So, while a community’s success depends largely on the commitment of the people, commitment to that community comes from having one’s needs met.

In our experience, the process of becoming a true community requires taking off the armor to show our true selves to each other. It requires both open minds and open hearts. This means we must learn to walk the path of the open heart. We must learn a more deeply authentic way of relating with each other. To do this, we must learn to create a safe environment within which we can be "all of who we are."

Our experience with other groups tells us that this workshop may be one of the turning points in your life

While coming into true community is a simple process, it is rarely easy. You will find the process gentle yet intense. It will require commitment, and some hard work. Let us explain.

A group of individuals do not become a true community easily or accidentally. There are certain principles that a group must learn in order to develop themselves into a community and then maintain that connection. Indeed, perhaps the most important reason for participation in this workshop is to learn these principles through the experience of struggling with a group of other participants toward the goal of building a true community.

In the process, you may develop respect and compassion for people and ideas that you might have previously rejected. It is our hope that you will learn to accept and celebrate both individual differences and common humanity.

As facilitators, we will monitor the group’s progress, using stories, games, imagery, periods of silence, and strategic feedback to stimulate group awareness and constructive listening.

In the final segments of the workshop, the group will spend time processing the experience and developing tools for communicating. You, as a participant, may discover ways in which personal obstacles to community may be overcome and transformed.

In this process, the group will learn to recognize key attitudes, behaviors and skills of an effective community as well as personal barriers to effective communication.

The benefits of achieving community are great. Indeed, we have found it to be a powerfully transformative experience. Participants walk away with new communication skills, new ways to deal with conflict, a deeper confidence in themselves and others, a greater sense of authenticity, and a new kind of strength that grows out of a willingness to be vulnerable with others in the community. As a result, individual and group effectiveness increases dramatically. Being in true community leads to greater power and purpose in all that you may choose to achieve. Moreover, you may walk away from this experience with a new set of lenses through which to view yourself, others, and the world.