Initiatives

Take a Moment 

How often do we feel pressured to act on a problem immediately? Many situations in life can feel urgent, but in fact, unless we are piloting a jet or driving a race car, we rarely need to respond right away. Being constantly connected to each other through digital media, in combination with political and economic stressors, can increase our sense of urgency. 

This initiative is very simple: Step back and take a moment. Take a moment back for yourself and for the people around you. When a situation feels urgent, ask yourself what is happening inside of you. Look around and imagine what is happening inside of the people who are with you. What other people are thinking and feeling also may not be what you expect. You may realize that you want to ask them something. In most situations, you have a moment, or many moments, before you need to act. Take a moment and see what you find out.

If you want to document this experience in a drawing, collage, or other form of creative expression and share it with us, we may feature your reflective art on a forthcoming gallery page.

Send a Thank You Note

​​Send a letter to someone who has taken care of you, to thank them for how they have supported you—be specific! This could be someone who helped you in a simple way or someone who has been an important part of your life. Sometimes caregiving is thankless work. Let’s change that. 

If you want to make a thank you note that has drawings or collage (like the one pictured above) or is something you would like to share for other reasons, please send us an image and we may feature it on a forthcoming gallery page.

Create a Care Walk 

This initiative invites participants to place small, care-focused signs or messages in spaces they value—hallways, classrooms, clinics, community centers, or any place where people might need to feel supported. The initiative began when the one of our collective created a series of handmade Valentines for her campus building, offering words of encouragement and care to students, instructors, and staff. Installed just before Valentine’s Day 2025, the messages have remained in place, often sparking conversations without anyone knowing their origin.

Building on this example, participants are encouraged to create their own Care Walks in spaces that matter to them, then document the signs in context and share the images with the Care Lab Collective to extend the impact of care into a shared creative archive that we might all find supportive.

If you create a care walk and decide to document it with photographs, please share some with us so we can feature some on a forthcoming gallery page.

The Listening Bench

Choose a public or community space—a bench, chair, or even a hallway corner—and designate it as a “Listening Bench." You might set aside time to be present there, or you can ask a library, community center, or campus if they’ll host a temporary bench. When no one is present, you can leave note cards, a sketchpad, or even a message jar or QR code so people can share written or drawn reflections. The goal is simply to listen and witness—not to offer advice or therapy.

If you document your Listening Bench with photos or reflections and get written permission from any other participants, we’d love to feature some of what you document on a gallery page.