Learn more of what’s possible.
Climate anxiety and despair are fundamentally isolating experiences. Exploring them in shared learning spaces reduces shame and numbness, increases the possibilities of action, and builds honest and engaged communities of care.
All workshops, classes, and support groups listed below include a mix of experiential learning, interactive discussion, and individual and small group reflection. Some are more text- and theory-based; others include somatic practices or guided meditation and are more geared towards emotional learning.
Contact me to schedule a workshop, class or series, or support group, or to discuss a custom facilitation.
For invitations to teach in person, please note I am based in New Haven, CT.
workshops
Climate Anxiety and the Wisdom Our Bodies Carry
Much of our climate anxiety is propelled by the news and media we absorb, but the stories we tell ourselves about the future can also be rooted in inherited ways of thinking and fearing. In this workshop, we make space for climate anxiety and despair and defang the shame and sense of isolation that so often accompany them. We explore how climate emotions show up in our hearts and bodies; reflect on how our fears may be shaped by our ancestors’ experiences; and expand our capacity for healing, connection, and action.
This workshop involves somatic experiencing and can be tailored to Jewish, interfaith, or non-Jewish audiences.
Options for Zoom or in-person.
Beyond Climate Despair: Grief With Somewhere to Go
The poet Jamie Anderson observed, ‘Grief is just love with no place to go.’ When unexpressed or unheard, the growing losses and anticipated losses of climate change can transform into despair, and from there into numbness, isolation, and silence. In this workshop, we explore how our ‘ecological grief’—in the forms of cumulative and anticipatory grief—are suppressed and disenfranchised. We reclaim our essential voices, and map out new paths for expression and connection, giving our love ‘some place to go.’
This workshop involves reflective writing, somatic experiencing, and can be tailored to Jewish, interfaith, or non-Jewish audiences.
Options for Zoom or in-person.
class series
Spiritual Curiosity as a Response to Climate Change
The urgency of combating and mitigating the climate crisis can have the effect of pulling us out of ourselves. Although climate change is a problem of present and future, Kabbalah—a centuries-old mystical tradition—offers a meaningful path for accessing our spiritual curiosity around climate change. Through a Four Worlds framework, participants explore their physical, emotional, spiritual, and existential responses to the challenges of this moment, and learn to shift from an orientation of reaction to an orientation of expansive response.
This 4-class series is for Jewish audiences who are interested in a blend of intellectual and emotional learning.
Options for Zoom or in-person.
Four Jews Walk Into the Unknown
‘We are living in unprecedented times’ was the unofficial tag line of 2020. Four years later, we’re so used to living in unprecedented times that the phrase seems almost quaint! As a society, we’re dealing with political, social, and environmental challenges that many of us never imagined we would face in our lifetimes. What did four unusual Jews—Etty Hillesum, Miriam haNeviah, Yaakov Avinu, and Yochanan ben Zakkai—do when faced with profound upheaval in their lifetimes? Can their wisdom help us get grounded, even-keeled, and joyful as we look towards the future?
This 4-class series is for Jewish audiences who are most comfortable with a cerebral style of learning.
Options for Zoom or in-person.
support groups
Do I Bring a Child Into This World? A Spiritual Support Group for Possible Parents
Given the realities of climate change, whether or not to become a parent is a decision more and more folks are wrestling with. It’s a tender, fraught, lonely, and often counter-cultural conversation, particularly for communities and ethnicities that historically have been targeted for oppression or genocide. Over the course of 4 months, participants are guided to explore their feelings and beliefs with curiosity and self-compassion; connect with and witness fellow possible parents; access the wisdom of relevant texts; and leave with practical tools to better communicate on this tender topic with family and friends.
This 7-part series occurs bimonthly, is open to individuals of any gender, and can be tailored to Jewish, interfaith, or non-Jewish audiences.
Zoom only.
There Are Things I Need To Tell You: A Spiritual Support Group for Jewish Elders
Details coming soon.
for chaplains and chaplaincy students
Climate Change Chaplaincy
This 1 hour class offers an introduction to the work of climate change chaplaincy and helps participants explore the rewards, challenges, and practical considerations of growing a climate change chaplaincy practice. Through interactive discussion, theory, case studies, and small group reflection, participants learn about the growing field of climate change chaplaincy.
Options for Zoom or in-person.
Conversation Circles: Earth and Climate Chaplaincy (on behalf of the BTS Center in collaboration with the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab)
An offering for chaplains committed to working at the intersections of climate change and spiritual care to be in ongoing conversation with one another, sharing experiences, offering support, and seeking inspiration for their ongoing work. Conversation Circles will run Feb-July 2025. Learn more.
Zoom only.