The WTR Network is supported by a global grassroots community. A dynamic team of volunteers from around the world serve on various committees, coordinating with our Weavers Team and offering a wide range of skills and perspectives. Committees are an essential part of our collaborative model of Organizational Design & Governance. As a network, we continue to learn and grow together through vital feedback loops and cooperation within each committee and between committees.

We welcome your skills and talents, and invite you to join us in co-creating a thriving future for the Work That Reconnects by engaging in one of the following committees.

WTR Network Committees

Purpose: In addition to maintaining and building the Network’s presence virtually, through the website, social media and newsletter, the communications committee continues to “tell the story” of the WTR Network, of the Work and the stories of those who offer it and are impacted by it.

If you have skills in graphic design, branding and/or content generation and a passion for building a digital community, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Frieda Nixdorf – Staff Weaver (Nevada City, California, USA)
Paula Hendrick – Former Weaver (Rochdale, Massachusetts, USA)
Julie Hsieh – Committee Volunteer (Silicon Valley, California, USA)
Georgie Toner – Committee Volunteer (Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia)
Megan Arnold – Committee Volunteer (Berkeley, California, USA)
Althea Serad – Committee Volunteer (Philippines)
Beth Remmes – Committee Volunteer (Richmond Hill, Georgia, USA)
Alicja Snarska – Committee Volunteer (Poland)
Ellie Domigan – Committee Volunteer (Amsterdam)

Purpose: To publish a bi-annual journal that provides brain-food, heart-food, and methods for people involved in the Work That Reconnects and who are working to co-create life-sustaining, equitable cultures for all.

If you are passionate about writing, have editorial experience and would enjoy working with a team to curate submissions from our global WTR community, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Silvia Di Blasio – Staff Weaver (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada)
Carmen Rumbaut – Volunteer Weaver (San Marcos, TX, USA)
Molly Brown – Former Weaver/Founder (Mt Shasta, California, USA)
Frieda Nixdorf – Staff Weaver (Grass Valley, California, USA)
Carolyn Treadway – Committee Volunteer (Lacey, Washington, USA)
Karina Lutz – Committee Volunteer (Leverett, Massachusetts, USA)
Rebecca Selove – Committee Volunteer (Joelton, Tennessee USA)
Kevin Lay – Committee Volunteer (Portland, Oregon, USA)
Martha O’Hehir – Committee Volunteer (Grass Valley, California, USA)

Purpose: To create welcoming, high quality support for Facilitator Members of the Network, including emerging facilitators.

If you are drawn to supporting our international community of Facilitator Members by engaging connections, building community and responding to their emerging needs, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Silvia Di Blasio – Staff Weaver (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada)
Kathleen Rude – Volunteer Weaver (Glenview, Illinois, USA)
Shayontoni Ghosh – Staff Weaver (Hyderabad, India)
Gunter Hamburger – Committee Volunteer (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany)
Kirsty Heron – Committee Volunteer (York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom)
Margo van Greta – Committee Volunteer (Ecovillage Findhorn, Scotland)
Beth Remmes – Committee Volunteer (Richmond Hill, Georgia, USA)

Purpose: To develop regenerative flows of resources for the WTR Network to meet its long and short term financial goals.

If you have experience with traditional fundraising and grant writing or skills, passion and ideas for developing regenerative revenue streams and reciprocal flows of support, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Jo delAmor – Staff Weaver (Coolville, Ohio, USA)
Constance Washburn – Volunteer Weaver (Lagunitas, California, USA)
Hank Obermayer – Committee Volunteer (Sebastopol, California, USA)
Bruce Bekker – Committee Volunteer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)

Purpose: To tend to issues of inclusion and equity within the existing structure of the network and support the network in outreach and expansion to additional communities.

If you are excited about social justice issues and interested in supporting this work within the Network, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Shayontoni Ghosh – Staff Weaver (Hyderabad, India)
Mutima Imani – Volunteer Weaver (Oakland, California, USA)
Sara El-Sayeh – Committee Volunteer (Cairo, Egypt)
Thao Kin – Committee Volunteer (Hanoi, Viet Nam)

Purpose: To provide a wide range of rich educational and supportive online events for our global community of WTR facilitators, members and friends of the Network. These online events strengthen the web of the WTR community while also reaching beyond its current edges to weave deeper connections with others who are contributing to the Great Turning in diverse and complementary ways.

