The Proximity Process
This is a show about how child welfare transformation actually starts with personal transformation. Follow Matt Anderson, a former child welfare executive with 20 years of experience, as he goes deeper into his own process of becoming who he needs to be. Matt has conversations with creative disruptors who help us see how systems can harm and oppress people. Each episode is an invitation to go deeper into your own process of being in service of people rather than systems.
Episodes
65 episodes
A Families Fight for Parental Rights with Shrounda Selivanoff: Part Two
This is episode two of a two-part conversation with Shrounda Selivanoff. We are continuing our ongoing series on Termination of Parental Rights. If you haven't already, please listen to the first episode where Shrounda and I talk about her fami...
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Season 2
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Episode 64
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52:12
A Practice for Minimizing Decision Fatigue
In this journal episode I talk about the impact that decision overload can have on us, particularly for those of us who are introverts, and how I keep my energy for the most important things. When you take a minute to think about the quantity o...
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Season 2
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Episode 63
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9:21
A Families Fight for Parental Rights with Shrounda Selivanoff: Part One
In this episode we return to our ongoing series on Termination of Parental Rights. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Shrounda Selivanoff. Shrounda is the Chief of Parent Representation Initiatives with the Washington State Office...
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Season 2
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Episode 62
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1:00:19
Getting Unstuck: How to Move from Idea to Action
This week's journal picks up on the main theme of last week's episode with Jalaycia Lewis. So many of us have great ideas for things we want to do or create but we tend to get stuck in the idea phase. In order to have the impact we want, we hav...
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Season 2
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Episode 61
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13:18
Imagination Factory: Live Coaching with Jalaycia Lewis
This is a particularly exciting episode because we are doing something a little bit different. Today’s guest is Jalaycia Lewis who is part of the Imagination Factory community and someone I’ve been coaching for the past 6 months or so. Like so ...
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Season 2
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Episode 60
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52:51
Am I Enough, Am I Doing Enough?
In this week's journal episode, I share a simple exercise that my coach, Brendalyn King shared with me. Since then, I have shared this with a number of people I work with, and they typically resonate with it and find it valuable. This came to m...
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Season 2
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Episode 59
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10:19
Rerelease: From Agent to Advocate to Activist with Dr Jessica Pryce
I've been under the weather, so I decided to rerelease a gem from season one. I'm excited to share my conversation with Dr Jessica Pryce. Dr Pryce's book, Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services, gave us a great backdrop to a wide-rangin...
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Season 2
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Episode 58
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1:04:56
Imagining a Future Without Termination of Parental Rights
In this week's journal episode, I wanted to return to the conversation about Termination of Parent Rights. I've been surprised by the number of conversations that are happening around TPR in recent months, more than any time in my career, inclu...
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Season 2
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Episode 57
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10:56
The Building of Together with Families with Sarah Winograd and Andel JonesFoster
We're excited to bring you an update on what is happening with Together with Families (TwF) since our last episode with Sarah Winograd. TwF is, in my opinion, one of the more innovative organizations working with families impacted by the child ...
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Season 2
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Episode 56
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56:30
Letting Go: Comforts or Constraints?
One of the biggest lessons I've learned over the past few years is that the practice of letting go is critical to my process. I've see how letting go has helped me and many others I've had the opportunity to work with. In this episode I talk ab...
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Season 2
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Episode 55
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11:51
Families Should Not be Separated Because of Housing with Dustin Koury
This is the next in a series of conversations about the intersection of child welfare and affordable housing. Nationally, 10% of children come into foster care simply because their families cannot access affordable housing. Dustin Koury describ...
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Season 2
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Episode 54
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53:34
Two Ways to Answer the Right Relationship Question
In this week's episode I return to one of the core questions that not only led to the development of the show but also my decision to leave my job. Am I in right relationship? I share a few thoughts on being in integrity with my values as one w...
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Season 2
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Episode 53
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12:54
One Year Anniversary Episode: What Does Proximity Mean?
This is the one-year anniversary of The Proximity Process podcast. Thank you for listening and being part of the community that we are building. To mark this milestone, we thought we'd go back into the archives and pull clips of our guests answ...
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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19:20
Seeing the System Through an Economic Justice Lens
Why do we remove kids from their family and pay for foster care when stable housing is a better solution? 10% of children in foster care are removed due to unstable or unsuitable housing. Investing in affordable housing programs to prevent fost...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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12:22
Why Housing is the Right Problem to Solve with Carol King
In this week's episode my friend Carol King joins me for a conversation about why she made the pivot from technology to affordable housing. The story actually starts during her childhood. Carol grew up with her father as the primary caregiver a...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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1:00:41
A Framework for Being in Right Relationship
For this week's journal episode, I scrolled back into my photos to see where I was one year ago. I was on production of Standing with Mom's, a short film we produced for Mother's Outreach Network about their guaranteed income pilot. One of the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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10:48
Michigan Supreme Court's Decision on TPR and What's Next with Vivek Sankaran
This week's episode is the next in a series of conversations with a variety of guests on the topic of Termination of Parental Rights. The question we've been asking is, what if TPR didn't exist? In past episodes with Vivek, we've talked about t...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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57:17
Imagination Factory has Launched
In this week's episode I talk about why I'm cofounding the Imagination Factory and what I'm learning about myself and the work to advance justice. Systems change, changing the structures of what currently exists, is not enough to advance justic...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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10:32
Systems Change Starts with Personal Transformation with Dr Bruce Perry
In this episode I talk to leading trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry. I wanted to continue an ongoing conversation Bruce and I have been having about why systems don't change and the important role of storytelling in personal transformation. Dr. Pe...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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58:40
Am I in Right Relationship and What Can I Do About It?
In this week's journal episode, I talk about the practice of Right Relationship and how it has been a significant part of my process. I share a few different definitions that can be helpful in how we think about what this principle and practice...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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14:16
Building Technology to Improve Parent Legal Representation with Ryan O'Donnell
I'm excited to bring you the third installment of an ongoing conversation with Ryan O'Donnell. Ryan embodies the idea of systems change starting with personal transformation. In previous episodes we hear about how Ryan went from being a tech en...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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57:54
Journal Entry: Our Future is a Declaration Away
This week's episode was prompted by a quote I read in the book, Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor. The chapter on imagination began with this quote, "A talent for speaking differently, rather than arguing well, is the chief instrum...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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13:49
Should I Leave My Job with Brendalyn King
This week's episode is a conversation with my coach, Brendalyn King. Brendalyn is a talented ontological leadership coach, an experienced entrepreneur, and one of the more influential people in my process. I wanted to talk to Brendalyn about th...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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1:08:58
Journal Entry: Am I Living a Life that is a Full Expression of Who I Am
In this week's journal episode, I share the origin story of my search for the world's best chocolate chip cookie. This is not the first time I've been on this search. Sometime around 2007 I found the best cookie in the world and the search was ...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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11:48
How to Launch a 100-Year-Old Start Up with Dave Newell
In this episode I talk with Dave Newell who is the CEO of Akin in Seattle, WA. Akin is a new organization (kind of) that formed as the result of a merger of two 100+ year old organizations, Children's Home Society of Washington and Childhaven. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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1:01:11