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Resistance and Activism – Free Event with Dawn Menken Dec 1, 2025

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Resistance and Activism: Tools for the Long Haul

Free In Person Training with Dawn Menken

7 – 8.30pm, Dec 1, 2025

In this time of profound global and national polarity, many committed individuals are feeling the daily strain of fighting to uphold human values, leading to burnout and isolation.

This free in-person event is a vital opportunity to move beyond outrage by nurturing the inner strength and community connection that sustain long-term activism.

Join respected Processwork educator, Dr. Dawn Menken, author of the award-winning book, Facilitating A More Perfect Union: A Guide for Politicians and Leaders, to explore valuable, time-tested tools for social change.

You’ll learn to work more creatively with intense polarization, tap into inner wellness as a resource, and co-create a powerful, supportive community. The times may be hard, but your ability to connect, create, and sustain your resistance is our greatest resource—come find the fuel you need to remain engaged and effective.

Personal message from Dawn

Resistance and Well-being: A Processwork Approach to Activism

 

“We are in a time of profound polarity in the U.S. and in many places throughout the world. Many feel we are fighting to uphold democracy, rule of law, and basic human values. Each day brings a new outrage. The No-King’s Protest was one of the largest in U.S. history. Processwork has always had a strong draw for activists, people who want to impact our world and make change.

 

 

Come join me in person for this free event to explore valuable tools to inspire our creativity, work more deeply with polarization, and connect with inner wellness. Times are hard for many of us.  Community, creativity and inner connection sustain us.”

Event Information

  • In person only
  • Monday, December 1st
  • 7-8:30pm
  • Process Work Institute
  • 2049 NW Hoyt St, Portland 
  • Parking available onsite (first come basis)

Let us know you are coming: 

RSVP and register

Name and email to RSVP – information used only for this event. 

If you’d like to stay in touch with the Process Work Institute for other events and training opportunities please: Sign up to our mailing list

Who Is This For?

  • Activists (veteran and new) who are looking for ways to sustain their work and avoid burnout.
  • Community Organizers and Leaders seeking innovative tools to navigate and transform polarization.
  • Individuals who are deeply concerned about the current social and political climate and want to engage more meaningfully.
  • Processwork students and practitioners interested in applying these principles to social change and well-being.
  • Anyone looking for community, creativity, and inner connection in challenging times.

Why You Should Come

  • You’re feeling the strain: Each day brings new outrage, and it’s hard to maintain hope and energy. This event offers a vital space for recharge and re-connection.
  • You want to make a difference: You’ll receive valuable tools from the field of Processwork—a method with a strong history of empowering activists—to deepen your impact and creativity.
  • You need community: Come for the shared experience and the sustenance that community and inner connection provide during hard times.
  • It’s FREE and local: A no-cost opportunity to learn from an internationally respected expert, Dr. Dawn Menken, right here in Portland.

What You Will Gain

  • Discover tools to inspire creativity and sustain your activism without burnout.
  • Learn to work more effectively with intense polarization in the U.S. and globally.
  • Connect with a supportive community of like-minded individuals during challenging times.
  • Access inner resources and wellness practices to sustain your engagement.
  • Gain new perspectives on social discourse and civic engagement from a respected thought leader.

About Dawn

Dawn Menken, Ph.D., certified Process Worker, has been working in the field of psychology and facilitator development for 40 years. She is an internationally respected educator, facilitator, therapist, leadership coach, and conflict resolution specialist. She is a co-founder of the Process Work Institute, where she co-created its masters programs and served as academic dean for more than a decade. Her most recent award-winning book, Facilitating A More Perfect Union: A Guide for Politicians and Leaders, introduces new ideas to support leaders, particularly those in the public sphere. In all of her endeavors she is moved to improve social discourse and inspire more meaningful civic engagement.

Dawn is a thought leader and change agent who brings her gifts to a variety of sectors. Her parenting book, Raising Parents Raising Kids: Hands-on Wisdom for the Next Generation, offers a groundbreaking approach to parenting and has been described as “… a must read for everybody who cares about the state of our relationships and our world.” She is the creator of Teens Rise Up (TRU), a cutting-edge program that empowers and educates young people to step into their leadership, engage in honest dialogue and co-create more welcoming school communities. She is a passionate teacher and facilitator with a special devotion to relationship and building sustainable community. She is based in Portland, Oregon.

Visit Dawn’s website

Advanced Clinical Practice 2026 with Dawn Menken

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Advanced Clinical Practice Series 2026 with Dawn Menken Ph.D

Build your process oriented skills and knowledge in challenging areas of Clinical Practice

6 Modules January – June 2026

This six-month course series offers a deep, experiential immersion into the Process-Oriented approach for working with the most complex and charged topics that arise in therapeutic practice. Designed for experienced therapists, facilitators, coaches, and leaders, this is not a course on entry-level techniques, but an advanced exploration of the underlying processes—the Deep Democracy—that shape human experience, conflict, and potential.

Led by Dr. Dawn Menken, a certified Process Worker, internationally respected educator, and co-founder of the Process Work Institute, you will move beyond diagnosis and pathology to become a more fluid, authentic, and skillful practitioner. Each module is dedicated to a challenging area of clinical life—from navigating complex relational dynamics and social oppression to exploring the depth of grief, addiction, and sexuality. Dr. Menken blends rich theory, practical, non-verbal interventions, live discussion, and dedicated time for inner work and casework consultation.

The course is uniquely structured to facilitate deep learning across six consecutive months in 2026, dedicating six hours of class time to each vital topic. This modular design allows participants to enroll for the entire transformative bundle for maximum growth, or on a monthly, per-topic basis for focused skill development. All classes are recorded, providing the flexibility to attend live (with Q&A and community engagement) or on-demand for continuous professional development. You will gain a powerful, non-pathological lens and the practical skills needed to transform your most challenging cases into your most meaningful work.

Six Modules, Six Vital Topics

The Advanced Clinical Practice series is structured around six vital and challenging topics in therapeutic practice: 

  • Your Role as Therapist/Facilitator
  • Dreaming Up, Multiple Roles and Challenges of the Therapist-Client Relationship
  • Working with Diversity Issues and Social Oppression
  • Working with Death, Grief, Suicide and Depression
  • Working with Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Addiction
  • Exploring Sexuality
  • Working with Kids, Parents and Families.

Dawn invites you to join one or all of the modules in the series and to co-create a learning community across borders. 

Series Information

Advanced Clinical Practice 2026 includes six modules January – June 2026.  Each module includes 6 training hours over three consecutive days and includes the opportunity for practice as well as theory and community conversation. 

All classes livestreamed and recorded for catch up on demand.    

Recordings available until December 31, 2026.

Registration Fees: $295 per Module, OR

Bundle the Series of 6 for $1,295 and save $475.

