Become a Certified Nesting Ambassador

The Evolved Nest Initiative announces the Nesting Ambassador Program, the opportunity to take up the mantle of a wellness leader. You can earn a certificate at your own pace. 

The Evolved Nest and the Kinship mindset that accompanies it are wellness promoting. They represent the ways all our deep ancestors lived and understood the world and their place in it. They arise from a planetary consciousness, which is sorely needed today. You can take up this consciousness, participating in the planet’s arising immune system. 

The dominant culture undermines evolved nest provision and fosters a domineering mindset that brings about extensive destruction and suffering among all lifeforms. In order to shift the dominant culture from its trauma-inducing systems to wellness-promoting systems we need to: [1]

1.  Change mindsets. In this case, understanding our evolutionary history as cooperators who jointly raise children with love (according to evolved nest principles) is key. Also important is taking up the Kinship Mindset or Indigenous Worldview—this will be the focus of an additional ambassadorship module created later.

2.  Alter the objectives of the trauma-inducing systems. We need to move away from the Sacred Money and Markets Story that has been forced upon us and return instead to the Sacred Living Earth Story that is part of our ancestral wisdom (Korten, 2015). The objectives of the latter story are to foster wellbeing in individuals and communities, human and non-human, and to keep Life flourishing and flowing into the future.

3.  Redistribute power regarding who decides the rules that govern each system. Global efforts at localization—of food sources, investment, education, etc.—are fundamental to restore the power of decision making to local communities instead of global corporate colonialists (e.g., World Trade Organization) that hamstring nations’ capacities to self-govern towards wellness for its citizens. Evolved Nest ambassadors help grow collective efforts toward democracy and self-governance.

4.  Build knowhow for wellness promotion in self-care, relationships with humans and non-humans, and Nature’s ecological systems. The evolved nest provides the infrastructure for growing Kinship knowhow for living well with Earth’s ways of partnership and cooperation across natural systems.

5.  Change the story. Part of Kindred World’s mission is to dismantle the myths that govern our lives—e.g., that how babies are treated doesn’t much matter (they won’t remember), that children need to be punished to be good, that only research studies can tell us how to treat children, that people are naturally selfish and aggressive, that hierarchy is normal for human communities.

The Nesting Ambassador Program facilitates mindset change in enrollees who then, through their efforts, encourage mindset changes in others. Nesting Ambassadors help others to not only shift in mindset but develop knowhow for promoting wellness. As the wisdom of the nest is promoted more widely, objectives of systems will begin to change. Nesting ambassadors empower parents, teachers, and/or professionals to take up their power to decolonize trauma-inducing systems related to child raising, adult health, institutional practices, promoting the wellbeing of All. We together promote the new/old story that we co-create a living Earth.

[1] In systems change recommendations, Dana Meadows listed the chief levers of system change as the first three listed below.

Nesting Ambassadors are emissaries to the world, local and global, of evolved nestedness. A Nesting Ambassador is one who has learned the principles of the evolved nest and integrates them into their lifestyle, workplace and/or community, leading others to follow evolved nest principles. 

The first level of the program involves study of the Evolved Nest Curriculum, completion of the accompanying videorecorded class sessions, and completion of course projects.

Prerequisite: High school/secondary school diploma or equivalent.

Application: Documentation needed for application: (a) A resume regarding one’s life experiences and (b) a paragraph or two about what motivates you to become an ambassador.

Course duration: Eight recorded online meetings, three online support group sessions.

Material provided: Self-directed Curriculum guidebook (PDF).

Additional material to have on hand: notebook, pen and a journal.

Assignments for Nesting Ambassador Certification: (1) Tell the story of how you became interested in the evolved nest and share it in a live meeting. (2) Assess your community for nesting components. (3) Create a tool(s) for the domain where you want to be an ambassador.

Expectations for Certified Nesting Ambassadors:

1.  Stay in touch with ongoing online meetings. Report periodically on your initiatives, challenges, efforts, and outcomes. Use and share Nesting Ambassador Tools.