If you have an interest in transformational online education and experience supporting digital events, please apply to become a volunteer. Someone will connect with you soon.

Committee members:
Frieda Nixdorf – Staff Weaver (Nevada City, California, USA)
Jo delAmor – Staff Weaver (Coolville, Ohio, USA)
Helen Sui – Volunteer Weaver (Shanghai, China)
Shar Malloy – Committee Volunteer (Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia)
Eileen Kelly-Aguirre – Committee Volunteer (New Preston, Connecticut, USA)
Gemma Armstrong – Committee Volunteer (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada)
Doris (Yunzhuo) Zhang – Committee Volunteer (Beijing, China)

APPLY TO BECOME A VOLUNTEER!

Stories from our Volunteers…

“As a volunteer with the WTR Network, I’ve had unforgettable experiences supporting global online workshops, welcoming people online, and contributing to meaningful conversations related to the Work. What I appreciate most about being a part of the volunteer team is the ability to connect with people worldwide in support of the Great Turning and thus contribute to the web of WTR and the web of life.”

– Kelsey

“There is a deep satisfaction that comes when you take action in service of things that you deeply believe in.”

– Georgie

“Supporting the people and mission of The Work That Reconnects Network is a blessing and a gift. Of the many organizations with which I am connected with that support folks in re-framing our perception of who we are and how we live in respectful concert with other humans and the beyond-human world, this is the one whose work most directly aims at the heart of the matter, at the source of both the crises we have triggered and possible generative responses, and I am grateful to be able to lend a hand.”

– Eileen

“I am incredibly grateful for my experience volunteering with the Work That Reconnects as a part of the Communication Committee, which provides support with WTR’s social media presence and online forum. As a part of my time volunteering with Work That Reconnects, I was able to work with the WTR staff to track my hours, which helped me meet a volunteer internship requirement for completing my Master’s graduate degree, and eventually led to researching Work That Reconnects and Embodied Environmental Justice.”

– Kelsey

“Working as a volunteer for the Work that Reconnects international network makes me experience its breadth and breath and helps me to focus with more trust on what I have at hand in my own facilitation. As I find it sometimes difficult to communicate about the Work and promote new offerings in South Africa, where it is still only budding, this constant connection is a great support for me and an honour too. Thank you.”

– Joanna

Our Incredible Team of WTR Network Volunteers!

Alicja Snarska (Poland)

Alicja serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Alicja in her Community Member profile.

Althea Serad (Philippines)

Althea serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Althea in her Community Member profile.

Beth Remmes (Richmond Hill, Georgia, USA)

Beth is a Facilitator for The Work That Reconnects and Gaia Education. She is a member of the Unity Worldwide Ministry Earth Care Team and is the Coastal Outreach and Resiliency Coordinator for Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. She recently completed her MS in Biomimicry from Arizona State University.

Beth serves on the Communications Committee and the Facilitator Support Committee.
Read more about Beth in her Facilitator Member profile.

Bruce Bekker (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)

Bruce began his career as a musician and instrument maker and has served as an arts leader and nonprofit administrator for much of his life. For over thirty years he co-directed the chamber ensemble Philomel Baroque. He has also led development at cultural institutions and at educational organizations serving inner-city students and families. He currently directs development at the Community Arts Center in suburban Philadelphia. Bruce is an avid gardener, reader, hiker, and concert-goer, and a believer in the transformative gifts of communities.

Bruce serves on the Regenerative Finance Committee.
Read more about Bruce in his Community Member profile.

Carolyn Treadway (Lacey, Washington, USA)

Carolyn is a therapist, pastoral counselor, social worker, and life coach, now retired after 60+ years of facilitating change in people’s lives. She “speaks for Earth” as a climate leader and mentor (trained by Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project), anti-nuclear activist, workshop facilitator, writer, and photographer. With Molly Brown she co-edited Held in Love: Life Stories to Inspire Us Through Times of Change. Since 1983 she has been part of the Work That Reconnects, and on the Deep Times Journal editorial board since its inception. Currently she seeks to learn from Indigenous wisdom in addressing “How do we now live?” (now that we know about climate collapse.) She lives in Lacey, Washington, USA.

