Tim Mousseau

Background

About Tim Mousseau

At our most human level, we crave feelings of safety. Facing harm when expressing our identities or sharing our voices rob us of our sense of humanity. In stopping all forms of harm, we build spaces where people can show up authentically, voice their most creative ideas, and foster community. Stopping harm requires challenging how we perceive this notion. Throughout my research, I found that no matter the severity of a source of harm, people experienced the same negative emotions and responded with the same behavioral patterns of disengagement. Unaddressed and recurring minor violations cause us to check out, shut up, and leave at the same degree as severely toxic behaviors. Further, I found that when our cultures lack the framework to identify and address minor safety violations, we miss out on opportunities to intervene in significant moments of psychological, social, or relational harm. Creating spaces centered on feelings of safety is vital to building engaged and healthy cultures. This doesn't happen by chance. It takes intentional investments in organizational practices, informal norms, and reinforcing skills. People crave safety. We all deserve to feel safe. And when we do feel safe? The results are profound.