Workshop 1 on The Way of Council circle practice.

For more information please contact Heidi [email protected] or

Weekend One: Introduction to Circle Practice

Date: 4th-6th October 2024

This initial weekend will introduce the nature of Circle practice, its essential elements and why and how it might be of use in these changing and challenging times.

Join us for a series of lively and progressive workshops designed to introduce, explore and deepen Circle practices.

Who should come?

Suitable for anyone curious and passionate about exploring the power of Circles for their own personal life, work, organisation or community.

Circles Practices?

Circle practices are a different approach to structuring and developing an inclusive environment that shifts the way we interact and live together. Story is at the heart of Circle. We want to give people the space and confidence to share their stories, hear the stories of others and so develop a community of empathy, depth and belonging. How do we do that? We look back. To when peoples related in a different way; to when people lived closer to the earth; closer to each other; when they knew that it is each other we need, it is listening we need – to gathering in Circles.

This Year’s offering.

This year we have developed a series of interrelated and progressive workshops to give space and depth to the exploration of Circle practice. These 3 workshop weekends aim to provide afoundational basis for anyone wanting to work with Circle practice as a participant or as a facilitator in their own work or community.

Each workshop weekend will follow a similar format and take place over Friday evening, Sat daytime and Sunday daytime. The sessions are lively and experiential and flow between time in Circle to connect and explore our intentions in coming to this work, whilst also providing time, space, guidance and an opportunity to put learning into practice on the final day.Session Times:Friday 5.30pm-8.00pm

Saturday 10am -5.00pmSunday 10 am -5.00pm

.A full resource pack accompanies the series to support the ongoing learning.

The cost for the Individual workshop weekend is £290 - £360 , although we encourage those interested to consider the progressive nature of the series. The cost for the series will be £800 and attendance at the initial weekend for those new to Circle practice is essential.
- please pay a deposit of £20 to eventbrite and then contact [email protected] for ticket sales.

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These workshops will be held at the beautiful new retreat centre just outside Totnes – The Hearth . https://www.thehearthdevon.com/

Please be in contact of you would like to stay at the hearth over the weekend. It is a beautiful venue with a cottage and shepards huts to stay in.

Pre-booking is required and spaces limited

For any questions about the session please contact Heidi Rose on 07891 062769 or email [email protected]

The other Workshops in the series

Weekend Two: Circle Facilitation

Date: 1st-3rd November 2024

Continuing our learning community, we begin to explore more deeply skills and techniques needed to support those wishing to develop their practice and facilitate circles in their own lives and work.

Weekend Three: Deepening the Practice

Date: 22-24 November 2024

Our final session seeks to explore additional forms, elements and possibilities in deepening and developing practice in line with personal areas of interest and gifts.

Facilitators: Heidi Rose, Sam Kouzarides, Jenna Blencoe, Ambã Lucy Chennery, Agata Krajewska, Judy Clark, Jo Provisor

Bios https://www.circlewise.co/people

Heidi Rose is a founding director of Circlewise CIC. She has been facilitating ‘council’ listening circles for over 25 years .Heidi is also a qualified Psychospiritual Counsellor, Eco Therapist, and Wilderness Rites of Passage Guide.

Over the years she has brought hundreds of deep listening circles to a variety of settings on many subjects and has a passion and devotion to the power, wisdom and simplicity held in the ancient practice of sitting in a circle, listening and sharing from our hearts.

Sam Kouzarides is a council facilitato, nature-connection mentor and rites of passage guide, Sam leads nature-based courses, events and youth mentoring programs, teaches nature studies, council and bushcraft and offers one-to-one mentoring.

Sam had been involved with introducing the Way of Council to schools in Devon and holds council circles in nature connection programs and for the land-based community in which he lives. He brings a playful element to awaken the child in all of us and likes nothing more than a good adventure.

Ambă Lucy has a background in Arts, Education and Wellbeing and, whilst training to be a hairdresser, is a workshop facilitator. She is excited by experiential learning and, when facilitating council, enjoys weaving in her interest in embodiment, movement and nervous system regulation.She particularly loves offering circles for young adults and has primarily held circles in secondary school and college environments.

Ambă Lucy is passionate about council’s simple yet influential nature, the power of listening deeply and how being witnessed—exactly as we are—can create an experience of shared humanity.