Carolyn serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Carolyn in her Community Member profile.

Doris (Yunzhuo) Zhang (Beijing, China)

Doris serves on the Webinar & Conversation Cafe Committee.
Read more about Doris in her Community Member profile.

Eileen Kelly-Aguirre (New Preston, Connecticut, USA)

Eileen worked as a teacher and school leader for four decades, having served in both independent schools and study abroad at the high school and college level. In addition to lending grateful support to the Work That Reconnects Network – to whom she is indebted for helping her convert overwhelm and fear into agency – she also volunteers for Bill McKibben’s Third Act. At present she and her partner are taking first steps towards homesteading and working on creating a local climate action and empowerment alliance in her hometown in northwestern Connecticut. She is an aspiring WTR facilitator and is particularly interested in working with high school-aged students.

Eileen serves on the Webinar & Conversation Cafe Committee.
Read more about Eileen in her Community Member profile.

Ellie Domigan (Amsterdam)

Ellie serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Ellie in her Community Member profile.

Gemma Armstrong (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada)

Gemma serves on the Webinar & Conversation Cafe Committee.
Read more about Gemma in her Community Member profile.

Georgie Toner (Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia)

Georgie lives in so-called Australia on unceded Kabi Kabi Country. Georgie was born in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) on unceded Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung land, to settler colonialists and convicts, from Irish, Scottish, and Danish lineages. Georgie’s training draws from the guidance of diverse mentors and lineages of ancestral reverence, ritual, ceremony, and deep nature connection; her Master of Peace and Conflict Studies; deeply embodied knowledge after years in the human rights NGO sector; internal and external journeys through countries such as Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine; and her own experience communing directly with the earth. These diverse but intrinsically connected paths come together with my extensive training in anti-racism and a deep commitment to decolonisation and relationship-building in ethical and culturally respectful ways.

Georgie serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Georgie in her Facilitator Member profile.

Gunter Hamburger (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany)

Gunter lives in Germany with his wife Barbara, with whom he raised two sons, Florian and Christian. Gunter has studied social work and social therapy, was an activist in the German Peace Movement, and first met Joanna Macy during a seminar in deep ecology in 1983. Gunter is co-founder of the German Society for Applied Deep Ecology, and co-founder of the German Holon-Training, a year long training in Deep Ecology and the Work That Reconnects. He studied systems theory at California Institute for Integral Studies, and is experienced in Nonviolent Communication, Open Space processes, and circle training. Gunter and Barbara offer vision quests for youth once a year. Gunter also offers seminars, workshops, conferences in Deep Ecology, Work That Reconnects, Deep Time, and Nuclear Guardianship Project in Germany.

Gunter serves on the Facilitator Support Committee.
Read more about Gunter in his Facilitator Member profile.

Hank Obermayer (Sebastopol, California, USA)

Hank is a spiritual counselor and group process facilitator working on the relationship with self, with community, and with the planet. He helps individuals harvest from vision quests, psychedelic ritual, meditation retreats, and similar work in order to make lasting change using an emphasis on mindfulness and the body. With groups Hank focuses on ecological despair and empowerment, mixing in his theater, group process and counseling background. Hank has over 25 years of leadership related to ecovillages, intentional communities and housing cooperatives, including founding Mariposa Grove, his former home. Through his family he is also deeply involved in German-Jewish reconciliation work. Hank has worked extensively with Joanna Macy and is a Webweaver for the Work That Reconnects Network, is trained in Hakomi, and has an M.A. from CIIS in East-West Psychology.

Hank serves on the Regenerative Finance Committee.
Read more about Hank in his Facilitator Member profile.

Julie Hsieh (Silicon Valley, California, USA)

Julie holds a BS in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Currently Julie works as a web programmer in Silicon Valley. She has interests in user experience, knowledge management, and Chinese translation. Her Work That Reconnects-related experience include presentations on global capitalism, modern addictions and earth as a fractal organism. She also ran a Zombies Anonymous Meetup group on mindless consumption of food, goods and media.

Julie serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Julie in her Community Member profile.

