Returning home to JP
Just Peoples’ cofounder Christey discusses why she walked away from the organisation she loves, and what brought her back.
I stepped back from my role at Just Peoples at the start of this year. I loved the organisation I helped to raise and all the beautiful souls who make it work, but in the day to day tasks I was performing, I couldn’t feel the throbbing magic of purpose that had provided the tailwind to my efforts in the years prior. That deep sense of inspiration that had imbued all my work had slowly been replaced by a sense of obligation - to meet deadlines, reach numbers, complete reports. All normal tasks in any job but I was used to having more of the magic that made work feel like a privilege. Call me spoilt.
Seriously, what is the point of all this?
But it wasn’t just the lack of magical vibes, or the tasks themselves, that was blocking me. There was some intangible ‘thing’ that I couldn’t put my finger on that would repel me away from my computer whenever I sat down to work. I slowly began to disengage. Poor Jo would join me on a Zoom call and ask what I was working on. I’d burst into tears as I admitted I hadn’t done anything all day, or all week. The thought of asking a leader to please complete their impact form so I could file it was being rejected by my body and my hands refused to type the message. I felt guilty and confused and probably a bit depressed.
As luck would have it, a dear friend and mentor was passing through my city and asked how work was going. I said it simply wasn't, and I had no idea why. She happened to have just been diagnosed with non-stereotypical autism and recognised in me neuro-divergent burnout. I looked it up and it rang true. Jo encouraged me to take all the time I needed to rediscover my personal motivation and come back to work when I felt that I genuinely wanted to be there.
So for the first half of 2025 I watched Netflix, cleaned the house, caught up with friends and observed myself. What matters to me? What’s the point of my time on Earth and how should I use it? Who even cares?
Yes, I tend to dabble in moderate existentialism (and I like it).
Africa brought me back to my roots.
While I was off navel gazing, Jo kept the ship afloat, doing all my work and hers and whatever else needed to be done in between. She even organised a two-week trip to Malawi and Kenya with seven of our donors. We decided my reentry to Just Peoples would start in the land of humanity’s birth. And ooohh it was a good decision!
“You are welcome; feel free”. This phrase was the gift open-hearted Malawians gave us in every village we visited. We really did feel welcomed, and that gave me a sense of freedom. Freedom to simply be where I was, observe my surroundings, come to every conversation without an agenda or goal, and simply listen to what people were saying.
Over two enlightening weeks in Malawi and Kenya, as we visited projects and met with local leaders that Just Peoples has been supporting, it was as if I got to witness the impact of our work from the outside. I was brought to tears time and again as people told us and showed us how we had impacted their lives for the better. How our team has not only provided funding for their initiatives, but supported them to make their work more visible to the world and to look after themselves as leaders. The essence of what we had all been building over the last decade together was becoming clearer to me, and I liked what I was seeing.
I learned much more than how to sew a straight line from these women.
I felt excitement in my conversations for the first time in ages. Seriously, what a joy it is to be in the company of people who are living their values and loving the contribution they’re making for their people. Or for the collective peoples. I felt a heat in my torso return. It was the recognition that I’m part of something that matters. The heat brewed into a desire to act and I felt like I could even type out an email again, if it came to it.
The thing is, a lot of social entrepreneurs are neurodivergent. 70% in fact, according to someone... Jo has been diagnosed with ADHD. I haven’t been diagnosed with autism but I’m exploring it, and honestly I am really interested in astrophysics.
Jo and I are now working to understand our unique brains and nervous systems, and how to harness their strengths without burning out. If we’re not resilient as working humans, we can’t run our organisation - and I can see now that that would be a tragedy.
Our plan is to ensure that Just Peoples is a place where all brains can feel welcome and free. We’ve seen founders burn out and have to step away and their organisations have suffered without their leadership. Sometimes the work has to stop completely with disastrous results on already vulnerable communities. For development to be truly sustainable, the people who do it need to be looked after. Obviously.
Work should feel joyful… Shouldn’t it?
So for the past two years we’ve been offering grants for local leaders to receive visibility coaching with Samantha from the School of Visibility. Jo and I personally benefitted hugely from Samantha’s deep work that enables you to question how you show up as a leader and whether the organisation you founded to serve your community, is serving you. This is why when I wasn’t able to face my computer and didn’t know why, Jo had the generosity to say, “Then don’t!” Take the time you need and come back refreshed. (It also helps when your colleague is your best friend.)
What truly matters in life? That these kids get a life with options.
But the point is we’re learning, along with the leaders we back, how to work in ways that really serve us. So that when we perform essential basic tasks like admin or communications, we can still feel connected to the reason the task matters and energised to do it from a place of freedom and joy, not out of dreary obligation. For me, the trip to Africa was a reminder of the million reasons my work is worth doing.
And so I’m back! Resting when I need to, and typing out emails when I need to. I’m exhilarated by conversations with doers and supporters and anyone operating in this vital space. I’m grateful for the immense privilege of knowing that my effort is making a difference to real people’s lives.
But mostly I’m grateful to be welcomed back into the Just Peoples community, just as I am.
Not to brag, but I get to speak to the world’s best people everyday. Who wouldn’t want this job!
