True Calling Project | Finding Purpose And Meaning In Life And Career

Traci Ruble, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is the co-creator of Sidewalk Talk. Sidewalk Talk fights stigma around therapy and mental health by bringing listening to the streets. The idea is simple: A volunteer sets two chairs out on the sidewalk. They listen to anyone who wants to talk. “I’m not in my therapist role when I’m out there listening. I show up as a human and I try to not think about all the different theoretical orientations and I don’t meet people with the idea that there’s something that needs to be fixed in them.“ The movement started in 2014. Traci was bewildered by the level of gun violence and she wanted to know: how can we be active in our community and actually listen to what’s going on, rather than interpreting and predicting it? How can we be part of the community? The first Sidewalk Talk event took place in San Francisco in 2015 – now there is a Sidewalk Talk going on, somewhere in the world, every week. An important aspect of the Sidewalk Talk dynamic is that the volunteers