Register for the BUNDLE: Advanced Clinical Practice Series 2026

Participant Benefits

By engaging with this advanced course series, you will:

  • Master the Process of Complexity: Gain an unparalleled framework (Process Work) to skillfully navigate relational dynamics, client resistance, and deep-seated systemic issues like social oppression.
  • Deepen Therapeutic Presence: Learn to utilize your own subjective experiences and “edges” as crucial, conscious tools rather than sources of counter-transference or burnout.
  • Find Meaning in Heavy Topics: Access the transformative potential—the “essence levels”—embedded within issues like death, grief, depression, and addiction, making your work more life-affirming.
  • Work Beyond the Verbal: Sharpen your awareness of non-verbal signals, movement, and body-based communication to intervene effectively when verbal dialogue is blocked or insufficient.
  • Address Social Identity & Rank: Apply process-oriented concepts of rank and power to confidently address diversity, client bias, and the impact of the practitioner’s social identity in the room.
  • Expand Your Scope of Practice: Gain practical interventions for challenging areas often avoided, including sexuality, domestic violence, and family systems with children and teens.
  • Engage in Advanced Casework: Benefit from theory, discussion, and dedicated time for inner work and casework consultation on your own difficult client scenarios.
  • Join an Expert Community: Learn alongside a committed, international community of advanced practitioners in a confidential, supportive online learning environment.

Each Module in Detail

Module 1 

Your Role as Therapist/Facilitator: Dreaming Up, Multiple Roles and Challenges of the Therapist-Client Relationship

January 28-30, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

This class will focus on the complexities that arise relationally between therapists, facilitators, coaches and their clients. We will explore the dynamics of dreaming up, and how they arise in what is more conventionally described as transference and counter-transference experiences. 

The therapeutic relationship is the heart of clinical work, yet it is also the source of its greatest complexities. This module provides a crucial, deep-dive exploration into the relational dynamics that inevitably arise between practitioners and clients. We move beyond conventional models of transference and counter-transference to explore the Processwork concept of “Dreaming Up”. This is a powerful lens for understanding the unconscious, multi-layered dynamics that shape your interactions. You will learn to recognize when your client is relating to you as a dream figure, projection, or even a ‘ghost’ from their past, and how your own inner landscape (the therapist’s “ghosts”) is activated in return. We will explore the ethical and practical nuances of navigating multiple roles in the relationship, ensuring you maintain clarity and effectiveness even when boundaries feel blurred or stretched.

What will I learn?

  • Identify and work directly with “Dreaming Up” dynamics to resolve relational blocks and deepen therapeutic insight. 
  • Navigate complex transference and counter-transference experiences using a practical, process-oriented framework. 
  • Manage and resolve the challenges of holding multiple roles (therapist, coach, facilitator, mentor) without compromising integrity or boundaries. 
  • Utilize your own subjective experiences as crucial information to inform your interventions, rather than feeling overwhelmed by them.

Register: Module 1 Your Role as Therapist/Facilitator 

Module 2

Working with Diversity Issues and Social Oppression

February 25- 27, 2026, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

Issues of diversity and social oppression come up often in practice and Processwork offers a variety of useful perspectives and interventions. In addition, we will focus on client bias and bigotry and the impact of the practitioner’s social identity. We will also discuss group applications for organizational clients. 

In today’s world, social issues are inseparable from personal suffering. This class focuses on providing clinicians with a robust, process-oriented toolkit for addressing diversity issues and the effects of social oppression—both internal and external—that show up in the room. We will explore how to work with the subtle and overt impacts of marginalization on the client’s self-concept and life path, as well as the potential powers. 

We will explore the fluid dynamics of rank and how the practitioner’s own social identity (race, gender, class, etc.) might impact the client’s process. Furthermore, we will tackle the difficult territory of client bias and bigotry, providing safe and effective ways to meet and unfold these edges. The principles and interventions discussed will also be extended to group applications for those working with organizational change and social conflict.

What will I learn?

  • Learn to utilize the breadth and depth of Processwork skills to unfold processes of marginalization to empower clients.
  • Learn the skills and metaskills necessary to navigate, understand and skillfully address power dynamics and social oppression in the therapeutic relationship, as well as essential innerwork tools. 
  • Effectively address client bias, bigotry, and internalized oppression in a way that promotes awareness and growth rather than shame.
  • Utilize your own social identity and awareness as a therapeutic tool rather than a liability in cross-cultural work.
  • Adapt Processwork tools for group and organizational settings to facilitate deeper dialogue around diversity and inclusion. 

Register: Module 2 Working with Diversity Issues and Social Oppression

Module 3 

Working with Death, Grief, Suicide and Depression

March 25-27, 2026, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

Working with such heavy topics can also be life-affirming. We will explore the depth of these issues and also their potential transformative impact. Dreaming and essence levels as well as the skills that train us to focus on and unfold non-verbal communication offer tools to deepen experience.

Topics like death, profound grief, suicidal ideation, and deep depression are often labeled as “heavy,” yet they hold immense potential for transformation. This module guides practitioners on how to work with the depth and transformative power embedded within these experiences. We will move beyond a purely symptom-focused approach and learn to engage the “dreaming and essence levels” that manifest in these states. We will also touch on concepts and beliefs about death from different perspectives and belief systems and how non-local concepts and experiences of death might inform our work with people.

The class will sharpen your skills in unfolding non-verbal and movement communication, showing how to find meaning and vitality in the most withdrawn or despairing client expressions. By learning to accompany clients to their deepest edges, you will discover the unique life-affirming and consciousness-expanding impact of working with issues of mortality and emotional depth.

What will I learn?

  • Identify and access the transformative potential and “essence levels” within states of deep depression, grief, and suicidal thinking. 
  • Utilize non-verbal cues, movement, and subtle signals as powerful tools to deepen a client’s experience and unfold meaning. 
  • Build competence and confidence in holding space for clients navigating intense grief, loss, or thoughts of death/suicide. 
  • Understand and work with the concept of the ‘Inner Critic’ and its role in self-destructive or depressive processes.

Register: Module 3 Working with Death, Grief, Suicide and Depression

Module 4

Working with Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Addiction

April 22-24, 2026, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

This module will support clinicians in the challenging topic of abuse and violence. Fundamental in supporting clients in their safety is to work with the inner landscape of self-abuse. We will explore the impact of culture and environment, and our own ability to meet and deal with strong emotion. Processwork brings a unique perspective to working with addictions that can be useful as well as transformative.

This challenging but essential module provides deep support for clinicians working with the raw energy of abuse, violence, and the complex landscape of addiction. A foundational focus will be on ensuring client safety by working with the client’s inner landscape of self-abuse and self-criticism, which often mirrors external patterns. 

We will explore the critical impact of culture and environment on these patterns, as well as our own ability as practitioners to meet and process strong, volatile emotions without reactivity or burnout. Processwork offers a uniquely non-pathological and transformative perspective on addictions, viewing them not as mere habits but as powerful, unexpressed attempts at accessing a needed state or experience. This lens will provide you with innovative and useful intervention strategies.

What will I learn?

