Join us for Curiosity Friday with Sara Vank
From Starfire, this is a podcast on what's more possible in inclusion, community building and relationships.
Jan Goings:
Hello. Welcome to the Starfire Podcast about curiosity. We are introducing a series to explore the curiosities that are found in our work and in our lives. My name is Jan Goings, director of operations with Starfire, and today we are talking with Sara Vank, who also works for Starfire, as a content creator and family mentor, as well as a speech language therapist working with children birth through middle school. Hey, Sara.
Sara Vank:
Hello.
Jan Goings:
Today Sara's going to share how the Curiosity series came to be, as a professional and as a parent who has navigated systems and services. Sara, I'm curious, tell us more.
Sara Vank:
I have been working with kids with disabilities for at least 13 years, and I really, really enjoy it. I'm pretty good at it, but I had this experience about five years ago. I had a daughter with a disability, and then I became involved in Starfire. I was provided a family mentor and we got a stipend and we got to create a project of joy. We did our family project in our neighborhood and it was really such a catalyst and so impactful. I started to do a lot of learning and unlearning so much about myself, as a parent and as a therapist. I really started to look at how society perceives people with disabilities, responds to and supports people with disabilities.
The one thing I was noticing all along that experience, I had this constant motivation that made me make time for these experiences, these conversations, and I made time for the family mentor work and I made time for the discussions and the coffees about social value and the devaluation of people with disabilities. I had made time for conversations about how to practice joy, and I made time for how to own the story of disability and how to create a new narrative for my daughter.
Jan Goings:
Yeah. Time is really such a precious commodity. What was that driving motivation for you to make that time?
Sara Vank:
Well, I've been doing this for about five years, and then towards the end of last year I realized that that main drive to keep that space and those opportunities for those discussions, was curiosity. That curiosity I had about the narrative of disability, and I realized it was so rooted in stereotypes and devaluation. That was intensely personal because it was about my daughter, and then I got struck on my heels because I wasn't intentionally exploring that curiosity everywhere else in my work, and I work with children with disabilities. I had to take a moment and I was like, "When did I stop having this curiosity at work?" I started out super curious and I was very passionate, and I wanted to know where was that now.
Jan Goings:
I know I can relate, and probably many others can relate to that too. Why do you think curiosity is really good for our work in our workplace? Tell me some more.
Sara Vank:
Well, it's fascinating. There's a true connection between learning and curiosity. It's literally married in how your brain works. The more you have time to pause and think, the more your brain is engaged, it's more active, it actually increases serotonin, because when you feel you've learned something or you've thought about something differently, your brain likes that experience. It wants more of it. I realize when our curiosities are on the back burner and we're focused on procedures and policies, where's that learning going or where's it coming from and what is your brain doing? Is it just going through the policies and procedures, or is it alive with curiosity?
Jan Goings:
I know policies and procedures do have some certainty to it, but I imagine being curious, people have to be open to uncertainty and ambiguity. Would you say that?
Sara Vank:
Absolutely. Curiosity is the opposite of certainty. It can lead to many different energies for projects, amazing things like creativity, ambiguity, insight, reflection, and all those experiences can be reflected in joy or regret, but it involves learning and changing and growing.
Jan Goings:
Giving your reflection here, this brings me to this Curiosity Friday idea. Tell me more about it.
Sara Vank:
Well, we wanted a space in place where anyone who is working with people with disabilities, or in any system or service provision, can come and be curious with others, share their thoughts and discuss, and just have a monthly time to be with other curious people.
Jan Goings:
Is that a webinar or presentation on Curiosity Friday?
Sara Vank:
No, this is not a webinar. It is 45 minutes of conversation and space for thinking and sharing. You will come and get to be curious. Curious people feel compelled to learn and find answers and explore the meanings and curiosities that emerge in their work, in their lives.
Jan Goings:
I love that. You mentioned something earlier about the narrative of disability being rooted in stereotypes and devaluation. Is this curiosity conversation centered only on disability, or our broader service systems?
Sara Vank:
It's broader. I think it's anyone who's working within a system in a service-based institution. There will always be challenges with systems and in institutions, but we need them, because often these systems and institutions are based on policies, based on certainty, because it implies certainty will solve the problem. But these problems continue, and if we are allowed to grow our curiosity in the roles we have, we can evolve and grow within these systems and services and be responsive to the needs and changes that need to happen.
Jan Goings:
Absolutely. I love that. Why not extend an invitation? So, want to invite people to come and be curious with us?
Sara Vank:
Yes, absolutely. We are inviting you to come and be curious, be a curious thinker, and if you are getting this invite, we want you to come think with us.
Jan Goings:
Okay. Join us for our first ever Curiosity Friday on July 7th, at 10:00 AM.
Sara Vank:
Jan, thank you so much for being curious with me.
Jan Goings:
Absolutely. Thanks, Sara.