About
“My work lives at the intersection of practice, systems, and care. I am deeply interested in how we can redesign our working lives and the systems we build to be more nourishing, effective and generative. In my experience, trauma-informed, somatic and systems change practices are the scaffolding that makes this possible.” - Jo Buick
For the past 17 years, Jo has worked across mental health, education, and social justice as a strategist, educator, founder, and practitioner.
In 2017, Jo founded Collective Being, an innovative mental health organisation delivering trauma-informed, body-based programs to people experiencing stress, trauma, and systemic barriers to care. Over the past nine years the organisation has supported 10,000+ people, trained 250+ practitioners, and partnered with 60+ organisations across health, justice, education, and community settings.
Jo has also worked as a consultant across the social purpose sector for over a decade — designing trauma-informed service models, leading co-design processes, and translating research and policy into workforce change. Jo works with organisations who sense that true social and systems requires deep cultural and embodied change.
Practice approach
Integrating trauma-informed practice, somatics, and systems change tools to support organisations working with stress, burnout, and complexity.
Jo’s approach has been shaped by her professional experiences as an educator, community strategist, and non-profit founder, as well as her lived experiences of chronic stress, trauma, and post-traumatic resilience.
Her thinking and practice are influenced by contemplative practices, engaged pedagogy, systems design, somatic lineages, liberation philosophies, and anti-colonial practice.
Jo utilises tools, techniques, and frameworks from the fields of systems change, collaborative inquiry, transformative group-work practice, somatics, disability justice, trauma-informed care, and accessible design.
She takes a relational approach to her work, and deeply values the connections and collaborations that she makes along the way. Jo believes that embedding care and connection into our work is vital to the longevity of systems and social change projects.
Above all, Jo values her roles as a friend, daughter, sister, collaborator, community member, and mother. She believes that relationships are the threads that hold everything together, and is grateful to be stitched closely to some very special people in this world.
(You can read more about Jo’s training, qualifications and skills here).
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