  • Develop advanced skills to establish safety and contain volatile emotions for clients dealing with abuse and domestic violence. 
  • Apply the Processwork approach to addiction, seeing it as a meaningful (though distorted) signal for deep, unmet needs, experiences and states of mind. 
  • Intervene directly with a client’s self-abuse and self-criticism to foster inner safety and self-support.
  • Enhance your personal capacity to remain grounded, clear, and effective when confronted with intense rage, despair, or trauma in the therapy room.

Register: Module 4 Working with Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Addiction

Module 5

Exploring Sexuality

May 20-22, 2026, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

Sexuality is often a topic that people shy away from, but is so important in our work with individuals, couples, and also teenagers. Processwork takes a non-pathological view of sexual experience in which we can focus on individual experience and the deeper dreaming processes that are embedded in our sexual expression. The class will introduce interventions for individual clients and will also focus on and explore relationship processes.

Sexuality is a core aspect of human experience, yet it is frequently met with avoidance or discomfort in therapeutic settings. This module embraces a non-pathological view of sexual experience, providing clinicians, couples therapists, and educators with the comfort and language to explore this vital territory. We will move beyond a focus on ‘problems’ to center on individual experience and the deeper, often hidden dreaming processes that are embedded in sexual expression, orientation, and fantasy. 

The class will introduce powerful Processwork interventions for individual clients exploring sexual identity, experience, or difficulties. Furthermore, a significant portion of the days will be devoted to relationship processes, giving you tools to facilitate honest, deep, and constructive dialogue about sexuality within couples.

What will I learn?

  • Shift your perspective to a non-pathological, process-oriented view of sexual identity and experience. 
  • Facilitate deep, meaningful conversations about sexuality with individuals, couples, and teenagers without shame or judgment. 
  • Unfold and understand the “dreaming processes” (unconscious meaning and energy) behind a client’s sexual expression or difficulties. 
  • Introduce practical interventions for couples to improve communication, address imbalances, and explore their shared sexual experience.

Register: Module 5 Exploring Sexuality 

Module 6

Working with Kids, Parents and Families

June 24-26, 2026, 10-12 noon Pacific

Check your timezone

This final module in the Advanced Clinical Practice series is designed to be supportive not only for clinicians and educators but also for parents seeking a deeper understanding of family dynamics. We will apply Processwork to the complex systems of parenting, family work, and our work with children and teens. 

The class provides a powerful framework for addressing three different “edge arenas”—areas where challenge and growth intersect: personal edges of the child/parent, edges in the family system (e.g., communication blocks), and edges in the school or social system (e.g., bullying, peer pressure). 

By recognizing these edges as potential growth points, you will learn how to facilitate sustainable change, foster resilience, and support the emergence of the unique potential in every family member.

What will I learn?

  • Apply a systems-based Processwork approach to resolve core family and parenting issues.
  • Identify and work with the three key “edge arenas” (personal, family system, social system) where growth is needed for children and teens.
  • Utilize Processwork methods to connect with and support children and teenagers in their unique development and challenges. 
  • Facilitate powerful conversations that move families and couples beyond entrenched conflicts toward genuine co-creation and understanding.
  • Enhanced Understanding: Gain a deep understanding of process structure, and develop the ability to notice subtle signals within a process. 
  • Increased Confidence: Develop confidence in working with complex processes, providing a strong foundation for working in various situations. 
  • Practical Application: Acquire practical skills that can be immediately applied in practice.

Register:Module 6 Working with Kids, Parents and Families 

About Dawn

Dawn Menken, Ph.D., certified Process Worker, (she/her/hers) has been working in the field of psychology and facilitator development for 40 years. She is an internationally respected educator, facilitator, therapist, leadership coach, and conflict resolution specialist. She is a co-founder of the Process Work Institute, where she co-created its masters programs and served as academic dean for more than a decade. Her most recent award-winning book, Facilitating A More Perfect Union: A Guide for Politicians and Leaders, introduces new ideas to support leaders, particularly those in the public sphere. In all of her endeavors she is moved to improve social discourse and inspire more meaningful civic engagement.

Dawn is a thought leader and change agent who brings her gifts to a variety of sectors. Her parenting book, Raising Parents Raising Kids: Hands-on Wisdom for the Next Generation, offers a groundbreaking approach to parenting and has been described as “… a must read for everybody who cares about the state of our relationships and our world.” She is the creator of Teens Rise Up (TRU), a cutting-edge program that empowers and educates young people to step into their leadership, engage in honest dialogue and co-create more welcoming school communities. She is a passionate teacher and facilitator with a special devotion to relationship and building sustainable community. She is based in Portland, Oregon.

Visit Dawn’s website

Financial Equity

PWI recognizes the global and systemic forces that unequally impact people’s opportunities to participate.  If you are from an emerging economy or carrying the burden of systemic inequality and impacted by financial disadvantage, please choose the individual module equity rate ($195).

Choose the rate that is fair for you.  

Use Promo Code at Checkout ADVDM2026 to access the Equity Rate for the individual modules. 

Register for the full Advanced Clinical Practice Series

BUNDLE REGISTRATION: Advanced Clinical Practice Series 2026

January – June 2026 

36 online training hours and recordings available until Dec 31, 2026

Or take individual modules on the topics of your choice by registering on the links above.

Facilitating Race: Anti-Blackness and Emotional Energy in Conflict

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Facilitating Race: Understanding Anti-Blackness and Regulating Emotional Energy in Conflict

with Diane Wong and Renee Taylor

Experiential Online Training

October 6 and 20, 12 noon – 2pm Pacific (3-5pm Eastern) Check your timezone

Livestream and catch up on demand recordings

Register Now

Facilitating across race is one of the most challenging—and necessary—skills of our time. Many well-trained facilitators struggle when race enters the room, not because they lack technique, but because they’ve never been taught to hold the historical weight or emotional intensity that racial conflict brings.

This two-session experiential training offers an accessible introduction to anti-Blackness as a foundational system in the West, and to the role of emotional regulation in race-based facilitation. Participants will learn to recognize the energetic patterns that disrupt group process and begin building the internal skills needed to stay grounded, fair, and present in the face of racial intensity.

Hear from Diane and Renee: why this course and what you will learn

Who is this for?

This workshop is for you if …

  • You’ve hesitated in the face of racial intensity during facilitation
  • You want to understand anti-Blackness and how it affects mixed-race groups
  • You’re curious about how emotional energy impacts your presence and leadership
  • You’re ready to grow your capacity to hold race-based truth with integrity

This course is for anyone who wants to hold space for truth and healing without collapsing under guilt, avoidance, or confusion.

This is not about being perfect. It’s about learning to be emotionally awake, historically informed, and energetically aligned—so we can create space for the truth of race to be heard, held, and transformed.

This workshop is designed for Processworkers – students, facilitators, or teachers – but everyone is welcome, no prior Processwork knowledge is required.

Therapists, coaches, and facilitators who want to deepen their racial literacy, strengthen their emotional capacity, and move toward a new level of skill in facilitating race-based conflict are welcome.   

