Field Guide to a Crisis

Field Guide to a Crisis is an ongoing socially engaged project, created by Justin Maxon and co-conceptualized with Marina Lopez, that began in 2020 at the beginning of COVID-19. It functions as a teacher’s training tool by mentoring people residing in sober living homes in Eureka, CA to become “educators in resiliency.” Participants get the opportunity to identify and present their own life skills through lesson plans, instructional videos, and public presentations. The program aims to build confidence, self-esteem, and resilience in its participants by uplifting lived experience to the status of expert knowledge. Participants collaborate to create a field guide which serves as a new form of knowledge authority.