Origins
The Dept. of Kindness was born in the middle of a busy ward at Bristol’s Southmead hospital in 2016.
Ali Brown, our founder, was running an arts project there, and asked a patient what she would say to someone in the hospital who was having a tough day. The patient replied:
“Kindness is everywhere. You just have to notice it.”
These words stayed with Ali, nudging her to notice the kindness that really is everywhere. She went on to work in many more wards in the hospital, and saw time and time again the kindness in the little everyday human things often passing by unnoticed, hidden and under-celebrated.
These seemingly small, everyday actions have the power to change the course of someone’s life, and also our world.
It got Ali thinking…
What is kindness?
How can you describe it?
How can you make something invisible visible?
How can we notice it and celebrate kindness more?
In the middle of a dark January, nestled in a busy atrium of Southmead hospital, The Dept. of Kindness became a reality, a physical place to think about kindness and what it means.
Over 700 people stepped inside to share what kindness means to them and report ‘Incidents of Kindness’ they had experienced or witnessed. People stopped on their lunch break or on their way to appointments to read stories shared, and a community grew around the Dept that celebrated, valued and encouraged kindness.
Over 700 people stepped inside to share what kindness means to them and report ‘Incidents of Kindness’ they had experienced or witnessed. People stopped on their lunch break or on their way to appointments to read stories shared, and a community grew around the Dept that celebrated, valued and encouraged kindness.
A hospital is an environment full of caring professionals with a huge kindness output, and our projects highlighted the importance of a kindness input.
Over the next 3 years, The Dept. of Kindness returned to Southmead hospital several times, working with Southmead Hospital Charity to run creative kindness workshops with both patients and staff, helping hundreds more reflect on what kindness means to them.
Over the next 3 years, The Dept. of Kindness returned to Southmead hospital several times, working with Southmead Hospital Charity to run creative kindness workshops with both patients and staff, helping hundreds more reflect on what kindness means to them.
The evolution
In time, The Dept. of Kindness began to evolve.
Time and time again people expressed the challenges to be kind to themselves, and the necessity of doing just that in order to be able to support people in their lives without burning out. We discovered what we now call our kindness input and output and how they feed each other. We noticed how self-kindness ripples out and changes our world.
Rhiannon Adler had been supporting Ali with her kindness mission as Dept. of Kindness collaborator from the outset. In 2020 she joined Ali officially as co-director, and together they have taken The Dept. of Kindness global, opening it up to every single human on the planet.
The implications of self compassion and kindness are huge. We aim to build a kindness community for people wanting to make ripples of kindness in their hearts, their minds and their worlds.