What You’ll Learn

  • What anti-Blackness is, how we all learn it, and why it shapes every conversation about race
  • Why our culture overvalues intellect and devalues emotion—and how that impacts facilitation
  • How to identify your emotional state during moments of racial discomfort or conflict
  • How to use the David Hawkins Emotional Scale to shift into higher-frequency emotions like courage, neutrality, and willingness
  • How to regulate your nervous system in real time to hold the emotional weight of racial truth
  • How to begin using emotion as a source of power in your facilitation—not a liability.

Session One:  Understanding Anti-Blackness, Emotional Energy, and the Role of the Facilitator

This is a nonjudgmental, honest space for white and BIPOC facilitators alike to explore the unconscious ways anti-Blackness has shaped our nervous systems, emotions, and capacity to be fully present during racially charged dialogue.

Participants will receive pre-session readings and video content to begin their learning on anti-Blackness before we meet.

Session Two: Role Play, Emotional Shifts, and Embodied Facilitation

In this hands-on session, we shift from learning to practicing new skills using role play methods.

About Diane Wong and Renee Taylor

Diane Wong is a Processworker, racial justice facilitator, and emotional intelligence guide with decades of experience helping individuals and communities navigate racial conflict with depth, grace, and presence. Her work integrates breath, energy, and embodiment with structural analysis and truth-telling. She is the founder of the Racial Justice Collaborative, a Black led organization dedicated to deep race education, dialogue and bridge building.

 

 

Renee Taylor is a body worker, Christian minister, and spiritual guide who brings the power of trust, belief, and intentional surrender into her healing and facilitation work. A long-time partner in women’s empowerment initiatives, she weaves together embodied presence, spiritual strength, and emotional attunement to guide transformation.

Together, Diane and Renee offer a powerful and grounded container for deep learning, emotional integration, and honest conversation about race, energy, and healing.

 

 

Logistics: where, when, how?

Two powerful experiential online classes over two weeks in October.  

Live participation is strongly recommended, but classes will be recorded and available for catch up on demand.  Class recordings available until January 31, 2026.

Date and Time: 

October 6 and 20, 2025 

12 noon – 2pm Pacific (3-5pm Eastern). Check your timezone

Course Fees: 

Registration: $160

Register Now

Equity Rate Registration: $112

Choose the rate that is fair for you.

Use Promo Code FROCT2025EQUITY at checkout. 

 

Dreamdoors and Waking Up with Lane Arye

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Dream Doors and Waking Up

with Lane Arye Ph.D, Dipl.PW

Experiential Online Training

Oct 22 & 29, 2025, 9am-noon Pacific Check your timezone

Livestream and catch up on demand recordings

Register Now

When we think about the past or fantasize about the future, we’re not just thinking. Our bodies and emotions react as if we are there and it is happening now. It is like teleportation or time travel. We are here and now but also in another place and time.

In this class we’ll think about and work with these phenomena in two ways.

1)  Dream doors: Our fantasies, the stories we tell, our relationship difficulties, and body experiences are dream doors. They can take us out of normal, everyday reality and into a dreaming reality filled with mystery and meaning. We will learn to recognize and walk through those dream doors

2)  Waking up: Many of us go through life in a trance. Immersed in stories about ourselves, we operate on auto-pilot from childhood conditioning and trauma, reliving past events, or lost in fantasy of how it could be. We can use these experiences as opportunities to wake up to who and where we are right now. 

Come and explore the beauty and mystery of who you are.

Embark on a transformative journey with us as we explore the art of self-discovery and mindfulness. Through stimulating discussions and hands-on exercises, participants will learn to navigate their inner worlds, gaining new perspectives and insights.

Each session provides a secure and supportive space to examine personal narratives and confront the limiting beliefs that anchor us to the past. Together, we’ll develop a deeper awareness of the present, empowering you to embrace a more genuine and fulfilling life.

Whether you seek personal growth, emotional healing, or are intrigued by the mysteries of consciousness, this class invites you to open your mind and heart to your limitless potential. Uncover the power of your story and embrace the adventure of living fully in the present.

What are people saying about learning with Lane?

“I love the work and have been using it with my own coaching clients. I found myself delighting in your skill and awareness. Your work shimmers.”

“Lane is a gifted teacher, able to engage students immediately in the experience of what they’re learning rather than merely in the idea of it. His spontaneous, authentic, light-hearted style creates an environment of mutual discovery and delight in what emerges.

“What I learned was ‘ready to use’ instantly in real situations.”

“New information presented in a way that makes it possible to effectively digest and apply it. ‘Old’ pieces of information falling into places.”

“I really appreciate Lane’s way of teaching: very clear, very simple, personal and concrete. He creates a protected container to explore the theory and to practice the tools with a safety net”

“Online classes with Lane were a great opportunity to continue to learn and to practice the tools he brought to us when he was in Europe. It was great to be able to stay home, and not having to cross the world to be in the US.”

“Lane is deeply honest, beautifully transparent about his skills, his methods, and his limitations, profoundly compassionate, and enviably fluid. I especially admire his gentleness and his patience.”

Who is this for?

This workshop is for you, if:

  • You’re a therapist, coach, or facilitator looking for innovative, process-oriented mindfulness tools to help your clients navigate their inner worlds and present moment experiences.
  • You often find yourself “time traveling” to the past or “teleporting” to the future through your thoughts and emotions, and you want to learn how to anchor yourself in the present moment.
  • You’re curious about how your fantasies, personal stories, relationship patterns, and body sensations can be “dream doors” leading to deeper self-discovery and meaning.
  • You suspect you’re operating on “auto-pilot” from past conditioning or trauma and are ready to “wake up” to your authentic self and embrace a more fulfilling life.
  • You’re committed to personal growth, emotional healing, and exploring the mysteries of consciousness in a supportive and transformative environment.

This training is designed for Processworkers – students, facilitators, or teachers – but everyone is welcome.

No prior Processwork knowledge is required.

All awareness seekers, therapists, coaches, and facilitators who want to deepen their practice and continue developing their skills in following and unfolding their own experience are welcome.

What You’ll Learn

In this course you will learn how to:

  • Recognize ‘dream doors’: Identify how fantasies, stories, relationship dynamics, and body experiences offer pathways to deeper understanding.
  • Navigate ‘time travel’ & ‘teleportation’: Develop practical skills to consciously engage with thoughts and emotions that pull you to the past or future, anchoring yourself in the present.
  • Release old patterns: Understand and begin to free yourself from the influence of childhood conditioning and past trauma.
  • Awaken to your authentic self: Cultivate a profound sense of presence and embrace a more genuine and fulfilling way of being.
  • Integrate mindfulness into practice (for professionals): Acquire innovative, process-oriented mindfulness tools to enhance your work with clients.

Logistics: where, when, how?

Six hours of experiential online training over two sessions.  

Live participation is recommended, but classes will be recorded and available for catch up on demand. 

Date and Time: 

Oct 22 & 29, 2025 

9am-noon Pacific, Check your timezone

Course Fees: 

Registration: $240

Register Now

Equity Rate Registration: $168

Choose the rate that is fair for you

Use Promo Code DWU2025EQUITY at checkout. 

