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Resilience and Soul Work: Cultivating Courage to Create Inclusive Cultures

Fri, Jul 12

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GilChrist Retreat Center

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Resilience and Soul Work: Cultivating Courage to Create Inclusive Cultures
Resilience and Soul Work: Cultivating Courage to Create Inclusive Cultures

Time & Location

Jul 12, 2024, 6:00 PM EDT – Jul 14, 2024, 12:00 PM EDT

GilChrist Retreat Center, 56265 Day Rd, Three Rivers, MI 49093, USA

About the event

During this retreat, we will immerse  ourselves in the writings of adrienne maree brown, Grace Lee Boggs and  bell hooks to examine their personal strategies to meet inter-personal  challenges and transform social contexts from ones that limit to ones  that expand opportunities for growth. Our explorations will be further  supported by poetry and other artistic works to help us explore the  relationship between resilience and transformative justice. The goal of  our time together will be to explore strategies to deepen our commitment  to live authentically and to expand our capacity to undertake  challenges to transform cultures to become more just.

GilChrist  Retreat Center, located on 67 acres of rolling hills, meadows, and  forest, is intentionally designed to foster meditation, contemplative  practice, and engagement with nature. We will fully engage our  surroundings to help us craft strategies for creative engagement and  personal resilience to embolden leadership, strategic patience, and  action to build inclusive cultures. Our deep dives will explore the  connection between mind, heart, and soul through journaling, labyrinth  walking, mindfulness work, and historical reflection. At the end of the  retreat, participants will be encouraged to do a self-tour of historical  sites commemorating the lives of local 19th century activists who  expanded freedom through the Underground Railroad.

About the Facilitator

Kathy  Purnell, Esq., Ph.D., has over two decades of professional experience  as a lawyer, professor, and nonprofit administrator. She is a graduate  of Harvard University (A.B.), Cornell University (Ph.D.), and the DePaul  University College of Law (J.D.). She is trained in philosophical  counseling techniques from the American Philosophical Practitioners  Association and is an affiliate of that organization. Dr. Purnell is a  licensed attorney in the State of Michigan and is a member of the  American Immigration Lawyers Association, where she served as the  Diversity Chair of AILA’s Michigan chapter. Her current practice is  focused on civil and human legal practice as well as mindfulness and  resilience for transformative justice. She has also used her advanced  training in political philosophy, law, and ethics to teach students at  seven different universities including Kalamazoo College, Western  Michigan University, and DePaul University, has led “Resilience  Retreats” at GilChrist, the public retreat center of the Fetzer  Institute, and is a member of both the Kalamazoo Truth Racial Healing  and Transformation’s (TRHT) Law Design Team and its Racial Healing  Circle Practitioner Cohort. She currently serves on the Advisory Board  for the Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in  Society and is a regular leader of their Ethics Book Clubs for  challenging public dialogues on topics such as immigration, racial  equity in education, hate speech in democratic community, and housing as  a human right.

Retreat Schedule

Friday, July 12, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – Sunday, July 14, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

Registration and Lodging Details

First, complete this form to register for the retreat. The cost for the retreat program is $200  and includes all books and materials. Space is limited. Please inquire  about options for financial accessibility.

Once you have registered and paid for the program with the facilitator, contact GilChrist to reserve your cabin using their online registration form,  or by calling the main office at (269) 244-1130 with any questions.  Lodging is $60/night for an individual participant in addition to the  program fee. Participants will check into their cabins between 1:00 and  4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 12 at a time you communicate via your cabin  reservation. Cabin check-out is at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 14.

A  light continental breakfast will be provided Saturday and Sunday and a  communal dinner will take place on Saturday evening, so please let Kathy  know if you have any dietary restrictions. Other than Saturday evening,  individuals are responsible for their own meals. Each guest space at  GilChrist is equipped with a complete kitchen. See the complete GilChrist FAQ for more information about the facility.

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