What if your emergency plan started with care?

We’ve been taught to prepare with checklists. ... To buy the kit. Make the plan. Download the app. And while these things can be useful, they don’t always reflect how most people actually move through crisis.

Most emergency preparedness plans forget one thing: people.

In my work with community groups, non-profit organizations, frontline workers, and community builders, I hear the same concerns over and over:

• "Our staff are burning out."

• "Our clients already live in survival mode."

• "We don’t have time for another workshop that results in more, not less, work."

Preparedness doesn’t begin with fear. It begins with relationship.

Below are five principles I use in my work—and in the Inclusive Community Preparedness Lab—to support a more inclusive, culturally safe, and relational approach to preparedness.

1. Relationship is Infrastructure

When disaster hits, many people don’t call 911. They call their partner. Their best friend. Their neighbour.

We survive through connection, not isolation.

Your emergency plan should include:

• A phone tree

• A contact list with chosen family

• A check-in buddy

These are simple, free, human ways to build resilience. They’re already happening in many communities—especially among people who have survived structural neglect. And if you don't have this yet, it is easy and free to start!

2. Start With What’s Already Working

So many preparedness programs start by pointing out what’s missing.

But what if we asked:

• What have you already done to care for others in crisis?

• What community structures are already in place?

• What does mutual aid look like for you?

In the Lab, we focus on uncovering and strengthening these organic systems of support.

Because resilience isn’t something you build from scratch—you remember it, reclaim it, and reshare it.

3. One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Most emergency plans are designed for able-bodied, neurotypical, tech-connected people, who speak and read the dominant language, and can remain emotionally regulated enough to follow directions in a crisis.

Let’s be real: many of us are living with chronic illness, mental health challenges, caregiving responsibilities, mobility challenges, language barriers, or multiple jobs - or know people who are living with those experiences.

A plan that works for one person may leave someone else behind.

Inclusive preparedness means:

• Designing for a range of mobility and communication needs

• Considering access to transit, cash, and quiet spaces

• Preparing in ways that honor body and sensory needs

The Lab helps you map preparedness strategies that are people-centered, not protocol-centered.

4. Cultural Safety Is Essential

Safety looks different depending on who you are.

For many BIPOC, queer, disabled, and undocumented people, traditional emergency responses like shelters or police-led evacuations can feel unsafe.

That’s why we explore:

• Alternatives to calling emergency services

• Place-based, culturally rooted responses

• Trauma-informed, consent-based preparedness planning

In the Lab, we hold space for these complexities—because safety isn’t just about weathering the storm. It’s about being able to show up fully in the process because we have already been practicing these processes.

5. Preparedness is Political and Imaginative

Emergency planning is often framed as apolitical.

But who is most impacted by climate disasters? Who has access to resources? Whose neighborhoods get prioritized?

Preparedness must be rooted in justice. It should also leave room for imagination.

Because what if crisis planning didn’t just focus on survival? What if it was also a tool for building the future?

That’s the heart of the Lab: preparing not just for the next emergency, but for the liberated, inclusive, sustainable futures we want to live in.

Want to join us?

The next cohort of the Inclusive Community Preparedness Lab begins May 21, 2025.

It’s designed for changemakers, (community builder, social venture business owner, non profit leader, or frontline workers),

who want a better way to prepare - one rooted in relationship, equity, and care.

🔗 Apply or learn more here

Or download my free Quick-Start Guide to Inclusive Preparedness to start building your own plan, your way.