Coming Together in the Great Turning: Collective Liberation and Work That Reconnects - Paperback

by Aravinda Ananda (Author), Molly Young Brown (Author), Kurt A. Kuhwald (Author)

None of us are free until all of us are free--overcoming systemic oppression through transformative group work.

The Work That Reconnects has helped countless individuals to move through denial and despair into meaningful, collaborative action. This essential guide is ideal for those seeking to deepen this work by addressing systemic racism, injustice, and oppression.

Rooted in the deceptively simple premise that none of us are free until all of us are free, Coming Together in the Great Turning represents a decade-long interrogation and expansion of the revolutionary practices of the Work That Reconnects. Powerful contributions from practitioners:

• Address the false split between environmental and social justice and identify the common roots of human rights abuses and ecological destruction
• Explore how intersectional systems of oppression manifest in group settings and provide strategies for shifting these dynamics to interconnected systems of support
• Demonstrate how to move beyond "-isms" and identity politics toward true diversity, equity, inclusion, allyship, solidarity, collective liberation, and a "Just Transition"
• Share powerful perspectives, teachings, exercises, and rituals drawn from the practical experience of facilitators worldwide
• Offer specific guidance for creating safer spaces and expanding cultural competency through anti-oppressive and trauma-informed facilitation.

This vital resource is required reading for facilitators and participants, change agents and activists, visionaries, and anyone who feels pain for our world and is committed to catalyzing change for a just and thriving world.

Author Biography

Aravinda Ananda is a social ecologist and principal lead at Living rEvolution, dedicated to healing, transformation, and intergenerational, interspecies, and intraspecies justice. She has been a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects for nearly 15 years, co-facilitator of the first five Earth Leadership Cohorts (an immersion in the Work That Reconnects for people ages 18-30), a founding weaver (emeritus) of the Work That Reconnects Network, and a lead convenor of the Anti-Oppression Resource Group. Aravinda is also President of the Board of the Interhelp Network, a nonprofit dedicated to liberatory and transformative group work. She and her partner and child are living the rEvolution in Watertown, MA.

Molly Young Brown, M.A., M.Div. is a facilitator, teacher, life coach, and writer who draws on the Work That Reconnects and the disciplines of ecopsychology and psychosynthesis in order to support people struggling with feelings of despair and helplessness in the face of political, social, and environmental crises. A close colleague of Joanna Macy's for several decades, she is co-director of the Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program, working toward the Great Turning, decolonization, anti-oppression, and a thriving world for all. She offers personal training and mentoring, and speaks and conducts workshops internationally focusing on self-awareness, transformation, and spiritual awakening rooted in an understanding of the interconnectedness of all life. Molly is the author of 7 books including the two editions of Coming Back to Life and Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning. She lives in Mt. Shasta, CA.

Kurt A. Kuhwald is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister (retired), spiritual director, transformational coach, elder circle facilitator, and an activist focused on anti-racism, climate change, and low-wage workers' rights. He spent 23 years as a high school special-education teacher and then trained as a psychotherapist in 1985, after which he worked in community, hospital, and private settings. Kurt has facilitated the Work That Reconnects and has worked with the Anti-Oppression Resource Group to bring oppression, power, and privilege issues into the community of WTR. While engaging in this work in the world, Kurt has honed his capacity to support individuals and groups to walk onto that ground where the intersection of care for the world meets inner liberation. He lives in Oakland, CA.