Journeys Steps Out in the World

In 2008, Journeys launched a number of new programs.  We now are able to serve a wider audience and share our methods with more and more people.  Here's snapshots and stories of a few:

Art of Ritual Leadership

For our 42 year history, Journeys has been creating meaningful ritual in a way that is open, inclusive, and inviting.  Yet thus far, we've never offered an ongoing program to help others learn this art and important skill for building community.  This fall, we launched a training program.  With 15 participants, taught by Randy Morris and Darcy Ottey, this program will meet for four weekends over nine months, culminating in a final intitiation weekend in June 2009.

We had our first weekend class in October, and it's a very exciting opportunity to build an ongoing learning community while exploring two difficult areas--ritual (what is it?  how do I create it?) and leadership (what does it really mean to call myself a leader?  how do I step into that with grace and humility?).  Through dance, art, music, conversation, reflection, and quiet time in nature, we're beginning to explore  these questions.  Participants range in age from 26 to 60, and include folks new to Journeys, members of our extended community, long-time mentor staff, and members of the board.  Stay tuned in future enewsletters for thoughts & reflections from this wonderful group!

Coming of Age for Communities

Thanks to a generous grant from the National Recreation Foundation, Journeys has launched a new training and consulting program to partner with 5 organizations that serve youth to design, create, and launch coming of age programs for the youth that they serve.  This is an incredible opportunity for Journeys to share much more than the three days of curriculum philosophy and program techniques offered by our Coming of Age Leader's Training series, as we work with organizations over 6-9 months to create programs to meaningfully serve their youth. 

In October, we selected our 5 partner organizations though an application process.  They're excellent organizations that do incredible work with youth and community:  Portland Impact, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Tryon Life Community Farm, Emerson High School (a program of Youthnet), and Gateway Mountain Center.  Journeys is pleased to support the efforts of these organizations as we offer them our unique curriculum design and have a positive impact on the lives of more youth together.  In November, we held our first training for all partner organizations, and will begin the third phase of the project with another day-long training in January,

 When Autumn Comes: Exploring our Elder Years

This retreat took place in early September at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center on the Columbia River Gorge. When Autumn Comes is a retreat that gave participants an opportunity for reflection and community among a small group of “active elders,” those who have energy to contribute to their communities, but in different ways than the busy-ness of earlier adulthood.  Drawing on Journeys' history with the ICA, long-time Journeys & ICA staff Stan Crow, Edith Kusnic, and Fred Lanphear led this course for our pilot version, and many long-time Journeys' supporters and ICA members took part.  A special thanks to Raymond Spencer and Tina Valdes for their support and enthusiasm for this new endeavor--your support made it possible.

Read more about one participant's personal experience of this retreat: Jann McGuire's Reflections on When Autumn Comes.

Counselor Camp

This year's theme was Old Wisdom, New Practices: Healing our Youth and our Communities. Most attending had a chance to learn more about their co-workers and new friends through stories told during the opening and closing ceremonies.  85 people attended Counselor Camp over and 14 speakers held workshops on varying topics such as trauma stewardship, Dialectical Based Therapy, assessing and treating homeless youth, dance of grief, and much more.

The key note speaker, Laura Vandernoot Lipsky spoke of Trauma Stewardship, sharing her research on important issues around how to care for oneself in work that can be very demanding.  Laura's work is inspiring and insightful; you can find out more at her website.   Many found new ways to create space to take care of themselves during the weekend including meditating, yoga, breathing and being in nature.