What Do Relationships Have to Do With It?

Building Communities One Healthy Relationship at a Time

Life is relationships. All that we are, in many ways, is driven by our many relationships— romantic, friendship, family, work, and so on. Relationships are central to who we are and fundamental to how we navigate our personal journey. They shape the lens through which we view our lives and help determine who we become and how we respond to the world around us.

Because of this, when exploring holistic approaches to building stable communities, there should be a focus on building and sustaining healthy relationships. After all, healthy individuals lend themselves to healthy relationships—healthy relationships, to healthy families—and healthy families support healthy communities. In other words, a successful and comprehensive approach to building thriving and sustainable communities should include resources and support for building healthy relationships with one’s self and with others. Our relationships have a reverberating impact on our lives, the people we meet, and on our communities—which is why building and sustaining healthy relationships is both a personal and a collective imperative.

Building thriving and sustainable work relationships is a continuum and is integral to the Westhab culture, transcending the mission of the agency. In staff meetings at the Willow Rapid Re-Housing Shelter Program, substantial time is devoted to the questions: How can we achieve a great, sustainable team culture? What does a high-performance team look like? How do we get there? Working with people from diverse backgrounds presents opportunities and has challenges. But our commitment as a team to highlight the best in all of us, and to create shared experiences as a way of overcoming inherent obstacles, helps us better define the path. While focusing on creating a more enriching team experience, our mantra is, “How are the people we serve experiencing us along their journey to independence?” Healthy teams lend themselves to meaningful and quality services for those we serve. All that we are, and all that we do, is relationships.