Regenerative Responders
Help Build Regenerative Responders:
A Community of Practice for Those Living Through and Preparing for Disaster
For 25 years, NewStories has been supporting communities that have faced the unimaginable, total loss from disaster—those who don’t want to rebuild the old normal, but are ready to co-create something that affirms life, reciprocity, and interdependence. We call this Re-Storying Disaster. True recovery is not simply the replacement of what was lost. It is an ongoing journey of collective healing that nourishes both people and place.
We invite you to join us as part of a diverse network of grassroots leaders who want to build healthy and resilient communities by working from regenerative principles and practices. NewStories calls these leaders Regenerative Responders. Are you one?
- Do you want to be part of an Action Learning Community where you can share your experience, insights, and questions about regenerating community after disaster and disruption? Do you want support as you journey from ‘what was’ to ‘what might be’?
- Do you want to participate in transformative courses and hands-on workshops led by master practitioners from diverse regenerative fields, developing crucial capacities in systems thinking, trauma-informed facilitation, ecological design, and narrative transformation? This Regenerative Responder Cohort will lead to obtaining a Regenerative Responder Certification.
Launching June 2025, Regenerative Responders is an initiative where participants bring their own work in the community, talk about what they are trying, and reflect on what’s happening. Using a variety of spiral processes, Regenerative Responders will develop the next generation of leaders skilled in guiding community-led recovery. Participants cultivate capabilities in systems thinking, creative facilitation, community convening, and narrative transformation- essential skills for fostering regenerative approaches after disasters. NewStories will connect practitioners globally to share what works, using facilitated peer-to-peer learning and specialized courses led by master practitioners.
How You Can Show Your Support
We need your help launching Regenerative Responders
Donate
Your gift of $10, $25, $100, or more will directly support communities in creating their own regenerative futures after disaster.
Spread the word
Share regenerativeresponders.org with friends and collegues.
Contact Us
Do you need a Regenerative Responder in your community or want to know more?
Let's stop rebuilding broken systems. Let's regenerate something better—together.
Our Approach
In a world of accelerating ecological, social, and economic breakdowns, conventional disaster recovery methods are increasingly inadequate. Traditional recovery systems remain trapped in outdated, extractive frameworks—what we call a “replacement paradigm.”
The conventional “replacement paradigm”:
- Rebuilds structures but neglects community spirit
- Restores function without renewing belonging and meaning
- Perpetuates broken systems instead of transforming them
NewStories embraces a regenerative paradigm: one that honors community agency, ecological interconnection, and emergent possibilities. We create pathways for communities to re-enliven, re-pattern, and re-structure with living systems principles that protect both human life and the ecosystems we depend on.
What Does a Regenerative Responder Do?
- Listen deeply to uncover possibilities rather than imposing solutions
- Create space to heal by honoring grief as a path to renewal
- Bring people together to strengthen community bonds
- Cultivate respect and curiosity to reveal new opportunities
- Apply living systems thinking to enhance natural patterns and center community wisdom
- Empower communities to design their own solutions and take collective action
- Recognize the potential that emerges through disruption
- Break down barriers to encourage resource-sharing and collaboration
- Take action, finding things to do right now that make a difference
Who Becomes a Regenerative Responder?
Our community includes diverse change-makers:
Community preparedness advocates who build resilience before disruption strikes
Experienced disaster responders who practice deep listening and patience
Skilled facilitators who unite diverse groups for transformative action
Indigenous knowledge holders who carry wisdom about adaptation and living systems
Healing professionals who dedicate themselves to collective wellbeing and trauma integration
Local officials who implement community-centered recovery approaches
Neighborhood leaders who naturally step forward during crisis
Environmental stewards who practice ecological regeneration
Systems thinkers who navigate complexity toward life-affirming futures
Artists and storytellers who help communities imagine beyond “building back”
Healthcare practitioners who recognize interconnected community wellbeing
Educators who translate regenerative principles across contexts and culture
People with lived experience who support others through regenerative approaches to disaster
All of these perspectives, and more, are needed in order to build a future that community members actually yearn for. ReStorying Disaster is complex work! It requires people in many different roles with different lived experiences.
What’s In It For You?
At NewStories, we say a leader is anyone who wants to help. By being a part of the Regenerative Responders Initative, you will deepen your skills and your understanding of what you can offer your community as well as other communities in a time of seemingly continuous disasters and major disruptions.
It’s time to move from a replacement paradigm — building back things the way they were — to a regenerative paradigm, which supports people in building new lives and communities that lift up all people and enhance natural systems.
Do you want to do that kind of community-building work? If so, Regenerative Responders may be a place for you to connect, learn, take action, reflect on what happens, and actually build the communities we want, now.
Join our Regenerative Responders Community.
Join Us
The question isn’t if disasters will happen, but how prepared and resilient communities will be when they do. Your partnership with Regenerative Responders directly supports a fundamental shift—from reactive replacement to community-led regeneration.
Instead of generic solutions imposed from outside, you’re backing proven strategies that empower communities to chart their own course toward more vibrant futures. Together, we can transform how communities prepare for, respond to, and regenerate after disruptions of all kinds.
FUND THE MOVEMENT
Your financial contribution directly supports communities charting their own course toward vibrant futures. Every dollar helps build our learning network, develop specialized courses, and bring regenerative practices to communities in need.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Become a Regenerative Responder through our Action Learning Community and Regenerative Responder Cohort Curriculum. Develop skills, share wisdom, and connect with practitioners worldwide who are reimagining community resilience.