Our Leadership

Executive Summary

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Modern society has become extraordinarily capable of helping people navigate the external world while offering comparatively few practical frameworks for navigating the inner world. The Self Navigation Initiative addresses this need by integrating depth psychology, reflective practice, and practical methods of self-observation into an emerging framework that supports self-awareness, resilience, identity integration, and human flourishing.

Founded upon Jo Standing's original body of work, including Unifying You and the developing manuscript Parallels of Me (co-authored with Billy Barnett), the initiative bridges scholarship, lived experience, and practical application. It seeks to develop evidence-informed educational resources, leadership programs, research partnerships, and pilot implementations across nonprofit, business, educational, and military settings.

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The Challenge

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Across many sectors, people face burnout, moral injury, fragmented identity, loneliness, and difficulty navigating major life transitions. While technical education prepares people for external success, comparatively little attention is devoted to cultivating the skills of self-navigation.

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Why Self Navigation?

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Self Navigation is proposed as a practical, reflective framework that helps individuals cultivate self-observation, conscious choice-making, identity integration, and courageous leadership. The framework is intended to be refined through scholarship, implementation, and ongoing evaluation.

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Research Foundation

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The initiative builds upon Jo Standing's independent scholarship, undergraduate health sciences work, graduate study in depth psychology, military transition interviews, and year-long public beta testing, together with Billy Barnett's complementary experience and collaborative development of Parallels of Me.

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Implementation

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Pilot applications are envisioned for leadership development, veteran transition, nonprofit organizations, businesses, educational settings, workshops, facilitator training, and public speaking.

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Deliverables

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Books; facilitator curriculum; workshops; keynote presentations; leadership programs; research publications; university collaborations; digital learning resources.

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Partnership Opportunities

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Founding research partners, implementation partners, university collaborators, philanthropic sponsors, and organizational pilot sites are invited to collaborate in developing and evaluating the initiative.

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Vision

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The long-term vision is to establish The Self Navigation Initiative as an interdisciplinary center advancing research, education, and practical implementation in service of human flourishing. Initial philanthropic support would accelerate research, curriculum development, evaluation, and pilot programs while creating resources that can benefit diverse communities.

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Invitation

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We respectfully invite select parties to explore a conversation regarding mission alignment and the potential for partnership in advancing research and implementation that supports human flourishing through the practice of Self Navigation.