About Lane

Lane Arye, PhD is a senior Processwork trainer and a founding faculty member of PWI. Whether teaching, working in private practice, facilitating community and organizational conflicts, or learning & training alongside social justice groups, Lane partners with people to help create more inner and outer freedom and wholeness. He loves to study the ten thousand signals appearing in every moment and how they are structured by deep, background patterns that lead us to the mystery. Lane does a lot of training, inner work, and writing about race, whiteness and overcoming defensiveness, and is a member of the Racial Justice Collaborative.

Lane has taught at Esalen Institute; California Institute of Integral Studies; San Francisco State University; JFK University; University of Warsaw, Poland; Komenius University in Bratislava; and the Conservatory of Music in Bern, Switzerland.

He is the author of Unintentional Music: Releasing Your Deepest Creativity, and the recently published co-authored book chapter, “Racial Harm in Helping Relationships and an Uncommon Journey Toward Repair” with Yasmeen Rubidge in On Becoming a Racially Sensitive Therapist: Race and Clinical Practice.

​Lane lives near San Francisco with his wife, Lecia, and their two children. He loves to sing, play guitar, and write songs.

Live Your Dreams Processwork Intensive ONLINE Sept 4-7, 2025

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Live Your Dreams: Connect to Your Whole Self & Life Purpose

Processwork Intensive 

Online September 4-7, 2025

REGISTER NOW

Intensive Course Registration Fee $640 USD

Partial scholarships offered to support participation equity – find out more below and apply now.

Live your dreaming process

The Process Work Institute invites you to live your dreaming process and connect to your whole self and life purpose.

Discover the transformative power of your dreams, body wisdom, and altered states of consciousness. Join our experienced team for an experiential journey that will unlock your creativity, deepen self-awareness, and connect you to your path of heart.

Over the course of four days we will be exploring pathways to discover and deepen a sense of our life’s meaning and purpose. Together we will learn tools to delve into the creativity and learning within dream work. 

We will unravel the wisdom that exists within our physical symptoms and body experiences, and we will explore and cultivate awareness of the unexpected gifts that emerge from our altered states of consciousness and addictive tendencies. 

As an introductory intensive we will study the basics of the paradigm, discovering how Processwork can enrich our journey and help us connect with our paths of heart and a more fulfilling sense of life and purpose.

No prior knowledge of Processwork is needed. You will be invited into a personally transformative learning experience, supported by an experienced team. 

Get prepared with introductory materials available on the course site.  

REGISTER NOW

Partial scholarships offered to support participation equity – find out more below and apply early. 

Who is this for?

  • Seekers of Purpose: Individuals longing to live more authentically and connect with their heart’s true calling.
  • Facilitators, Coaches & Therapists: Helping professionals looking to add powerful Processwork tools to their personal or professional toolkit.
  • Dreamers & Body-Based Explorers: Anyone curious about the messages within their dreams, physical symptoms, or non-ordinary states.
  • Beginners to Processwork: No prior experience necessary—this is an introductory, supportive, and experiential training.

Why choose this Intensive?

  • Integrative Approach: Learn to work with dreams, body symptoms, and altered states through a unified Processwork lens that connects mind, body, and spirit.
  • Expert Guidance: Study with a seasoned, compassionate teaching team deeply grounded in Processwork and personal transformation.
  • Meaningful Connection: Be part of a warm, interactive learning container designed to foster real connection, insight, and mutual support.
  • Purpose-Driven Learning: Go beyond theory—engage in experiential practices that help you access your life’s deeper meaning and creative direction.

What will I learn?

  • Dreamwork Tools: Practical methods to track, unfold, and interpret night and day dreams for guidance and self-discovery.
  • Body Symptom Awareness: Skills for working with physical symptoms and sensations as meaningful expressions of the unconscious.
  • Working with Altered States: Tools to explore the wisdom within non-ordinary states and addictive tendencies in a safe, grounded way.
  • Life Purpose Discovery: Foundational Processwork skills to help you align with your personal path and connect to a sense of meaning.

What’s involved?

Session One: Opening our Learning Container

9-11AM Sept 4

Hosted by Rabia Mashkoor and Carla Orellana.

Welcome from Hellene Gronda, Executive Director. 

This opening session invites us to arrive fully and connect—to ourselves, to each other, and to the deeper intention behind this intensive. Through facilitated exercises, reflection, and group sharing, we will create a safe and vibrant container for our collective journey. This is a space to meet fellow travelers, explore your learning edges, and set personal intentions for the four days ahead. In Processwork, relationships and awareness of the field are essential parts of the learning process. By cultivating a sense of trust and shared purpose from the very beginning, we lay the foundation for transformation to take root. This session is not just an introduction—it is where the journey begins.

Session Two & Three: Dreamwork with Susan Kocen

1-3PM Sept 4 and 9-11AM Sept 5

Why do we dream at night? What if our dreams can provide a key to unlocking guidance for our deepest life purpose and meaning?

In our Introduction to Process Oriented Dreamwork classes we will learn some process-oriented methods that allow us to uncover the messages and guidance that are present in our dreams.

Together we will focus on the value of tracking and unfolding our night (and day) time visions to ask and answer questions about the intricacies of our lives and our life purpose. 

We’ll explore awareness practices, and the beginner’s mindset that open the doors to our innate creativity, imagination and symbolic thinking.

Join us on this inspiring adventure of self-discovery and transformation!

Session Four & Five: Body Symptoms with Ingrid Rose

1-3PM Sept 5 and 9-11AM Sept 6

The Dreambody appears as “sentient, generally unrecognized sensations that eventually manifest in dream images, body experiences, and symptoms. . . what we see in our dreams we feel in our bodies. Likewise, what we experience in our bodies we can find in our dreams” – Arnold Mindell, 1984, p.64. Dreambody. 

In these two classes we will be working with body symptoms and our body experiences as a meaningful part of our lives. Focusing on the dreaming process behind the consensus reality level of how we usually identify with the body, allows us access to valuable information which brings insight into what is trying to make itself known on our personal development paths. Body experiences and symptoms may also reflect on community and social issues as well.

We will use Processwork ideas to view body experience as part of the larger dreaming process and learn techniques and tools for unfolding symptoms and body experiences, gaining skills in this area through practice and theory. 

Session Six & Seven: Altered States with Kas Robinson

1-3PM Sept 6 and 9-11AM Sept 7

In these two classes we will be focusing on non-ordinary (altered) states of consciousness and addictive tendencies.  Addictive tendencies touch our lives and can be a gateway to discovering marginalized energies, unlocking creativity and finding meaning.. There is much suffering with and around addictions and we will share Processwork methods that help access a deeper awareness, marginalized energies, creativity and can reduce the pull of the addictive tendencies over time. I will be introducing some processwork ideas and tools to deepen and unfold the altered states individuals are reaching for with addictive tendencies. 

Many of these altered states embody energies and creativity that are marginalized not only by individuals but by families, communities and the culture we are living within.  Additionally we will discuss pathways to integrate these altered states into our everyday lives.

