Mutual Aid

Summary, part 4

Working Together on Purpose (cont)

Mutual aid work, however, isn’t easy. There are certain obstacles and challenges that any mutual aid network should be prepared for.

Handling Money

Mutual aid groups will have to handle money eventually, but doing so may be contentious. Because of this, many mutual aid groups opt for doing work that doesn’t require raising money at all, and some just stick to grassroots fundraising (as opposed to applying for grants, etc.) to get closer to the community. 

Some groups will have paid staffing. It could be helpful to go over the pros and cons of paid staffing: on one hand, it can increase capacity, on the other hand, it can breed an environment of pandering to funders, losing autonomy, and more.

Burnout

One of the most common reasons why people leave mutual aid groups is burnout. Burnout is not just being exhausted. It can manifest as the combination of resentment, exhaustion, shame, and frustration that makes us lose our passion for the project. It will lead people to encounter feelings of avoidance, compulsion, control, and anxiety. Unfortunately, it can rarely be fixed by taking a break, as people who are experiencing burnout may feel that returning to work is toxic.

However, burnout can be lessened when we feel connected to others, when there is transparency in how we work together, when we rest as needed (as opposed to working until you’re burnt out and then only taking one weekend off), when we feel appreciated, and when there is a way for members to give and productively receive feedback.

Ways for mutual aid groups to prevent and address burnout and overworking:

• Make internal problems a top priority by facilitating discussions on difficult topics, regularly schedule conversations, mediate conflict, building transparency;

• Make sure new people feel welcomed and trained to co-lead;

• Establish mechanisms to assess the workload and scale back if someone is taking on too many hours or there is too much on the group’s plate. Some important questions to ask might be: What are people in your group doing to maintain their wellbeing? Did they actually track their hours worked, or did they undersell themselves? Assess the workload and bring it to the group;

• Build a culture of connection by talking about the wellness of the group during regular check-ins;

• Make sure facilitation rotates by changing the meeting facilitator or agenda-making duties regularly;

• Recognize the conditions that create a culture of overworking as a group; and

• Recognize that perfectionism is a harmful force that can shrink our mutual aid groups by making them an exclusive, contentious, and a breeding ground for burnout. 

Conflict

Conflict is a normal part of group work, and it should be normalized to avoid placing blame on specific people within the group.

Here are three ways we can check in with ourselves when conflict is arising:

• Get away for a moment to feel what’s going on inside. Maybe talk to a friend or write things down;

• Remember that no one made us feel this way, but each feeling deserves attention and care; and

• Pay attention to the ‘raw spots’ for yourself and others. Are there specific topics that make you or another member of the group particularly upset?

Working with Joy

Many of us have a distorted relationship with work. Refer to this chart to view some of the habits that could show someone who is working joyfully versus someone who may be working compulsively.