Stepping outside the commercial model
Hi @Noemi,
Well, working on a donation basis was my nod to being a non-commercial entity, which (as far as I know) means the clinic is not subject to licensing - similarly to people who volunteer in hospices, addiction recovery centres etc.
I am conflicted on this - on the one hand, I recognise that some degree of regulation of healthcare is probably desirable to avoid malpractice and protect patients (or at least it was desirable before networked reputation economies became a possibility - who knows what alternative models might be possible now?).
On the other hand, I was certainly struck by the degree to which stepping outside the commercial model of delivery freed me up to do things differently.
It’s also made it far easier to get ‘buy-in’ from the community so that they think of it as something that belongs to them, that they can collaborate with. The terms of interaction defined by our habits of commercial consumption go deep, and having some way to differentiate yourself from it seems very important in encouraging people to thnk and act differently.