Imagine you are supported to approach conversations you usually dread feeling grounded, clear, confident and compassionate.

This 5-session online workshop is focused on deepening collaboration in feedback conversations with practical guidance for how we can prepare and communicate in ways that are rooted in empathy for ourselves and others.

*Details on fees, sliding scale, and scholarship options can be found here.*

Are you ready to dedicate some attention to a fresh approach to your working relationships?

In this 8-week online workshop, we will cultivate our capacity to connect with ourselves and others, practice nonviolent communication skills, and develop conflict resilience in our work with others.

*Details on fees, sliding scale, and scholarship options can be found here.*

When we pour ourselves into work we care about, we want to know it matters. We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. How disheartening, exhausting, and frustrating it is to see our hard work fall short as conflict slows down the momentum of our work or, worse yet, leads us to step away from collaborative efforts. 

And yet, tensions will arise in our working relationships. Think about the relationships most important to you: are any of them devoid of tension? The problem with tension is not that it exists but that the legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and scarcity to name a few) have left us without the skills we need to find learning and growth in the conflict that inevitably arises in big or small ways.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection and build our capacity to relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully and authentically to our work in the world. As we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another as we work together to build the world we long for.

During this 8-week, online workshop, we will explore practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. Each two-hour session will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time examples from your work and life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up with another participant for practice in between sessions. Because a shared experience with colleagues can make it easier to bring this language and these skills into your working relationships, we encourage you to sign up with one or more of the people you work with! This course will support you, and the colleagues and collaborators who join you, to:

• Understand empathy: what is it and why does it matter in working relationships? How can I listen with empathy and compassion, with others and with myself?

• Explore NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice 

• Grow your capacity to tune into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system pointing you towards what matters to you

• Develop an awareness of and vocabulary for resonant language – including “feelings” and “needs” – and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of language works

• Prepare for difficult conversations, and have more tools for “clean up” afterwards

• Foster connection while maintaining personal authenticity

• Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination

• Develop an empathetic listening practice with a buddy between sessions as a foundational tool for resourcing yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

Details and registration here.

Dear queer and trans community,

Can you feel your feet on the ground right now? Your seat in the chair? Your breath touching the back of your own throat? You are here and alive right now, and I am so grateful for you. You just being is a gift to the universe.

And I know it doesn’t feel that way all the time. Where I live in Indiana (along with many states), trans youth just lost safe access to gender affirming care. We are surviving so much right now, at all the intersections of our identities. 

More than ever, it’s time to be together in queer* community, connecting to land and our non-human community, in service of our healing, nourishment, rest, resilience, aliveness, and maybe even our thriving. 

*Queer meaning the whole beautiful rainbow of the LGBTQIA+++ rainbow and beyond. You are welcome here.

Why this retreat?

Are you longing for more queer community?

Feeling isolated and alone as you face into your trauma and healing work? 

Wishing for more support and connection as you learn to tend to yourself, while also leaning into your commitments to justice, to collective liberation? 

Just plain struggling to make it under capitalism!?

If you’re feeling a yes to any of these, come join us for some slowing down and dropping in together this July 26-28, at  Cutting Root Farm and Apothecary, outside of Butler, PA (near Pittsburgh).

I hope you will leave feeling more connected to yourself, to land/nature, to some seeds of healing and simple tools to keep watering them, and to a deeper sense of connection and belonging to queer community and the wider web of non-human community that sustains us all.  

We have limited space. Registration will close July 19, midnight EST. 

In Support of Queer Thriving

Are you feeling the impacts of increased homophobia, and the toll this takes on your mental health and overall wellbeing?

Are you feeling the chronic and persistent stress of showing up in a family, a workplace, a world that doesn’t celebrate or even understand the fullness of who you are?

Are you looking to feel just a little more resourced, a little more supported, a little more connected to yourself and others and a little more able to move through your healing, or just your day to day life?

If any of this resonates for you, you’re in the right place!

I’m offering 15 free assessments through the month of June to support queer folks in getting the support they need to thrive!

These thirty minute calls will be an opportunity to:

• reflect on where you are now

• tune into your longings, needs and goals (aka where you’d like to be)

• explore personalized strategies for support to move you in those directions

Learn more and sign up here!

Are you longing to deepen into your commitments to racial justice in community with other white folks?
Are you seeking to bring more embodiment to your work for racial justice?

5 Wednesday's Online
April 3, 10, 17, 24, & May 1 2024
4pm-6pm PT  // 6pm-8pm CT  // 7pm-9pm ET 

Details and Registration Here

Unraveling Whiteness is a course that invites you into conversation and learning through the body with other white folks living into racial justice commitments. 

