About Christi
& Circle Forth
Facilitation is about weaving, listening, bridge building, - connecting people more fully to themselves and one another, while moving forward strategically and joyfully towards their purpose and goals.
I am on a bit of a mission to:
*Help as many folks as possible feel confident in their facilitation skills
* Create spaces for the space holders
* Inspire the creation of groups that are collaborative, joyful, real, and whole
- where people can show up as they are.
While conflict is a natural part of a group, I do not believe it is inevitable, and certainly does not have to be inevitably destructive. Bringing in the wisdom of the natural world is part of what I bring to the table.
My life’s work and growth has prepared me for this moment, where healing the fracturing in our world is so needed. I am a deeply committed person, grounded and sincere. I bring to each group a hard-earned skill and knowledge base.
I value bringing people together from a wide-range of backgrounds and can work in a variety of environments from rural to urban, corporate to non-profit, classroom to cornfield, boardroom to wilderness.
Reach out! Let’s see if I might be a good match to support you, your group or organization.
Learning, Growing, & Adapting
Life, culture, social systems and people are always changing and so we are always learning, adapting. Growth takes on a whole new meaning from this perspective.
One of my most formative experiences was teaching experiential group dynamics and leadership courses through Naropa University. For 16 years and through countless groups and hours, the students became some of my greatest teachers.
Key influences that guide Circle Forth offerings include:
Most of all, the participants in my groups and classes over decades of teaching and facilitation - direct, dedicated, consistent experience has shaped everything I do and offer.
Up to date understanding of human development, health, and wellness - what helps humans the THRIVE
Living Systems thinking: The Biomimcry Institute for Social Innovation and Matrixworks
The work of Margaret Wheatley, Otto Scharmer, Peter Senge and other thought leaders on organizational change
An ongoing commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion - learning from a wide range of teachers that bring a wholistic view
Thomas Hubl and trauma aware group facilitation
The Work That Reconnects, Joanna Macy
Rites of Passage training with the School of Lost Borders, Trebbe Johnson and Animas Valley Institute
The Earth has also been one of my greatest influences. As a student of nature and of wilderness rites of passage, I can bring some unique perspectives to the challenges you may be facing, along with strategies to navigate through in more healthy, balanced, perhaps even joyful ways.
Experience
It has been quite an adventure already…
Facilitating within the medical community, performance ensembles and organizations, within the criminal justice system, youth programs, co-housing neighborhoods and HOAs, university settings, rites of passage organizations, hospice and various health and healing environments.
Some of the ways I have supported groups include:
Retreat facilitation
Strategic planning and vision clarification
Leadership support and coaching
Entry level diversity trainings
Team development
Feedback Processes
Restorative justice circles
Mediation and conflict evolution
Annual meetings
Facilitating short term projects for organizations
About Circle Forth
Circle Forth as an idea and organization was born in a Circle of trusted friends. In many ways it is a culmination of Christi’s life work up to this point and represents a way of bringing people together in times of change and transformation. It is also a way of practicing facilitation as a craft, as a form of art rooted in living systems and an engagement with nature and human nature. It is a way of experiencing your community.
Circle Forth is also a living organization for spreading seeds of healthier, more effective, even transformative groups and organizations.
The Circle Forth vision and practice is around coming together and moving forward. Breathing in and breathing out. Connecting and then moving forth. It values action rooted in knowledge, insight, intuition, presence, personal stories and the wisdom that can only be gained by hearing the voices of your community.
Mysteries, Yes
Mary Oliver
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds will
never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
