community
we were never meant to navigate life’s most profound moments alone
What I've learned from almost two decades of humanitarian service is that there is power in speaking our stories out loud and sharing them with each other.
We’ve been conditioned to believe that healing is personal and a burden we must carry on our own. But as human beings we are hardwired for connection. This means that healing actually happens in the collective — a feeling of common humanity that only emerges when we bring our experiences into the presence of others who understand. I wrote Tell Me My Story to name the wounds honestly — vicarious trauma, moral injury, institutional betrayal, collective grief shaped by systemic harm — and to begin moving through them. But reading alone only takes us so far.
These community spaces are part of the moral cartography of this work: places to name what we are carrying, witness collective grief, and imagine more humane ways to serve and live.
We do not gather to solve everything. We gather to remember that healing happens in relationship, and that our stories become less isolating when they are held with care.
These offerings are where those practices flourish. Read on to learn more about ongoing community conversations, collective imagination journaling circles, and upcoming cohorts of Challenging the Narrative writing circles.
tell me my story community conversations
a monthly conversation with Dimple
Join me on the first Tuesday of every month for a live 60-minute community conversation about Tell Me My Story — Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self.
Part book club, part collective exploration — this isn't a lecture or a summary. It's a conversation — the kind I always envisioned the book opening.
Each month we’ll gather to discuss a single chapter from the book and explore the stories that shape how we serve, the costs of caring, and how to hold pain and possibility together to make service sustainable moving forward. We won’t be taking the book in any particular order, so drop-ins are welcome.
This is direct access to me, in a virtual, small group setting to talk about what it really means to be “of service” in this age of polycrisis, so bring your questions, your reactions, and your experiences and join the discussion.
NOTE: Reading the featured chapter before each session isn't required, but highly encouraged to make for a richer conversation.
Details:
60-minute live community conversation via Zoom
Ongoing registration — no prior preparation or prior sessions required, but registration is required.
$10 per session — or join as a founding member of rōot | by dimple dhabalia at $100/year and get unlimited access to all community circles, the full member library of videos, downloadable integration guides and toolkits, and a 15% discount on other offerings — plus a signed copy of Tell Me My Story — Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self.
If cost is a barrier, just send us a note at hello@rootsintheclouds.com. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Have your own group? I'm happy to bring the conversation to you — in person or on Zoom. Let’s chat.
Upcoming sessions:
jun 2 | 12-1pm EST | chapter 12: mission-driven, not superhuman | martyrdom culture — this conversation will explore the narrative of service before self, including how it took root in our families, communities and workplace cultures, what it costs us, personally and professionally, and why it’s so hard to let go of it.
jul 7 | 12-1pm EST | chapter 11: a conflicted oath | moral injury— this conversation will explore what happens when what we're asked to do conflicts with our own deeply held morals and beliefs, including the specific texture of moral injury in mission-driven work — what activates it, how it lives in the body, and what it looks like to stay rooted in our values and keep service sustainable.
aug 4 | 12-1pm EST | chapter 1: the history we carry within us | generational trauma — this conversation will explore how we carry the pain and trauma of the family members who came before us and the impact it can have on our minds, bodies, relationships, and service.
Session themes are announced on a rolling three-month basis. To stay informed of upcoming conversations, share your interest here.
collective imagination community journaling circles
These circles are for people who want a lighter, more accessible practice of reflection in community. You don’t need to be a writer. You don’t need to prepare in advance. And you will never be required to share.
This is not a writing workshop. It is a guided space for journaling, listening, and collective imagination: the shared practice of holding pain and possibility together while we make room for what could become possible.
$10 per session — or join as a founding member of rōot | by dimple dhabalia at $100/year and get unlimited access to all rōot circles, the full member library of downloadable resource guides, videos and integration journals, a 15% discount on other offerings, and a signed copy of Tell Me My Story. Become a founding member →
If cost is a barrier, just send us a note at hello@rootsintheclouds.com. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
weekly writing prompts + reflection in community
Collective imagination is the bridge that takes us from what is to what could be.
Join me every Thursday for a live, 60-minute community journaling circle — a small, intentional space to slow down, drop in, and write.
Each session opens with a brief grounding practice, followed by a writing prompt drawn from the themes of story-healing, moral courage, and collective imagination — holding pain and possibility together. We write together, and those who wish to share are invited to — though sharing is always optional.
Details:
60-minute live session via Zoom
Drop-in — no prior preparation or prior sessions required
Launches Thursday, May 21
$10 per session — or join as a founding member of rōot | by dimple dhabalia at $100/year and get unlimited access to all community circles, the full member library of videos, downloadable integration guides and toolkits, and a 15% discount on other offerings — plus a signed copy of Tell Me My Story — Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self.
If cost is a barrier, just send us a note at hello@rootsintheclouds.com. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.Become a founding member →
If cost is a barrier, just send us a note at hello@rootsintheclouds.com. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
challenging the narrative writing circles
fall session
tuesdays | oct 06 - nov 10 | 7-8:30 pm est | standard rate - $650 per person
A limited number of mutual aid spots are available for $350 to ensure financial barriers don't prevent access to community support and engagement.
fall session registration opens aug 1- see below for more information
Being human is messy. Serving humanity is messier.