Jenna Blencowe is a qualified teacher and has worked across both primary and secondary schools. She has a Masters in Leadership for Wellbeing in Education and worked for three years on a care farm. What was apparent from both these experiences was the immense value to our wellbeing of creating safe spaces where one feels seen and heard. It was therefore no surprise that she fell in love with council and holding circles

Jenna is also a Nature Connection Facilitator, Mentor and Eco Therapist where she aims to cultivate the quality of deep listening that council promotes in relationship to self, others and the more-than-human world.

Agata Krajewska is a founder and director of Theatre of Awakening. She is a teacher, therapist and creative alchemist.For two decades she has been working as a facilitator of original work.She offers "Holding Space" courses for facilitators and therapists.

She developed a very intuitive, yet structured approach to working with people. She is known for her quirky humour and ability to go deep in gentle and unexpected ways.

She has a great passion for supporting others in stepping forward with their gifts and sharing their stories through autobiographical theatre.

www.theatreofawakening.co.uk

Judy Clark is a highly experienced English consultant and lecturer. Trained as a primary school teacher, Judy has worked as a senior leader, local authority school improvement consultant and, for many years, as the Primary Adviser for the National Literacy Trust.
Judy is passionate about bringing circle practices into school and university learning communities to support teachers and pupils in empathetic listening and communication skills to underpin a curriculum where every individual’s experiences and gifts are valued. She believes that learning communities which have empathy and relatedness at their heart give secure foundations for our pupils to support their learning and development as citizens of the world and culture makers of the future.

Joe Provisor is the co-founder of Circle Ways (Circlewise's older brother organisation in America). https://www.circleways.org/our-founders

A school teacher for 24 years and educator trainer, Joe is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an elder of The Ojai Foundation. He has practiced circle ways in the classroom since 1986 and has been a Council Trainer since 1994, providing trainings for educators, therapists, and business people nationally and internationally. He is the author of stories, training curricula, lesson plans on circle ways in schools, and the forthcoming book Circle Ways: Pedagogy in the Round.

Circlewise is a service that provides facilitated listening circles and the way of council training to community members, organisation's and those working in education. They are committed to supporting individuals, groups, schools and the community by building life skills in communication and empathy through circle practices.

CircleWise offers facilitated circles, support, training and resources to promote:

- Excellence in compassionate communication

- Social, emotional, mental well-being

- Empowered and relational learning

- Nature inspired ways of relating

Testimonials

“I attended what turned out to be a masterclass in the creative and effective use of circle in relation to the demands of the school curriculum.I feel inspired!”

“The training really increased my confidence in holding council circles. With a better understanding of the potential of council, I feel more able to trust in the process.”

“I really enjoyed this meeting of council in the woods. My first exposure to this particular approach and yet it felt so right, so natural. It was very well held space and wonderful to share a few hours with complete strangers, yet feel community and connection with them.”

“I loved the ease and playfulness of Sam’s offering. It was clearly explained and I am looking forward to using these games in circles I hold in the future .“

“Joe's expertise, experience and passion is infectious and provides the ideal foundation for others to explore and develop council in their own settings and environments. A wealth of ideas but also evidence and theory to support along side. Always supportive and always engaging.”

“Judy did a lovely job of moving from experiential training to then explaining the theory and the variable applications of the skills she shared - so we got to experience what a circle session could actually involve for a primary school child in an english lesson, and then learnt how we could translate those techniques to different curricula and age groups - it was expertly done, very enlightening and very enjoyable.”

"Agatas sessions support anyone who holds space for others, as teacher, facilitator, educator and more. Rooted in presence we learnt skills to help us navigate space holding but which also help with all aspects of life. Agata’s holding is generous, sensitive, inclusive and compassionate.”

“……perfect location and great subject matter, brilliant event , beautifully held...will be coming back for more”

“An absolutely inspirational series of workshops in the woods with wrap around birdsong and a heartwarming fire. Fabulous facilitators with an expanse of experience who brought such creative ideas and activities to us and shared different approaches to running circles and how it can incorporate the curriculum So glad I came I learned so much. Thank you”

“The council was held beautifully. I felt safe and relaxed and able to open up to the group despite not knowing people well. It gave me a sense of what circlewise offer in an experiential way, which I found really powerful and leaves me feeling keen to be a part of what they offer.“

“This work is vital at this time. Please do more, it is needed.”

Host or Publisher Heidi Rose