Big Waves is based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), the ancestral, unceded territory of the M’ikmaq People. Settlers and the M’ikmaq have lived in this territory under the provisions of the Peace and Friendship Treaties since 1760 and 1772. We are all Treaty People and have responsibilities to each other and this land.
Working together can be powerful, and beautiful. It can be tricky to get there. We help work feel better for those working towards a better future, by surfacing conditions in the work that block that future, and unsettling them.
The Big Waves approach to relational transformation begins from learning more about the experiences of those in the relationships, to be able to discern root causes.
We often find that some of these root causes are the way work is designed or structured, or aspects of norms and accepted practices in the organization, not just interpersonal dynamics alone. These structural aspects of the work often invisibly exacerbate relational tension. Supporting relationships alone, without adjusting the structural frictions that aggravate tensions, is usually a very short-lived “remedy”.
We will learn from you what is happening in the work, and recommend interventions that may begin from structural or relational places, or may involve both structural and relational support concurrently. We may be able to offer support around all of our recommendations, or we may recommend approaches you can do internally and/or with expertise Big Waves does not offer.
Many of our goals are influenced by factors outside our control. Many of these are systemic (multiple interconnected parts), and we can have greater impact once we’re aware of them.
Integrating an analysis of power, challenging the ways that normative work processes and cultures reinforce social inequities.
People are not simply “thinking” beings. There is much more than our cognitive selves driving choices and reactions. Big Waves knows how to support people to not get stuck in their heads
Brook has many years’ experience in organizational change, conflict transformation, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership. Through coaching, trainings, facilitation, and custom processes, Brook supports organizations in areas such as: power, psychological safety, equity, feedback and communication, and conflict transformation.
Today, Brook describes herself as a recovering activist, as her experiences of movement involved a pattern of relational dynamics that eventually became unsustainable. This led to her deep study and practice of conflict transformation, for which they are known today.
Over the years she has continued to encounter and adopt nodes of knowledge and practice that identify and address personal, interpersonal, and systemic patterns that get in the way of meaningful change. Some of these are Deep Democracy Process Work, Liberating Structures, conflict transformation, popular education and group process, systems theory, mindfulness, and Somatic Experiencing®. Embodied practice has changed her life, and she is evangelical about orienting to pleasure and feeling your feet.
She founded Big Waves in 2020 in order to realize a vision of the immense possibility inherent in working together.
She loves story and metaphor because of how they explain complex concepts and highlight shared experience, enabling people to feel connection and emotional resonance.
Brook hails from an Austrian Jewish, English and Scottish background and grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. She is proudly queer. After living away from the ocean for what she found out was too many years, she was pulled to Halifax by her love of Joanne and also the ocean.
In certain company, she is inclined to describe the moments of her day in song. Her sweet dog Rexy has grown very talented at tempting her away from her precarious book piles and into nature.
Key certifications and trainings:
Qualified Mediator, accredited through Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certification, Somatic Experiencing International
Change Management Practitioner Certification, Prosci
Psychological Health and Safety Professional Certification, Canadian Mental Health Association
Advanced Workplace Restoration and Workplace Fairness Assessment, Workplace Fairness Institute
Deep Democracy Level 4, Lewis Deep Democracy
Diamond Power Index 360 Certification, Diamond Leadership
Community Economic Development Graduate Certificate, Concordia University
Joanne has been at the heart of organizations in transformative moments for many years. Her roles have varied, encompassing strategic leadership, change management, organizational learning, communication and marketing, and as a member and leader of boards of directors.
She has enjoyed many consulting engagements,
Big Waves is committed to being in solidarity with organizations making change for a more socially, environmentally, and economically just society. This solidarity includes a commitment to contribute financially to nonprofit, charitable and grassroots organizations and groups that are doing the hard work to create a better world. As a part of this commitment, 2% of Big Waves’s annual net income will be donated to organizations doing this important work. At least 1% must go to charitable organizations. Groups will be prioritized based on their intersectional commitment to the following:
In recognition that Big Waves is located in unceded Mi’kmaw territory, that African Nova Scotians have lived here for 500 years, and that both groups’ relationships to land have been continuously interrupted by colonization, at least half of the total 2% will be donated to organizations that prioritize Mi’kmaw or African Nova Scotian sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and/or land reclamation. These donations will be offered in the spirit of paying “rent.”
While the majority of donations will go to organizations located in Nova Scotia, some may be given to organizations serving the Atlantic Provinces more generally, or occasionally to national organizations that are supporting important work in this region.