HEART - Advocacy training for courageous clinicians

Have you ever wanted to make change but didn't know how to start?

If you thought, "It happens to me all the time," you are not alone. More and more research shows that even though they have important social roles, clinicians feel they can't do much to change things that affect their patients or themselves.

As clinicians, we witness the world's injustices firsthand. It's essential that we find both the courage and the effective methods to make a difference.

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HEART ️will help you take the first step towards making change.
It will teach you how to:

Build your Advocacy Team

Have you experienced isolation? Creating change should never be done alone. Launching an interdependent team deeply connected in values is an activist's first and fundamental work.

Develop a People Power Strategy

Can we do it? Advocacy efforts without a strategy on how to involve more people are just wishful thinking. HEART! will introduce you to the strategic thinking of effective community organizers.

Take action

Knowledge without action. Sounds familiar? Whatever world you are interested in creating, the most challenging thing is taking that first step.

Who is behind HEART.
Hi, I’m Dr Pedja Stojicic

I’ve spent more than 15 years personally practicing health advocacy and community organizing, which is a new way for clinicians to change the conditions affecting the health and well-being of people and communities.

What started in the 90s during the civil war in Yugoslavia, became a life-long mission to help clinicians engage with the most challenging problems of our times. I firmly believe this practice is crucial to re-humanizing how medicine is practiced and how we all could live healthier lives.

HEART results from thousands of hours spent teaching, speaking, coaching, and writing about community organizing and health activism   And I can’t wait to share it with you...

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What you’ll be learning and doing in HEART

Every module contains short, to-the-point videos, concrete action steps, and reflection exercises so you can put what you learn into practice immediately

WEEK 1

September 4th at 3pm EST

Develop a People Power Strategy

To begin our journey, we build our program community and learn how to answer the most important question of activism - “Who are my people?” During this week, participants will have a chance to learn the fundamentals of the community organizing framework.

WEEK 2

September 11th at 3pm EST

What is the best way to build power?

We will introduce participants to the basics of community organizing theory of change this week. Through analyzing the Montgomery Bus Boycott and more recent Vot-ER experiences, we will learn what are the sources of power in society and how to utilize your people's resources for change.

WEEK 3

September 18th at 3pm EST

Teams

We know our people and what they want in terms of change. It is time for us to create structure and practices so that our collective efforts are aligned. Using Ruth Wageman's groundbreaking work, we will introduce how to build effective, inclusive, and interdependent teams.

WEEK 4

September 25th at 3pm EST

Strategy

Sun Tzu said, "Strategy without tactics leads to defeat; tactics without strategy is noise before defeat.". Our focus this week will be on creating and developing effective strategies and tactics. From examples of successful campaigns around the world, participants will learn how to envision their campaigns for change and practice "strategizing."

WEEK 5

October 2nd at 3pm EST

Leading (and surviving) change

There is probably no week in the program that is more exciting than this one! Developing practices of activism will help you deal with drawbacks, pushbacks, misinformation, and other things that come along with making change.

WEEK 6

October 9th at 3pm EST

Narrative Leadership

In this last lesson, we will explore the power of storytelling and how we can use it to inspire action. Our goal is to celebrate our community and introduce people to the exciting world of activism.

HEART special guest speakers

Alister Martin, MD

Guest speaker

Former Chief Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and now dually appointed as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and as Research Faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School. White House fellow in the Office of the Vice President. Founder of Get Waivered and VotER.

Gaurab Basu, MD

Guest speaker

Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH is a physician and founding co-director of the CHA Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy (CHEEA). He is an Instructor at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. Dr. Basu is a Health Equity Fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment and Faculty Affiliate at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Srdja Popovic

Guest speaker

Author of “Blueprint for Revolution”, in 2003 he started the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS). CANVAS has worked with activists from 46 different countries. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and listed as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

To establish a strong learning environment and community, our course has:

Weekly 90-minute lectures

Each week of the program includes a live session where key concepts will be taught and reviewed to enable participants to practice skills in a safe training environment.

Weekly 60-minute reflection session

The sessions are designed for participants to coach one another and model the development of an online learning community.

Experimental learning

Participants will apply the skills from the program directly in their work on the ground, organizing people. Each segment of the program is designed to enable participants to acquire new leadership skills needed for their work.

Short interactive video lessons

Learn the theory of Community Organizing on your own time. You’ll have lifetime access to any future updates, which come out before every new cohort.

Courageous Clinicians Community

Every person who goes through HEART! will be offered an opportunity to apply to join our Courageous Clinicians community. We are building a dedicated space for health activism practitioners to get their questions answered and solve their challenges alongside their peers.

Health Justice Resource Center

In partnership with LCN, get access to a database of real-world case studies, infographics, examples & guides on how to take action & teach activism.

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Reviews

“It provided me with a lot of hope on how collective action can indeed make a change, and that's something I'm taking with me forever.”

“Gave me tools to use in my journey that were flexible enough to apply to many different situations.”

“Every class was full of valuable lessons and wonderful connections that I look forward to continuously cultivate.”

“I think the curriculum is good as well as the speakers. People should get the chance to take this course.”

“While "health equity" can manifest in many ways, this course is a solid foundation to developing a collective and cohesive plan to implement a strategy to achieve.”

Advocacy training for courageous clinicians

Have you ever wanted to make change but didn't know how to start?

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