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DKG Practice/Program

How a Crowd-Sourced Poem

Helped Restore Chapter Joy

By Deborah Russell and Teresa Price

Dr. Deborah “Joy Restored” is a poem written collaboratively by members of Alpha Delta
Russell is co-president
of Alpha Delta Chapter Chapter of North Carolina State Organization. In celebration of resuming in-
in North Carolina person meetings after 2 years of virtual gathering, our chapter, which includes
State Organization Rockingham and Caswell counties, marked the occasion with a focus on renewal.
and has served on the With a nod toward National Mental Health Day, which fell within a day of our
state organization's scheduled meeting, and to address the well-publicized increases in mental health
Scholarship and Awards concerns, we collaborated as co-presidents to develop a program around the theme
Committees. After a 30-
year high school teaching of “Restoring Joy.” During the program, we presented a variety of strategies to help
career, she earned a members maintain positive mental health.
doctorate in history. 1. We first shared data from a research study conducted by CNN and the Kaiser
She now volunteers as Family Foundation (Stokes et al., 2022) that included statistics on the increased
a museum educator, demand for specific mental health services. We then shared contacts and hotline
researcher, and historian numbers for professional sources of help before moving to a very positive self-
for her community.
Contact Deborah help exercise for the less urgent feelings of vulnerability and anxiety that so
through MyDKG member many experienced during the pandemic.
directory. 2. We identified three simple behaviors that, if practiced and engaged in routinely,
can lead to a more joyful life:
-taking care of ourselves;
-helping others; and
-letting others help us.
3. We had each member list 3–5 things (items, activities, people, etc.) that make
Teresa P. Price is co- her happy and then encouraged all to engage in at least one of those things each
president of Alpha Delta day for 21 days, creating a habit of making her own joy.
Chapter in North Carolina 4. We shared with the group an audio of a crowd-sourced poem from National
State Organization. She
has previously served on Public Radio (NPR, 2022) in which students and teachers expressed their hopes
the state organization’s for the new school year, sharing individual thoughts that had been molded into
Educational Law and a group poem. This art form spread virally during the pandemic as did group
Policy Committee. After musical renditions that were built in the same way—through individual voices
a career of teaching that were collected and woven en masse into a choral work. The crowd-sourced
at the high school and poem can be adapted to any theme, occasion, group, age, and so forth, and we
community college levels,
she served as Director asked the group to join us in writing such a poem as we “restored our joy.”
of Youth Services in 5. Each chapter member was given a slip of paper and asked to share her thoughts
Rockingham County on how to take care of herself (including using the items listed earlier that made
government and in her happy), how to help others, and how to let others help her.
state government as 6. We collected all the individual contributions, and before our next meeting,
North Carolina Deputy Teresa created a framework and then compiled and edited the phrases into our
Secretary for Programs
in the area of juvenile own DKG chapter’s group poem, “Joy Restored.”
justice. Contact Teresa 7. On reading our poem to the group at our next meeting, chapter members
through MyDKG member celebrated their work with a standing ovation and, more importantly, genuine
directory. joy.

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