Tyler Norris: How to Build Healthy Communities & Grow Healthy People

This episode’s guest is a highly accomplished leader in the health and well-being space. Tyler Norris is a social entrepreneur, a trusted advisor, and a community healer. He’s CEO of Well Being Trust, an independent, national foundation dedicated to advancing mental, societal, and spiritual well-being in the United States. All of Tyler’s work has centered on three important themes. First, building healthy communities so that healthy people can flourish and reach their full potential. Second, supporting community collaborations that revitalize democracy, drive equitable wealth, and effectively address complex population health. And third, advancing both public and private sector policies that generate total wealth, which is much more than money.

Listen on to find out how Tyler is working to advance policy that will pay for whole-person care, and how he’s gained traction in the healthcare industry. We’ll talk about why healthy communities grow healthy people, plus what it means to be a healthy community. We’ll learn about the many vital conditions for wellness, including living wages, lifelong learning, and civic duty. Find out how radio DJs are encouraging people to talk openly about their mental health, and finally, learn how Tyler’s early struggles, getting into trouble as a teenager led to his passion for community building.

Well-being is multi-faceted, requiring a set of vital conditions in the community, integrative whole-person care, and a collection of wellness practices for your mind, body, spirit, and relationships. At the root of our well-being, Tyler describes four key aspects: sense of purpose, belonging, awe, and generosity. While focusing on improving any of these areas will increase our overall health and well-being, at the end of the day, we need a healthy group, community, and greater society to help us grow into the healthiest, happiest humans we can be.