Session Eight: Landing our Learning (Integration) with Rabia Mashkoor and Carla Orellana

1-3PM Sept 7

The closing session is a vital space to integrate the insights, challenges, and awakenings from our four days together. Through experiential practices, group dialogue, and creative reflection, we will revisit key moments and explore how they connect to our larger life path and purpose. Integration helps us recognize how the dreaming we’ve uncovered—in our night dreams, body experiences, and altered states—can continue to support and guide us beyond the intensive. This is a time to honor the community we’ve built, give space to what is still unfolding, and take meaningful steps toward embodying our learning in daily life. This session ensures that your journey doesn’t end here—it deepens and continues.

Meet the Intensive Team

 

About Kas

Kas Robinson, PhD, Dipl PW. Kas is originally from New Zealand/Aotearoa.  She has been a faculty member at the Process Work Institute of Portland since 2007, and she is a clinical director at a behavioral healthcare agency. Kas loves processwork methods for discovering meaning, accessing altered states, addressing conflict, and grounding discoveries and insights into our everyday lives. Kas is deeply committed to Processwork’s awareness of diversity,  its anti-oppressive lens,  and to diving into the challenges of life. 

About Susan

Susan Kocen, MA, Dipl PW. is a Processwork Diplomat, currently working in private practice, and on the Teaching Faculty at the Process Work Institute. A dreamer since landing on earth, she has also been a working artist and designer, a Community Program Builder, a counselor for Portland’s Houseless, mentally diverse community, and an Acupuncturist. All roads have led to and been informed by a deep dreaming life, and an attention to lived experience informed by creativity, sensitivity, and the deep democracy of many levels of experience.

About Ingrid

Ingrid Rose PhD, Dipl PW. has spent the past 4 decades exploring various modalities that enhance human potential and growth, all of which contribute to her eclectic style and method in working with others. She has had extensive experience teaching Process Work to many groups in Portland and all over the world. As well as being a clinical supervisor and faculty member at PWI, Ingrid also has a private practice in which she works with a large range of presentations, as well as presenting to groups on diversity issues and conflict situations.

About Rabia

Rabia Mashkoor, MAPOF, is a facilitator of personal and social change, with a background as an HR professional. She is a graduate of the Process Work Institute’s Masters in Process Oriented Facilitation, and an advanced candidate in our mastery level Diploma program.  Rabia is a Pakistani-French-Canadian, Muslim woman, and a mother, currently working as a leadership coach in the health sector, and as a facilitator in private practice. 

About Carla

Carla Orellana is a bilingual (Spanish/English) facilitator and community builder who brings creativity, emotional depth, and a deep commitment to authenticity. She is a graduate of the Process Work Institute’s Certificate in Processwork, with a background in art therapy, emotional intelligence, and Strategic Design Thinking, she explores power, relationships, and inner work through a Processwork lens. Carla describes her path as that of a “delicate activist,” connecting personal transformation with social change and deep democracy.

About James

James Boutin, MAPOF, is an educator, facilitator, and trainer from Seattle, WA. He is a graduate of the Process Work Institute’s Masters in Process Oriented Facilitation, and an advanced candidate in our mastery level Diploma program. James serves as PWI’s Certificate Coordinator and online course host/producer.  He is passionate about Processwork education and is developing Bitesize Processwork, regular free community tutorials to help beginners get started.  James specializes in generative conflict, and his professional work focuses on helping people establish generative conflict practices and cultures within their personal and professional lives.

What does it mean to participate?

The Processwork Intensive is a confidential, online adult learning environment focused on ideas and practices for personal and community transformation. The experiential activities invite an exploration of lesser known aspects of our experience and they may invoke emotional and psychological stress.

All reasonable care is taken to support participants within the learning container, however each person is responsible for their own needs and boundaries. This is a group learning experience and the intensive faculty and host team are not able to provide one-to-one support for individuals.

Participants are encouraged to have their own peer or professional relational supports available in case they need individual support with their intensive experience.

If you have experienced significant trauma related psychological difficulties either in the past or present that may impact your participation, please check in with yourself and consider carefully if this is the right training experience for you at this time.

By registering for the Intensive, you agree to take personal responsibility for your experience and to seek external individual support if you need it.

The Intensive Course is taught in English, with an awareness and sensitivity to the experience of those for who English may be a second (or third or fourth) language. We welcome a multilingual group and ask for shared awareness of the challenges of using English when it is a second language. Participants should ensure they are comfortable with their own level of understanding of English conversation and instruction.  

Registration Fees

Intensive Course Registration Fees includes all live sessions, all session recordings*, handouts and learning resources, and an interactive private online community space for asking questions any time and connecting with other participants. 

Intensive Course Registration Fee $640 USD

*Intensive Recordings available for 6 months (until February 28, 2026).   

REGISTER NOW

Financial Equity

PWI recognizes the global and systemic forces that unequally impact people’s opportunities to participate. We offer partial scholarships on a sliding scale to support participation equity for the Intensive.  

If you are from an emerging economy or carrying the burden of systemic inequality and impacted by financial disadvantage, please email pwi@processwork.org to request support for your Intensive participation.  Scholarships are limited and allocated based on need, please apply early.  

 

A therapist’s guide to sexuality, taboos, and kink with Roger Butler Sept 2025 (online course)

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A therapist’s guide to sexuality, taboos, and kink with Roger Butler

REGISTER NOW

Practical skills for therapists supporting clients to navigate sexuality, taboos and kink

September 8, 15, 22 4-6pm Pacific

Check your timezone

Livestream and Catch up on Demand Recording Access

Recordings Available until Dec 31, 2025

Watch Roger talk about his approach and what you will learn in the course.

From uncertainty (or silence) to confident support

The world of sexuality – and especially the nuances of kink and fetish domains – are often confusing to outside observers and psychology professionals, who frequently only encounter these domains when things have gone wrong. But as therapists, we may wish to be able to support our clients in these areas as we would any other, even if we don’t have specialist knowledge or experience. If we’re not able to do this, an important aspect of our clients’ needs may go unspoken and unmet.

This presents a variety of challenges for counsellors, therapists, and other 1:1 practitioners: How do we pick the difference between practices that might be dangerous or re-traumatising, versus ones that might be profoundly therapeutic and rewarding? What does good consent look like in practice? And how do our understandings of egalitarian, peer-based and empowering relationships sit alongside power dynamics and polyamory?

In this course, you will learn from  experienced sex-educator and sex-positive facilitator Roger Butler, and gain confidence and skills through the intersection of psychology and sexuality.

This course will explore:

  • What ‘sex-negativity’ is, and how it birthed ‘sex-positivity’.
  • The basics of kink and related language / jargon.
  • What motivates people to explore these parts of themselves.
  • How to pick healthy from unhealthy practices and dynamics.
  • Safety, safe-words and communication.
  • Common types of play, and what makes them more likely to be healthy.
  • How to assist clients to find the core of their interests, and safety explore.
  • Side quests including clarifications of various myths, sex-work, and polyamory.

