (and the Humans Doing It)
The New Year Fresh Start: Behavioral Science for Stabilization Work (and the Humans Doing It) January is weird in the nonprofit world. For many clients, it’s not a clean slate. It’s a pile-up: holiday aftershocks, tight budgets, disrupted routines, disrupted sleep, colder weather, and the emotional whiplash of watching “new year, new me” messaging land on a nervous system that’s already stretched thin. And for staff? Same story. Reporting, intake pressures, staffing gaps, and the quiet weight of caring work.