Community
From an early age, community has been an important part of my life.
My involvement with various communities within the United Church as a camp councillor, youth leader, workshop leader and music resource, I experienced a range of short to medium-term communities.
I've had the extraordinary fortune through my life to participate in a network of close-knit and interwoven communities centering around a group of elementary & high school friends. While we are now dispersed around the globe, this group stays in fairly regular touch, and serves as one of my core models for what community can be like.
Presently, I'm a board member of the Canadian Cohousing Network, and live in Windsong Cohousing community, an intentional community in Langley. I'm actively involved in the social life there in a host of ways including:
- Membership on the Facilitation team (which facilitates both regular monthly community meetings, and special meetings)
- Hosting two weekly talking circles (these use a simple process some friends and I developed over the past twenty years)
- Hosting a thrice weekly silent meditation group
- Participation in a weekly writer's group
- Participation in a monthly Spiritual discusison group
- Taking part in a 2 year intensive Facilitation Intensive course, taught by Tree Bressen, and hosting periodic training sessions at Windsong based on that material.
Of course, these are the regularly scheduled events - I participate in and host numerous other events around the community.
I'm also involved at present in Perfect Paradise Intentional Community within Second Life, a group within that virtual environment who are experimenting with and exploring consensus community, its benefits and implications.
I'm always interested in discussing and working on community based projects, time allowing.
Active Community Projects
Pattern Language of Group Process
I've had the great fortune to get on board Tree Bressen's group working on a Pattern Language of Group Process. Since Tree introduced me to the idea during one of the facilitation intensives, I've looked over Pattern Languages for Architecture and Programming, and have been blown away by the power of the Pattern Language approach, and excited to see how it applies to group process. It's been amazing working with this dedicated, talented, and varied group of folks and I'm just at the beginning of the journey. There's more information at http://grouppatternlanguage.org/
Policy Database
With the help of Tree Bressen and Andrea Welling, I've been working to put together a policy database, initially for BC Cohousers. We've had a wonderful welcome by the American Cohousing community, and this already useful resource is going to become an increasingly powerful tool, both for existing communities and for those just forming.
The database is available at http://www.windsong.bc.ca/cohousing/policies.php
