Bridging Cultures at IAF European Conference

It was great to attend the IAF Europe conference in Groningen, Netherlands and Justine, Sarah and Gary spent a weekend in northern Holland connecting with Facilitators from across all parts of Europe, in fact from different parts of the world. The theme was Facilitation: Profession of Bridging Cultures which we explored across the event. Catching up with old friends and making many new, it was good to be back amongst the community of largely European Facilitators, all gathered to share, learn and co-create. For more take a look at www.iaf-europe.eu

Over the weekend Gary’s facilitated session on Building Resilience seemed to strike a cord with the participants reflecting on how important it is to understand and build personal resilience in particular during these turbulent times, to help ensure we can ride the waves of change and make the transition during change both shorter and less disruptive.

Meanwhile Sarah and Justine led a session on Enhancing Learning and Participation drawing on Eugene T. Gendlin’s – Felt Sense work where in his words: “Your body is not a machine, rather a wonderfully intricate interaction with everything around you, which is why it "knows" so much just in being.” As a group we undertook a journey to be present and explore what we ‘know’ to deepen our awareness to enable others to enhancing their learning and participation as we enhanced our own…

Maureen and Jon Jenkins (authors of: The 9 Disciplines of a Facilitator – Leading Groups by Transforming Yourself www.9disciplines.com ) did the Facilitation community proud leading the Dutch conference team at Hanze University supported by the amazing young people studying there.