Come to the Intro session January 16th to see if this group is for you.

Introductory session and monthly group for :

Sustaining Our Hope and Energy-
Taking on Climate Change and/or Racism

            These are challenging times – with racism and climate change doing immeasurable harm. Trying to look directly at how dire and severe the situation can bring up lots of emotions – heartbreak, rage, fear – for virtually all of us. Many of us avoid these feelings by not really looking. For some of us, having these feelings (or avoiding them) leads us not to be consistently engaged in taking action. For some of us, these feelings drive us to constant activity that takes a toll on us, or even risks burning us out.

A monthly group to:

• face how bad climate change and racism really are
• feel our feelings about them, and
• support each other

Led by Russ Vernon-Jones

• Introductory session: January 16, 2019, 7-9PM, location to be announced
• Monthly group: one Wednesday night per month, 7-9PM, in Amherst, Feb-June
• This experienced leader is offering this group free to support activists and those who want to take more action.

Come check out the Intro on January 16th so you can decide if you are interested in signing up for the Feb-June monthly series.  Please indicate your interest on the Google form here
 or e-mail Russ at russvj@gmail.com with questions or to sign up for the Intro so we can let you know where it will be.

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            Russ Vernon-Jones is a climate and anti-racism activist who has 40 years of experience leading study groups and groups in which participants process feelings and move toward greater joy and more effective action. He takes a takes a no-blame approach, while holding out the possibility of “upping our game” and getting more connected to each other at the same time.

            This group is based on Russ’s experience that facing these realities and feeling these feelings (and sometimes releasing them with tears, raging, etc.) in a supportive group is healing and nourishing. This work can renew our energy and our hope, and build our connections with others. We will combine study of the depth of the problems with processing our emotional reactions.

            Anyone can come to the Intro session with no obligation to continue beyond that one night.  Those who are interested in continuing will be asked to commit to attending monthly from February through June. It is understood that occasionally illness or a conflict will require missing a meeting, but we want to try to create a stable group where we build trust with each other. There will be a possibility of continuing beyond June if participants are interested.

            The location (in Amherst) will be chosen based on how many people plan to attend and everyone who has expressed interest will be notified of the location in advance