2.  Bring in others to learn about the Evolved Nest and perhaps even train as a Nesting Ambassador. 

3.  Pay an annual fee ($10-50) to maintain your certification and your presence on the EN Ambassador webpage.

In the program you will learn critical, creative skills, including deftness for self-transformation and capacities for helping others self-transform. If you are a professional, the Nesting Ambassador certificate will add value to your qualifications. 

Level 1: Certified Nesting Ambassador 

Certified Nesting Ambassadors are able to discuss the components with others and help others understand the importance of nest components relevant to the domain of practice, using tools available at EvolvedNest.org and created by ambassadors. In the program you will learn critical, creative skills, including deftness for self-transformation and capacities for helping others self-transform. If you are a professional, the Nesting Ambassador certificate will add value to your qualifications. 

Step 1. Submit an application.

a. Prepare a resume that highlights your education and relevant experiences.

b. Write a paragraph or two about what motivates you to become an ambassador.

c. Sign the Ambassador Program agreement.

d. Sign the pledge to work on self-healing from the colonization of the dominant culture. Although learning about the nest may cause distress, the ambassador training program is unable to provide therapy for the trauma of the dominant culture. Please follow suggested practices and/or find ways to self-heal simultaneously with the program. Download the Personal Health Pledge.

e. Submit your resume, paragraph(s), and pledge to evolvednestinitiative@gmail.com.

Step 2. Enroll in and Complete the training course. Once accepted into the ambassador program, you will be invited to enroll in and complete the Nest Ambassador Training course.

a. Sign up and pay for the online course. $299 with a sliding scale

b. Take the course at your own pace, preferably within 90 days or so.

c. As you proceed through the course, keep a list of ideas for how you can implement the Evolved Nest in your domain of practice. 

Step 3. Participate in monthly discussions with other ambassador trainees and present your findings.When you are accepted into the program, you will also be invited to join a monthly online ambassador support group discussion. Attend at least three meetings and share the following at the meetings:

1. Share your story. Use the Tell Your Story worksheet to develop your personal story and present it to the online support group when you are ready.
2. Use the Community Assessment Tool to assess your community’s coherence and support for Evolved Nest components: Depending upon where you are in the world, you will find varying degrees of coherence and support for the EN components in your community. There are ways to assess your community’s coherence and support systems. This assessment will help you to calibrate and set realistic expectations for where to find allies, where the weaknesses and challenges are in your community, and where your efforts and vision to be an ENA will be welcome or needed. Present your findings to the online support group.
3. Use the Guidelines for Tool Creation to develop a tool for your domain of practice. Using the ideas you’ve collected through the course, draft a plan for implementing nest components in the domain you’ve chosen to work in, whether a profession or community. This would be a tool that you or other nesting ambassadors could use. Be as specific as possible about what actions you will take. Present your drafted tools to the online support group to receive feedback.

Step 4. Make revisions to your plans and submit it. Finalize and submit your plan. Submit it to EvolvedNestInitiative@gmail.com. 

Step 5. Interview. Complete a final interview with a training director. Discuss your immediate and future plans.

Step 6. Presentation. Present your final project (tool) to the Nesting Ambassador Support Group. 

Step 7. Graduate.  Graduate with certification as a Nesting Ambassador. The certificate indicates that you have been trained in Evolved Nest principles and that you have practical knowhow for implementing it in your domain of practice.

Step 8. Add your contact information to Nested World. Submit your photo, bio, specialty area, and contact information to be placed at the Nest Ambassadors website as a graduate. Pay a small annual membership fee for inclusion in the Ambassador Directory on our website. ($10-$50 sliding scale).

Step 9. Maintain your Annual membership as Nesting Ambassador. Renew your web presence annually with a brief report and membership fee. Use the Nesting Ambassador Report form.

Step 10. Moving forward. You are welcome to attend monthly ambassador meetings where you can discuss challenges and new ideas, and you can help those just getting started.