Participants will be invited into practice around gratitude, tapping into emotions, re-inhabiting time, and leaning into our interconnectedness to the more-than-human world, as some ways to embody anti-racism. 

Pre-recorded videos on themes for each session will be fodder for the experiential exercises in each live session, including a variety of paired and small group exercises. 

Live sessions will allow for juicy intellectual, emotional, somatic and spiritual engagement with how white supremacy cultural habits show up in our lives despite our best efforts. Invitations to begin unraveling the legacies of whiteness in our family lines and considering clear, concrete actions upon leaving the course will also be woven in. 

This course invites you to explore the wisdom of your body and emotions as well as the scope of your imagination as equally important learning tools for addressing systemic racism alongside understanding terminology and an analysis of power.

Details and Registration Here

5 Mondays Online
Oct. 16, 23 & 30, Nov. 6 & 13 2023
10:00am-12:00pm PT  // 12:00-2:00pm CT  // 1:00pm-3:00pm ET 

Are you longing to deepen into your commitments to racial justice in community with other white folks?
Are you seeking to bring more embodiment to your work for racial justice?

Unraveling Whiteness is a course that invites you into conversation and learning with other white folks living into racial justice commitments. Pre-recorded videos on themes for each session will be fodder for the experiential exercises in each live session. Live sessions will allow for juicy intellectual, emotional, and spiritual engagement with how white supremacy patterns show up in our lives despite our best efforts.

Participants will be invited into a variety of paired and small group exercises within each live session to connect with both our antiracist role models and our own complicity in perpetuating systemic racism. Invitations to begin unraveling the legacies of whiteness in our family lines and considering clear, concrete, actions upon leaving the course will also be woven in. This course invites you to explore the wisdom of your emotions and the scope of your imagination as equally important learning tools for addressing systemic racism alongside understanding terminology and an analysis of power.

The Work that Reconnects (WTR) Spiral forms the container in which the overall series is held and individual sessions are designed. WTR is a group of teachings, meditations, community exercises, and grounding practices, developed by Joanna Macy, that are built around the belief that we are all interconnected beings in the web of life.

Are you ready to dedicate some attention to a fresh approach to your working relationships?

In this 8-week workshop (Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30pm EST), we will cultivate our capacity to connect with ourselves and others and practice nonviolent communication skills that can support our working together productively, authentically, and with care, in service of our work towards collective liberation.

*Details on fees, sliding scale, and scholarship options, as well as registration, can be found here.*

When we pour ourselves into work we care about, we want to know it matters. We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. How disheartening, exhausting, and frustrating it is to see our hard work fall short as conflict slows down the momentum of our work or, worse yet, leads us to step away from collaborative efforts. 

The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and scarcity to name a few) have left us without the skills we need in order to collaborate effectively and to find generativity in conflict which, on some scale, is inevitable.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection and build our capacity to relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully and authentically to our work in the world. As we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another as we work together to build the world we long for.

Registration and pricing (sliding scale!) info available here.

5 Tuesdays
1:30pm - 3:30pm PST // 3:30pm - 5:30pm CST //4:30pm - 6:30pm EST
Feb. 21st, 28th, March 7, 14, 21 2023

Unraveling Whiteness is a course that invites you into conversation and learning with other white folks living into racial justice commitments and embodied antiracist identities. Pre-recorded videos on themes for each session, will be fodder for the experiential exercises in each live session. Live sessions will allow for juicy intellectual, emotional, and spiritual engagement with how white supremacy patterns show up in our lives despite our best efforts.

Participants will be invited into a variety of paired and small group exercises within each live session to connect with both our antiracist role models and our own complicity in perpetuating systemic racism. Invitations to begin unraveling the legacies of whiteness in our family lines and considering clear, concrete, actions upon leaving the course will also be woven in. This course invites you to explore the wisdom of your emotions and the scope of your imagination as equally important learning tools for addressing systemic racism alongside understanding terminology and analysis of power.

The Work that Reconnects (WTR) Spiral forms the container in which the overall series is held and individual sessions are designed. WTR is a group of teachings, meditations, community exercises, and grounding practices, developed by Joanna Macy, that are built around the belief that we are interconnected beings in the web of life. https://workthatreconnects.org

At the start of a New Year, dedicate some attention to a fresh approach to your working relationships! In this 7-week workshop (Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30 EST, starting February 8, 2023), we will cultivate our capacity to connect with ourselves and others and practice nonviolent communication skills that can support our working together productively, authentically, and with care, in service of our work towards collective liberation. Register here!

