Which Council Workshop Is Right For Me?

Council Training Level One:
Introduction to the Way of Council

This 16-hour offering, led by two Certified Council Trainers, is a powerful and inspiring introduction to the practice of council and offers an experiential opportunity to work with the basic elements, modalities and forms. CT1 workshops are offered by Center for Council to the general public throughout the year and for specific businesses, groups, and government agencies that want to integrate the practice into their regular operations as a component for improving organizational wellness.
CT1 also offers 15 CE credits for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs (click here for more details).

In CT1 (also know as Introduction to the Way of Council), participants develop their fluency with and capacity to practice and offer council, and to bring this practice into their personal lives, communities, and professions. In CT1, the history, fundamentals and nuances of the forms and modalities of council are explored in some depth and a good deal of background is offered on the intentions and languaging used in the practice. In addition to a grounding in the basic procedures and tools of council, broader applications to a variety of settings are explored, including classrooms, boardrooms, prisons, communities — as well as in more intimate settings like families and couples. CT1 workshops attract educators, artists, business people, therapists, social service workers, and many others. Mental health workers often attend CT1 to achieve continuing education credits necessary for licensure. Many experienced practitioners repeat this essential training in council basics, relishing the opportunity to refresh their practice and rediscover "the four intentions," exploring the subtleties of listening and speaking from the heart and what it means to truly embody spontaneity and leanness.

​Center for Council offers regularly scheduled Council Training Level One workshops in Southern California. CT1 workshops are also offered elsewhere around the country and internationally, in partnership with local organizations, schools and groups. (Please contact us if you'd like to explore partnering with Center for Council to offer a public workshop in your area.) 

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​Council Training Level Two: Deepening the Practice

CT2: Deepening the Practice of Council, workshops offer a powerful opportunity to enhance one’s practice and explore the more complex contours of the work. This training is geared toward participants who have taken a CT1/Introduction to Council workshop and have been facilitating council for some time and have had some direct experience with the inspiring, and sometimes challenging, situations that arise – including encountering resistance, conflict and "shadow." Facilitators may also be starting to look at some personal obstacles and "blind spots" that have shown up in their development as a practitioner, as well as the need for greater fluency in self-regulation and grounding, for oneself and in one’s work with groups.  

The CT2 workshop delves into the specific forms of council suited for a variety of situations and explores the joys and challenges of bringing council into different parts of our lives. It offers a chance to develop more facility with "reading the interactive field" and learning to invite "the witness" perspective.

​One of the primary intentions of CT2 is to support practitioners who are starting to encounter the sometimes powerful energies released in council and to offer encouragement to move out of one's comfort zones and to “turn into the skid,” learning how to navigate and best serve the circle, while maintaining safety and containment.
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Center for Council requires that those interested submit a brief application and letter of intention, reflecting on their experiences with council to date and what may be stirring for them as they approach this opportunity to deepen their practice. 

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Council Training Level Three: 
Living the Way of Council

​CT3 may be thought of as the workshop in which Living the Way of Council is explored. This immersive residential weekend training is intended for experienced council practitioners who have completed both CT1 and CT2, have developed facility with the practice and who are discovering that they are called to go beyond occasionally facilitating council circles as an approach to group interaction. 

This advanced workshop focuses on the three challenges of becoming a carrier of council: devotion to the practice, reading the interactive field in council, and being able to simultaneously participate in and witness the process (including oneself). A great deal of material is integrated, including exploration of energy field work, movement, sound, ceremony, and the relationship between nature and council. Concepts of emergence, complex adaptive systems, and collective wisdom are often touched on in great depth, along with a science-based exploration of the nature of individual and group coherence -- and a space is created for the arrival of the unexpected.

As our communities, organizations and relationships are challenged to renew a sense of connection and compassion, CT3 presents an opportunity to explore how we practice and embody the essence of council in ways that go beyond our facilitation of and participation in the form of a council circle. As one deepens in this practice, the question arises: What is not council?  CT3 offers an opportunity to unpack these critical and profound considerations and explore how the practice of council can be a powerful resource for our work in the world.

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To learn more about public council-related offerings hosted independently of Center for Council, see Community Councils.

Becoming A Council Trainer

Have you attended a council training and feel a calling to take the work further? Center for Council will guide you through the rigorous process of becoming a Certified Council Trainer.

Trainer Certification