Create spaces where clients can bring their whole selves

You will learn how Process-Oriented Psychology can support your skills and confidence to create spaces where clients can bring their whole selves

Find out:

  • How one’s dreaming and sentient essence informs sexual interests, and how knowing these background forces can support exploration to be safer and more on-point.
  • How roleplay in sex can be as therapeutic as roleplay in therapy.
  • How Processwork’s intimate understanding of edges, feedback and congruence can form a best-practice model of consent.
  • How our understanding of social forces such as city shadows and meta-skills like our beginner’s mind can inform the way we relate to a client’s taboos, fetishes, and addictions.
  • How to be client-centred when we might have radically different cultural norms around sexuality to those of our clients.

At the end of this course, you will be more able to create a space where clients can bring up matters relating to their sexual interests, and be more able to support them in their explorations. You will have more confidence around where the lines are in relation to ethics, safety / doing no harm, and positive (versus confusing, or negative) explorations.

Who Is It For?

This course is designed for therapists, counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals who want to better support clients interested in exploring kink, BDSM, or alternative sexuality. It’s ideal for practitioners who have encountered these topics in sessions and felt underprepared, those who work with LGBTQ+ populations where these discussions may arise more frequently, or professionals simply seeking to expand their therapeutic toolkit. While designed with therapists in mind, this course will also benefit sex educators, relationship coaches, and individuals with a personal interest in exploring these domains safely.

What should I expect in this course?

This training is mostly built around the sharing of concepts and information, and includes elements of self-discovery through inner work. It includes small group discussion at the level that’s right for individual participants, and will suit people with no prior knowledge or experience (as well as those with experience). However, those with no prior exposure to Processwork are recommended towards some prior learning.

The training strives to conform to trauma-informed practice standards and confidentiality, including prior clarity around exercises, the avoidance of surprises, allowing for camera-off participation and non-participation, and accommodating anonymous questions. No recording of people other than the presenter or personal content will be taken. The training is designed for therapists (such as counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists), but will also serve as a solid grounding in the healthy exploration of sexuality and kink. The invitation will be made for participants to explore aspects of their own sexuality as an aid and demonstration of the content, however non-participation options will be embedded, and all exercises should anyway be done only to the depth right for the participant.

About Roger

Roger Butler has been a part-time student of Processwork for 25 years. Over the last 14 years, they have been using a process-influenced approach to teach sexuality, consent, kink, relationship skills, and self-awareness to around 20,000 people in around 3,000 workshops. This is in addition to running a counselling practice, doing public speaking, writing, and running a successful podcast.

Roger sees the need for bridges between the worlds of psychology and sexuality. They are a passionate supporter of the idea that all individuals and couples need to find their own unique relationship to their sexuality. And that a Process-Oriented approach, a beginner’s mind, and a few core understandings can help practitioners support their clients, regardless of where their personal interests lie.

Website: Curious Creatures

Podcast: Curious Conversations…

Where, when, how

September 8, 15, 22 4-6pm Pacific

Check your timezone

Livestream and Catch up on Demand Recording Access

Recordings Available until Dec 31, 2025

Course Registration $240

Experience financial barriers to participation? Choose the equity registration option.

Financial Equity

PWI recognizes the global and systemic forces that unequally impact people’s opportunities to participate.  If you are from an emerging economy or carrying the burden of systemic inequality and impacted by financial disadvantage, we offer an equity rate to increase accessibility.  Please choose the equity rate if it is more fair for you.

Equity Registration $168

Start here: Processwork Classes for Beginners

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START HERE Processwork for Beginners

Looking for a place to start?  Don’t miss our next Processwork Toolkit course … starts January 6

Processwork Toolkit Series offers short online courses introducing the core topic areas and applications of process oriented psychology and deep democracy, the work developed by Arnold Mindell.  Take the courses as a series or jump into individual topics that best suit your learning needs.

Processwork for Beginners with Mila Gaca Ph.D, LPC

Learn essential Processwork concepts and skills

Mondays January 6, 13, and 20, 2025

4-6pm Pacific

Livestream and recording access

Check your timezone

REGISTER NOW: Processwork for Beginners with Mila Gaca

In this course you will explore and learn Processwork’s philosophy, essential concepts and awareness skills. Come and find out about dreambody, levels of reality, different types of attention, process structure, and more!

We will explore your subjective experiences through the concept of life myth and the theory of Deep Democracy, marginalization, self-other dynamics, and change process. What you will learn in this course is applicable to all areas of Processwork, so it can serve you as a foundation for further study and growth.

What can I expect?

Deeper Self-Understanding: Gain insights into your own life journey through the exploration of the dreaming process paradigm and life myth concept.

Theory and Practice: Gain understanding of the theoretical and practical principles of the Processwork paradigm.

Professional Development: Ideal for therapists, counselors, coaches, and anyone interested in personal development and holistic approaches to well-being.

Understanding Marginalization: Explore the concept of marginalization and its impact on self-other dynamics, leading to a deeper understanding of conflicts and consciousness.

Financial Equity

PWI recognizes the global and systemic forces that unequally impact people’s opportunities to participate.  If you are from an emerging economy or carrying the burden of systemic inequality and impacted by financial disadvantage, we offer an equity rate to increase accessibility.  Please choose the equity rate if it is more fair for you.

Processwork for Beginners Equity Rate ($126)

About Mila

Mila Gaca, Ph.D., is a Processwork Diplomate and a licensed counselor. She loves exploring processes on an individual and collective levels. She offers teaching, supervision, coaching, and consulting. Her areas of interests are depth psychology, evolutionary process of consciousness, organizational development (OD), and indigenous healing technologies. Mila served as PWI’s Dean of Academic Governance, 2021-23. She follows the path of heart.

2025 Toolkit Series Schedule

All classes livestream and catch up on demand …

Processwork for Beginners with Mila Gaca

January 6, 13, 20 @ 4pm – 6pm, Pacific –  Check my timezone

SAVE THE DATES – ENROLLMENT OPENS PRIOR

Body Symptoms with Jai Kahn

March 5, 12, 19  @ 10 – 12 noon, Pacific

Own Relationships with Aleksandr Peikrishvili

May 5, 12, 19 @ 4pm – 6pm, Pacific

Altered States with Ana Rhodes

July 10, 24, 31 @ 10am – 12noon, Pacific

Dreams with Susan Kocen

September 11, 18, 25 @ 10am – 12noon, Pacific

Process Oriented Groupwork for Beginners with Bill Say

November 5, 12, 19 @ 4pm – 6pm, Pacific

The 39th Winter Intensive, 27th January – 14th February 2025

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Announcing the 39th Winter Intensive, as we honor and celebrate the life of our founder and beloved Arny Mindell. From January 27th through February 14th, 2025, we will gather at the Process Work Institute in Portland, Oregon. With a team of 10 teachers, and more than 90 contact hours the Intensive Course utilizes lectures, experiential exercises, demonstrations, group processes, and community building to explore Processwork and its various applications. Topics covered will include in depth structural understanding of the work, Processwork applications including dream and bodywork, relationship work, small and large group work on world and local issues, a process oriented approach to creativity, discovering your Unique Facilitator Style, and working with deep states of consciousness.