ABOUT THIS EVENT

*Details on fees, sliding scale, and scholarship options can be found below.*

When we pour ourselves into work we care about, we want to know it matters. We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. How disheartening, exhausting, and frustrating it is to see our hard work fall short as conflict slows down the momentum of our work or, worse yet, leads us to step away from collaborative efforts. 

The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and scarcity to name a few) have left us without the skills we need in order to collaborate effectively and to find generativity in conflict which, on some scale, is inevitable.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection and build our capacity to relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully and authentically to our work in the world. As we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another as we work together to build the world we long for.

During this 7-week, online workshop, we will explore practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. Each two-hour session will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time examples from your work and life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up with another participant for practice in between sessions. Because a shared experience with colleagues can make it easier to bring this language and these skills into your working relationships, we encourage you to sign up with one or more of the people you work with! This course will support you, and the colleagues and collaborators who join you, to:

• Understand empathy: what is it and why does it matter in working relationships? How can I listen with empathy and compassion, with others and with myself?

• Explore NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice

• Grow your capacity to tune into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system pointing you towards what matters to you

• Develop an awareness of and vocabulary for resonant language – including “feelings” and “needs” – and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of language works

• Prepare for difficult conversations, and have more tools for “clean up” afterwards

• Foster connection while maintaining personal authenticity

• Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination

• Develop an empathetic listening practice with a buddy between sessions as a foundational tool for resourcing yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

This workshop is not meant to be a forum for working through active conflicts with one another, but rather a place to be supported in cultivating the skills that will help us to engage more effectively with conflict in our working relationships.

FACILITATORS

This offering will be facilitated by Nicole Bauman with the support of GWI workers.

Nicole Bauman (they/them) is a midwest-based queer parent steeped in the sacred work of facilitation, transformative justice, somatics and Nonviolent Communication. They see building conflict resiliency as an essential part of living into the world to come and are passionate about creating space where personal and collective liberation feel possible. As the descendant of white Western European peasant farmers who carried their trauma with them to the Americas, Nicole is committed to centering racial justice and ancestral healing in their work. Nicole’s background in farming, yoga, doula work and natural building grounds their work in connection to the earth and the body. Nicole is an ICF-certified Professional and Community Healing-Centered Coach and a student of Somatics with the Strozzi Institute and in the lineage of generative somatics. Nicole finds rootedness in growing food, daily walks to the river, sewing ancestral quilts and through being a part of the Prairie Wolf Collective co-housing community in the Rust Belt city of Elkhart, Indiana (occupied Potawatomi territory). You can learn more about Nicole’s work at nicolebauman.com.

REGISTRATION

Deadline:
We plan to close registration by or before January 9th, and are reserving spots for people identifying as BIPOC through that date. Register early to save your spot!

Fee:

 Your registration fee covers online workshop facilitation and materials. 

Amount requested: $245 

The registration fee reflects discounts made possible by the generous support of our donors. The full cost of the workshop is $315.

Sliding scale: $175 - $315

If your current access to financial resources is limited, please consider paying less than the registration fee. If your current access to financial resources is ample, please consider paying more toward the full cost of the workshop and helping underwrite costs for fellow participants. 

Scholarships:

If the low end of the sliding scale is still out of reach, we have a limited number of scholarships available. Apply here or email micah@goodworkinstitute.org if you would like to speak to someone first. 

Donations: 

We welcome donations to help provide discounts and scholarships for Good Work Institute programs. Email helene@goodworkinstitute.org if you would like more information before considering a donation.

More than ever, the world needs your aliveness. Spend 7 weeks learning how to relate with skill, compassion and effectiveness.

We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. When we pour ourselves into the things we care about, we want to know it matters. Especially in times such as these, how exhausting to see our hard work melt away as conflict slows down, stalls out, or, worse yet, dissolves our collaborations.

The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, to name a few) have left us without the skills we need to lean into interdependence. This makes it incredibly hard to collaborate effectively. It makes it harder still to find generativity in conflict.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Nonviolent or “Compassionate” Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection, build our capacity to reach out for support, and relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully to our work in the world. And as we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another.