Writing is one of the most powerful tools we have for working through what that costs us — the loss of trust, grief, betrayal, demoralization, moral conflict, fury, shame, guilt, despair. Putting it on the page helps us examine our experiences from a distance, ease the weight of what we've been carrying, and find our way back to hope and purpose in an era that keeps asking more of us than we have to give.
Join me for a small, intentional six-week writing circle built around the story-healing framework at the heart of Tell Me My Story — Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self.
This isn't a writing class. It's a space to use writing as a tool for processing, meaning-making, and reclaiming the stories that shape how we serve — and who we become inside that service.
Each week we'll write together, share (always optional), and support one another through the story-healing arc: from shaping and surviving, to seeing, shifting, and sharing.
Space is intentionally small — 8 participants maximum — to allow for depth, safety, and genuine connection.
details
6 weeks | Tuesdays 7–8:30pm EST
Oct 6 – Nov 10, 2026
Live sessions via Zoom
8 spots available
$650 per person
Mutual aid rate: $350 — reach out before registering
No prior writing experience required
this circle is for you if:
You work or have worked in a mission-driven sector and are navigating the weight of that work
You're drawn to writing as a way of making sense of complex experiences
You want a structured, supported space to explore your own story
You're ready to be in community with others doing the same
6 week agenda:
week 1: introductions + container building
In week 1 we gather together to create brave space for our work in community. This session will include introductions, establishing community agreements, and writing practices to help us set intentions, plant seeds for our collective writing practice, and understand what brought each of us to the circle.
week 2: shaping
In week 2 we begin tracing the origins of the stories that shaped us — values and messages inherited from family, culture, and lived experience that created the lens through which we see the world and our place in it, and that influenced our beliefs about duty, belonging, and what it means to care for others.
week 3: surviving
In week 3 we examine our surviving stories — the nervous-system reactions — fight, flight, freeze, fix, and fake — that developed in response to our shaping stories and became our default strategies for getting through challenges and created the survival patterns we've carried into our work, relationships, and experiences.
week 4: seeing
In week 4 we begin to practice self-awareness, observing the space between our experiences and our automatic reactions, noticing the impact of our internal narratives and how they show up in our bodies before they ever become conscious choices.
week 5: shifting
In week 5 we build on our self-awareness practice to begin changing our relationship to our surviving stories — not by discarding them, but by replacing the survival lens with one of self-compassion that opens the door to new patterns, possibilities, and choices.
week 6: sharing
In our final circle, we arrive at the culmination of the story-healing cycle — the point at which sharing our biggest takeaways begins to foster empathy, connection, and common humanity, and empowers us to begin writing a better narrative for ourselves and for those we serve.
By the end of six weeks, you'll leave with a:
A personal body of writing that moves through all five stages of the story-healing arc — from what shaped you and the survival strategies you built to keep going, to a clearer sense of the values and limits you want to actually live by in your work and relationships
The ability to recognize your default survival patterns under stress, name the stories underneath them, and understand why they made sense given what you've carried
A more honest accounting of what service has cost you — emotionally, relationally, and physically — and what you want to reclaim
A self-compassion-grounded writing practice you can return to on your own when you need to make sense of what you're holding
A community of seven other people who held space for your story and can continue to do so beyond the circle
This community writing circle is for you if:
You work or have worked in a mission-driven field — as a helper, healer, caregiver, first responder, public servant, activist, or aid worker — and you've felt the weight of that work in ways you haven't had real space to examine
You've been carrying the cost of service — depletion, grief, moral injury, or a slow erosion of the purpose that brought you here — and you're ready to stop moving past it and start moving through it
You know writing is how you process things, or you've been wanting to find out if it is, and you want a guided practice with a small group that understands what you're carrying
You're somewhere between what was and what's next, and you need a container to sit in that in-between space with honesty and care — not another framework for optimization
You’ve been looking for a community rather than trying to make sense of of your experiences alone
fall session
tuesdays 7:00 - 8:30pm EST - oct 6 - nov 10, 2026
registration opens aug 1, 2026
a few important notes
GROUP SIZE - All community offerings are small by design. There is no version of story-healing that works at scale — trust requires time, and witness requires intimacy. These aren’t webinars or courses you move through at your own pace in isolation. They’re live, relational, and deliberately unhurried.
ACCOUNTABILITY - to maintain the integrity and safety of this community, I reserve the right to remove any participant who does not comply with community guidelines.
MENTAL HEALTH DISCLAIMER - I am NOT a therapist, and these community offerings are not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health support. While gathering in community can offer therapeutic benefits, these spaces are designed for reflection, connection, and collective care—not clinical guidance. If you think you need additional support , I encourage you to engage in this practice alongside therapy or other forms of professional care. Your well-being matters, and it's important to have the resources you need to navigate your experiences with strength and support.
REFUNDS - We do not offer refunds for any service or course. All sales are final. If you have an emergency arise we'll work to include you in a future cohort or circle. We appreciate your understanding and willingness to respect this policy.
If you are interested in bringing any of the community offerings to your organization or team as a private experience, that is available. Private groups can be scheduled on a timeline that works for your organization and are designed to meet the specific context of your work or challenges.