Bridgid McGrath, MA, is an educator, professional organizer, spiritual practitioner, and social justice activist. She has been working with children since the age of 16, when she first volunteered at a local kindergarten. She has worked in front line mental health, been a crisis hotline volunteer, and done anti-violence work in a rural Indigenous community. She was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where her family still lives. Educated in the Pacific Northwest, called in part to retrace her family of origin's footsteps, she now makes her home in Portland, Oregon.
She received a BA in psychology from the Evergreen State College in 2007; completed her Montessori credential in June of 2015, and was awarded a Masters of Arts in Montessori Education from St. Mary’s College of California in 2016. Her thesis project included creating a curriculum for social/emotional learning that is now online for free. She has personal lived experience as a neurodiverse person (Aron, 1996), and was grateful to rediscover a call to spiritual plant medicine during the covid-19 pandemic.
She continues to develop parent education, peer coaching resources, and culturally intersectional equitable educational materials. She does professional organizing a la Marie Kondo, does dog walking and house sitting, and after many years of self-study and amateur dog training, she is training her own service dog. Outside of her education work, she loves to garden, hike, do yoga, salsa dance, and occasionally spin fire poi.
"Decluttering and purging objects from our life that no longer serve us can be an intimidating and arduous experience. When we are able to come out the other end of the experience with a room that feels more like home, with a place of belonging, we are all able to breathe a little easier. Months after our move to our new home, we still had boxes of things cluttering our home, creating stress to our family's life. Bridgid was able to work with us in tackling these boxes of clutter, creating more space in our minds and home. With Bridgid's help we were able to create space together to move, to play, to make art and to connect as a family. Fearless, direct and action oriented, our clutter was no match for Bridgid." - Madison Young, Artist, Mother of 2, Portland, OR
"I love the spaces we made in my room. It's been easier to use and looks better." ~ J, Music teacher, Mother of 2, Portland, OR
"Is it too dramatic to say you saved my life?"
~ Anonymous Mother of 1, Oakland CA
"I could have never gotten done so much in so little time. It would've taken me HOURS. You are so fast."
~ Fiona, AirBnB Host, Mother of 4, Portland OR
"You truly have a talent. Everyone was commenting on how well behaved Charlie was."
- Natalie H., Dog Mom of Charlie, Portland, OR
Philosophy
11/2018: After working with a client recently, I've developed a concept about transitional spaces. Marie Kondo's work, while brilliant, lacks a bit of practicality. Her claim that she organizes with clients once and they never have a problem again seems like marketing nonsense. The reality is change takes time, habits take practice to refine. In Montessori, learning is all about repetition for mastery. There is also a lack of acknowledgment that while we may strive to have a place for everything, and everything in it's place, the reality of how we use physical items means we need different types of space. Thus, TRANSITIONAL SPACE. An empty space where items may come and go, but only temporarily. Things move through this space, it changes and is dynamic. Your toothbrush might always live in the same place, but that counter top by the door? Transitional space.
It partly comes from watching children move through a room - they enter, hang their coats, put their belongings in their cubby, stand around and hug their friend, they are IN TRANSITION. This is both a literal process, i.e. coat in closet, as well as an emotional one. At the end of the day, you're probably tired, and need an easy process to just put everything down, literally. I heard it described as a "landing strip" years ago - you need a space in your home to put down your keys, put the grocery bag, and generally unload from the day. It's also a feng shui idea - when you walk into a room, what catches your eye? Are you welcomed home in your space by a piece of art, a plant, or a pile of clutter? This has led me to observe my clients' habits - where do you put the mail when you walk in the door? Can you sit down somewhere and take your shoes off? Do you walk in and walk PAST the entry hall into the kitchen immediately? If so, where in the kitchen do you put your purse?
These questions and observations made me realize we need empty space to put transitional items. Literally creating and keeping sacred an empty space where transitional items go. The trick is you have to follow up and move those items eventually. You may hang your coat on the back of a chair temporarily, but is that where it lives? No, go back and hang it up, right away if possible. Create an order of operations, literally step by step. Try to do it consistently. I come home and put my keys in the same spot within moments of walking in the door. Changing how your organize your belongings is about how you interact with them. You need to create temporary space for things to come in, and go back out. Just make sure you remember to come back to them when you have the time/energy, and don't leave them there forever to languish.
11/2017: I was the kid who enjoyed helping her Mom clean as a child. She role modeled! She did it joyfully, and we did it together. My mother was the oldest of ten children, and the younger ones called her "Sarge". I truly find it an honor to be a third generation woman who organizes. My mother learned from my grandmother, and I benefited from their life experience. It's a great habit to start learning young, is a learn-able skill, and part of why Montessori is so brilliant. I was also a kid who rearranged the furniture in my room every 6 months or so just for fun.
I’ve worked with children since the age of 16, in Montessori environments for the past six years. Order is a basic value in Montessori, and I thrive at creating warm, welcoming, functional environments. The seed for Busy B’s Organizing Services was planted after spending time as a nanny in the homes of folks who were busy and overwhelmed. I realized the need to create order – at home, in the classroom, in my sister’s medicine closet. I am that Type A personality who alphabetizes spices. Let me help! I truly enjoy it, and love finding a way to make it work for you.
References:
"The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up", Marie Kondo
"Overwhelm: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time", Brigid Schulte
"Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard", Chip & Dan Heath