During this 7-week, online course, we will explore practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. Each two-hour session will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time examples from your life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up with another participant for practice in between sessions. This course will support you to:

- Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination
- Explore NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice and grow your capacity to tune into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system pointing you towards what matters to you
- Grow your awareness of and vocabulary for resonant language – including “feelings” and “needs” – and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of language works
- Develop an empathetic listening practice with a buddy between sessions as a foundational tool for resourcing yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

FACILITATORS

This offering will be facilitated by Nicole Bauman with the support of GWI workers.

Nicole Bauman (they/them) is a midwest-based queer parent steeped in the sacred work of facilitation, transformative justice, somatics and Nonviolent Communication. They see building conflict resiliency as an essential part of living into the world to come, and are passionate about creating space where personal and collective liberation feel possible. As the descendant of white Western European peasant farmers who carried their trauma with them to the Americas, Nicole is committed to centering racial justice and ancestral healing in their work. Nicole’s background in farming, yoga, doula work and natural building grounds their work in connection to the earth and the body. Nicole is an ICF-certified Professional and Community Healing-Centered Coach and a student of Somatics with the Strozzi Institute and in the lineage of generative somatics. Nicole finds rootedness in growing food, daily walks to the river, sewing ancestral quilts and through being a part of the Prairie Wolf Collective co-housing community in the Rust Belt city of Elkhart, Indiana (occupied Potawatomi territory). You can learn more about Nicole’s work at nicolebauman.com

REGISTRATION
We plan to close registration by or before March 15th, and are reserving spots for people identifying as BIPOC through that date. Register early to save your spot!

For more info and to register, go to: https://bit.ly/3fWAWHI

More than ever, the world needs your aliveness. Spend 7 weeks learning how to relate with skill, compassion and effectiveness.

*Note: There are sliding scale and scholarship options, details below.*

We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. When we pour ourselves into the things we care about, we want to know it matters. Especially in times such as these, how exhausting to see our hard work melt away as conflict slows down, stalls out, or, worse yet, dissolves our collaborations.

The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, to name a few) have left us without the skills we need to lean into interdependence. This makes it incredibly hard to collaborate effectively. It makes it harder still to find generativity in conflict.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Nonviolent or “Compassionate” Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection, build our capacity to reach out for support, and relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully to our work in the world. And as we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another.

During this 7-week, online course, we will explore practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. Each two-hour session will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time examples from your life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up with another participant for practice in between sessions. This course will support you to:

• Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination

• Explore NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice and grow your capacity to tune into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system pointing you towards what matters to you

• Grow your awareness of and vocabulary for resonant language - including “feelings” and “needs” - and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of language works

• Develop an empathetic listening practice with a buddy between sessions as a foundational tool for resourcing yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

DATES

Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30 PM EST, from September 22 to November 23

FACILITATORS

This offering will be facilitated by Nicole Bauman with the support of GWI workers

Nicole Bauman (they/she) is a midwest-based queer parent steeped in the sacred work of facilitation, transformative justice, somatics and Nonviolent Communication. They see building conflict resiliency as an essential part of living into the world to come, and are passionate about creating space where personal and collective liberation feel possible. As the descendant of white Western European peasant farmers who carried their trauma with them to the Americas, Nicole is committed to centering racial justice and ancestral healing in their work. Nicole’s background in farming, yoga, doula work and natural building grounds their work in connection to the earth and the body. Nicole is an ICF-certified Professional and Community Healing-Centered Coach and a student of Somatics with the Strozzi Institute and in the lineage of generative somatics. Nicole finds rootedness in growing food, daily walks to the river, sewing ancestral quilts and through being a part of the Prairie Wolf Collective co-housing community in the Rust Belt city of Elkhart, Indiana (occupied Potawatomi territory). You can learn more about Nicole’s work at nicolebauman.com.

REGISTRATION

Please register here.

Deadline:

We are opening registration to the first 20 participants and closing it by or before September 15th. Register early to save your spot! Spots are reserved for people identifying as BIPOC.

Fee:

Your registration fee covers online workshop facilitation and materials.

• Amount requested: $210 The registration fee reflects discounts made possible by the generous support of our donors. The full cost of the workshop is $300.

• Sliding scale: $120 - $300 If your current access to financial resources is limited, please consider paying less than the registration fee. If your current access to financial resources is ample, please consider paying more toward the full cost of the workshop and helping underwrite costs for fellow participants.

• Scholarships: If the low end of the sliding scale is still out of reach, we have a limited number of scholarships available. Apply here or email Micah (micah@goodworkinstitute.org) if you would like to speak to someone first.

• Donations: We welcome donations to help underwrite the cost of offering free programs. Please email Hélène Lesterlin (helene@goodworkinstitute.org) if you would like more information before considering a donation.