Registration is now open, here. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year 2025.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Progress Report August 2021

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August 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Progress Report from the Community Advisory Committee for the Process Work Institute Community  

As published in our August 31 Newsletter.

Progress Report from the Community Advisory Committee

(Rhea Shapiro, Lynn Lobo, Mbali Maseko, Emma Dugan)

for the PWI Community

PWI has begun to actively engage in making changes to promote diversity, equity and inclusion over the last year, however this is the first official report from the Community Advisory Committee, and begins a commitment to regular progress updates.

Dear community,

We recognize that this is a long-term growth process and we are in the beginning stages. We plan to publish monthly updates on progress made at PWI in its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) process to keep the entire community informed.

Please Note: In this report we are using: People of the Global Majority (PGM), an empowering term emphasizing that over 80% of the world’s population are people of color, not white.  POC and BIPOC are US centrist terms not used or related to by most of the world.

Here is a report on PWI actions towards DEI goals over the last year:

1.        In July 2020, PWI initiated a Board strategic working group to focus resources and leadership on anti-racism work, and search for an outside consultant to advise PWI in its DEI process.

2.        In August 2020, PWI and the Board strategic working group established a community based anti-racism Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to advise the PWI Board and to bring external expertise, guidance and accountability to the organization. Members of the committee that represent the Global Majority receive an honorarium to acknowledge their expertise and time contributions.

 

3.        The Community Advisory Committee has reviewed PGM, student, faculty and community feedback from past years and based on that feedback came up with recommendations for the PWI Board to make structural changes to support anti-racism in the Institute.

 

4.        October 2020 In service faculty training: Errol Amerasekera and Dawn Menken: Working with Race at PWI – Learnings, Growth and Systemic Change,

 

5.        In January 2021 leadership began working with outside consultant, Ed Porter (Courage of Care) to create anti-racism structures and strategies within PWI. Some of his suggestions are as follows:

  • a.   He has stressed the importance of staying in relationship and working with our differences.
  • b.   Recognizing that the social issues and culture are in constant change so we need to create structures that can respond to the present needs of our students and faculty.
  • c.    He suggested we discuss cultural appropriation both inside the organization and publicly in the larger community. We organized a PWI faculty roundtable in the school and plan to post responses. We also plan to create a public roundtable in fall 2021.
  • d.   He has emphasized the importance of uplifting the PGM faculty voice. This is a long-term project. PWI has begun to address this need by engaging more PGM faculty both in public courses and in the academic course curriculum.

 

6.        PWI has strengthened its Grievance Procedures to address rank issues and bring up student DEI complaints. In January 2020, we created an Ombuds role (Rhea Shapiro) to investigate and discuss complaints to reach a satisfactory resolution for the student. This process has been used by 2 students since its inception.

 

7.        June 2020, there was Institutional acknowledgment to the PGM community through the PWI newsletter of our grief and regret surrounding past actions and our commitment to changing. 
 See Newsletter June 15, 2020.

 

8.        In Sept 2020, an apology was sent by email to PWI students and faculty. We include a copy of that to share with the whole community:

Update on Racial DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) Work at PWI (Sept 2020)

Hello to everyone reading this update on our racial equity work here at PWI. As Hellene stated in her June update: “As an organization we are committed to earning back trust through actions and outcomes.“ As a predominantly white organization we have begun to actively struggle with our white dominant culture and actions.

The PWI board, faculty and administration are totally committed to the work of creating a school that is anti-racist with an DEI focus. We have had an unconscious white lens and we are waking up around this and we are dedicated to change; to becoming an anti-racist organization where everyone’s reality is truly supported and encouraged.

We cannot go back in time, but we can apologize to the many People of the Global Majority, both faculty and students, who have suffered with the actions and attitudes that come from our white privilege within PWI. Many students and faculty have been speaking out, saying that this has been happening for far too long in our organization. Our white micro and macro aggressions created a culture that has been painful and debilitating. We know that just an apology is not enough.

Realizing this and trying to change this culture, the PWI Board is instituting a systemic DEI Change Process. In July, the board created an Anti-Racism Work Group. Also, we have begun to connect with community members to create a Community Advisory Committee that will give PWI feedback about how we are doing. We are engaging a Strategic Planner to help us create a long-term plan for racial equity. Also, we are initiating conversations within the school with an outside facilitator to address white dominance. We are committed to this change process and making PWI a safer place for People of the Global Majority and all of us connected to the organization.

Thank-you, the Anti-Racism Work Group, PWI Board (Rhea Shapiro, Elva Redwood, Irina Feygina)

9.        In Spring 2020 PWI created PGM student scholarships of which 2 students have made use. Also funded were PGM Guest Faculty positions for the Masters of Process Work Race and Culture class.

 

10.     We have the intention of significantly increasing People of the Global Majority representation on the PWI Board. In Summer 2021, Diane Wong joined the board and we are in the process of inviting a second member.

Thank you for your interest in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion process in which PWI is continuing to engage. The Community Advisory Committee is now committed to giving monthly updates on the progress of PWI. Stay tuned.

Respectfully,

The Community Advisory Committee

Rhea Shapiro, Lynn Lobo, Mbali Maseko, Emma Dugan

To reach the Committee please email rhea@processwork.org

800 years young & don’t miss our January Intensive

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How did you get so big?

I stood in the rain, awed by an 800 year old being rising up through the mist. The low grrrrr of ocean waves crashing not far away, I sobbed quietly, overwhelmed by joy and awe in the Pacific Northwest coastal forest.

Western science has just recently understood that forests are collaborative diverse communities. The visible part of the forest can look like a competition for light, space and nutrients. But underground, the forest is a network of inter-species connections used for support and nourishment.

What scientists call ‘mother trees’ partner with fungi to pass nutrients, protection from disease, and information exchange that helps the entire forest flourish. This 800 year old giant has lived with generations of indigenous peoples, witnessed the recent arrival of Europeans, felt the steady deforestation of its coastal homeland, all the while nourishing and uplifting the forest community of which it is part.

As we farewell this year and welcome 2021, I am wishing us time to feel our roots and the invisible connections they make. To wonder at the weave of inter-species process that unfolds between and through us.

Could our roots help us transform the intense polarizations of this time?

Could our mother trees hold us through vulnerability, fears and denial and give us the courage to act with “stubborn optimism” for racial justice and a safe climate future?

How have your underground networks nourished you this year?

How have you been a ‘mother tree’ to others in your community?

Join us online this January for our introductory intensive to study the skills for unfolding process. Together we can find our way to a better normal.

Love
Hellene, from all of us here at the Process Work Institute

Click here for our latest newsletter (December 26,  2020)

Hellene Gronda, Executive Director
Ph.D, PW. Dipl, MA, BSc/BA(Hons)
Hellene has a life-long interest in personal and collective change and has been inspired by Processwork for over 30 years. An experienced leader in government and nonprofit settings she values the deep optimism and courageous spirit of Processwork, and its ability to find creative and unexpected solutions to the most difficult, confusing or inexplicable challenges.
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