Authentic relating community workshops: The “Hero’s Journey”

Authentic Community Brighton's "Hero's Journey" workshops
In the “Hero’s Journey” workshops you reimagine your life and explore how to make this a reality in a safe and supportive environment. Together we build an authentic community of fellow travellers grounded in meaningful connections and honest conversations using fun and engaging activities.
There are three workshops in the series. The workshops’ activities are based on games created by the Authentic Relating movement and are connected together by the thematic thread of the “Hero’s Journey” myth. The activities, over the course of the three two-hour workshops, build upon each other and take the participants, both individually and collectively, on a journey to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others.
These games create a relaxed environment that encourages participants to be genuine in their self-expression and empathetic in their interactions with each other. They are primarily verbal, not physical, and involve you working with your fellow participants in different combinations during a workshop: pairs, groups of 3 or 4, and all together. The activities are fun and engaging, while still facilitating open and honest communication.

(The main hub for Authentic Community Brighton is on WhatsApp, so please join us there if you’d like to be in contact with fellow travellers from previous workshops: https://chat.whatsapp.com/GnAzU22SFY2IeZADOicKiI )

Dates and times. This event listing is for all three workshops:
Workshop 1: “Departure”. Saturday 10th January 2026. 3pm to 5pm
The theme of this workshop, “Departure”, is the start of the hero’s journey. It will help you begin reimagining your life, exploring with others your hesitations in making this a reality and understanding how these might be overcome.

Workshop 2: “Initiation”. Saturday 17th January. 3pm to 5pm
The theme of this workshop, “Initiation”, is the beginning of the hero’s transformation. The workshop will give you support in continuing your journey and help you explore what has power over you. It will also help you discover your “superpowers” and blind spots.

Workshop 3: “Return”. Saturday 24th January 3pm to 5pm
This workshop is themed around the hero’s return from their journey and helps you consolidate what you have learnt so far and how to bring this into your everyday life to create change.
(The three workshops are an integrated course, so they can’t be signed up for separately.)
Fees and venue. The fee for attending the whole series of three workshops is £18.
The venue is The Loft (above "Little Dippers"), 40 Upper Gardner Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4AN.
About the organiser. My name is Yianni (also known as John), and I run volunteer projects in Sussex to build and support local communities. Authentic Community Brighton draws on my training in organisational development, psychodynamics and coaching, for which I hold an MSc (studied jointly at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and at HEC Paris). It also draws on my professional experience developing and delivering experiential workshops for organisations internationally in collaboration with London Business School, amongst others.

Note that the workshops are NOT group therapy sessions. While the workshops aims to create a supportive and warm environment that encourages you to be open with others without judgement, each participant needs to decide for themselves the degree that they are comfortable doing this. What you share, and how and when you share it, is up to the participant to decide during each activity. Avoid sharing anything about a past trauma if you feel unable to manage the emotions that might arise from this.

Host or Publisher Yianni Hondros