Eldership in the Community - PW Event Details

Workshop Information

Embodying Eldership (2 days)

Themes include: being embodied, body as resource, grounding, spontaneity (and its barriers: shame; self-consciousness; inhibition; the inner critic) and starting to build relationships within the participant group.

This workshop will draw upon different forms of creative self-expression to invite movement from self-consciousness to awareness; and from intellectualisation to embodiment.

Facilitators: Hayley Stevens and Owen Stevens

Workshops drawing primarily on Process Oriented Psychology:

Rank, Power and Privilege (1 day)

This workshop introduces the process work concept of the word ‘rank’ which describes our power and privilege. Power is not static - our experience of ourselves changes with context and even from moment to moment within an interaction.

Understanding power and privilege helps us to understand and facilitate conflict. In this workshop, we will explore how to recognise different roles in power dynamics and how to facilitate ourselves within those dynamics.

Questions to consider:

In situations where you feel that you’re not seen or taken seriously, do others dismiss your concerns as an overreaction?
Do you sometimes feel confused and frustrated at people’s reactions to you in situations where you have authority and feel responsibility?
Do you find yourself hesitant and tentative around issues of diversity e.g. with people of other races, religions, sexual identity, ability or gender?

Uncertainty (Eldership beyond the known) (1 day)

This workshop is about the value of not knowing - which offers the potential to learn, to discover something new, to expand our awareness, to see what is in front of us rather than what we expect to see.

Questions to consider:

Have you ever been in a situation where things don't turn out as expected?
Do you suspect that things are more complex than we’re led to believe?
Do you leap to solutions and answers to avoid the discomfort of not knowing, of uncertainty? Does this work for you?
Do you find yourself mired in doubt when faced with not knowing or feeling uncertain? Does this interfere with your ability to act?

"in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few." Shunryo Suzuki.

Facilitating our own conflict (2 days)

Conflict can be frightening. Many of us have seen conflicts escalate, have been in conflicts that repeat or escalate, or have never seen a conflict resolved fruitfully.

A conflict well facilitated can not only defuse the situation but can be transformative - deepening our understanding of one another and thus our relationships.

In this workshop, we will explore skills for facilitating ourselves in conflict with other people (as opposed to facilitating conflicts between others when we are not involved).

Questions to consider:

Do you feel scared of conflict?
Do you fear that voicing your disagreement or complaining about mistreatment will only make it worse?
Does your anger accumulate leaving you stressed, worn out and resentful?

Connecting inner work and Worldwork (2 days)

This workshop supports awareness of how the dynamics happening around us are also happening within us with a view to increasing our understanding of those dynamics and our ability to intervene and have impact in the world.

Questions to consider:

Do you feel powerless to influence events in society and the world?
Do you long for good leadership to support us in times of crisis?
Do you think of social and world problems as arising the behaviour of others - ‘if only they would change …’?

Groups and Facilitation (2 days)

Facilitation can be helpful in all contexts where people come together and need not be a formal role. Wherever we sit with other people, we have an opportunity to support deeper dialogue and understanding. This workshop introduces skills to support this kind of intervention in our lives. - families, communities, teams, and organisations.

Questions to consider:

Do you find yourself in groups where group members are quietly angry, withdrawn, openly conflictual or keep repeating the same points without progress or movement of any kind?
Would you like to be able to intervene in a way that supports groups to interact in ways that are more fruitful?

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