Karina Lutz (Leverett, Massachusetts, USA)

Karina is a writer, editor, teacher, lifelong activist and Work that Reconnects facilitator. She is the author of two books of poetry, Preliminary Visions and Post-Catholic Midrashim. She has taught writing, yoga, energy auditing, global water issues, sustainable systems, and green social ventures. She also knows how to make food, clothing, shelter, community, social change, and love. Her poetry blog is Poetry for the Great Turning.

Karina serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Karina in her Community Member profile.

Kevin Lay (Portland, Oregon, USA)

Kevin has flourished in the last ten years as a composer of mostly vocal and choral works. He also performs classical guitar, writes poetry, and loves to hike. Kevin has studied with Joanna Macy since the early 90’s and has facilitated the Work That Reconnects since 2008. Kevin is also certified to teach Deep Listening as taught by Pauline Oliveros. He is currently president of Cascadia Composers and occasionally dabbles in creating fancy software.

Kevin serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Kevin in his Facilitator Member profile.

Kirsty Heron (York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom)

Kirsty is involved with network building amongst facilitators of the WTR across Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England (W.I.S.E), initiating collaborations, creating spaces for peer support and inspiration, and co-offering sessions to learn about how we might undo oppression and integrating decolonised practices into our facilitation.

Facilitator of the Work That Reconnects since 2012 she’s also a permaculturist and sometime ecological grower and natural builder. All threads of her work are about connecting people with information, ideas and experiences that can shift perspectives and lead to action on behalf of life on Earth. Her current WTR offerings focus on supporting climate justice activists to build courage and resilience.

Kirsty serves on the Facilitators Support Committee.
Read more about Kirsty in her Facilitator Member profile.

Margo van Greta (Ecovillage Findhorn, Scotland)

Originally from the Netherlands, Margo lives and works in the Findhorn Spiritual Community/Ecovillage in Scotland, UK, since 1991. She has been involved a mostly with spiritual and personal development and education. Margo is a Buddhist practitioner and teaches Buddhism. She guides the Transformation Game. She deeply appreciate the Work That Reconnects since meeting Joanna Macy at Findhorn in 2000. It brings various aspects of her together: the social activist, spiritual seeker, Buddhist, feminist, caring for our planet. Margo has facilitated WTR in various settings, online and in person. Her latest project is creating a WTR training.

Margo serves on the Facilitators Support Committee.
Read more about Margo in her Facilitator Member profile.

Martha O’Heir (Grass Valley, California, USA)

Martha serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Martha in her Facilitator Member profile.

Megan Arnold (Berkeley, California, USA)

Megan is a volunteer on the Communications Committee. She is particularly interested in Tibetan Buddhism, shamanism, and wisdom cultures and traditions. She enjoys admiring the plants in her neighborhood, long walks, swimming (especially in the ocean), climbing, and connecting with her friends and family. Currently, she is focused on slowing down her pace of life, shifting from car to bicycle and public transit, and studying Borges.

Megan serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Megan in her Community Member profile.

Molly Brown (Mount Shasta, California, USA)

I’ve been involved in the Work That Reconnects for 30 years and had the great joy of co-authoring Coming Back to Life with Joanna Macy. I offer workshops and retreats in the Work That Reconnects, edit Deep Times: A Journal of the Work That Reconnects, and co-facilitate Spiral Journey: a WTR Facilitator Development Program. I also coach and mentor people by phone, teach on-line courses, and write books and essays on ecopsychology, sustainability, and psychosynthesis. My other books include Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning, and Lighting a Candle: Collected Reflections on a Spiritual Life.

Molly serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Molly in her Facilitator Member profile.

Paula Hendrick (Leicester, Massachusetts, USA)

Paula first encountered Despair and Empowerment work in a 1981 workshop in Massachusetts (USA), and this evolving body of analysis and practice has been foundational to her life ever since. While living in Seattle, WA Paula attended many workshops with Joanna Macy, including Seeds for the Future, a month-long intensive with Joanna and her husband Fran. She co-facilitated the Spiral a number of times during these years, and co-founded Great Turning Northwest. Paula also volunteered as Director of Publications with the New Road Map Foundation, in support of the Voluntary Simplicity Movement.

After returning to her home state of Massachusetts, Paula worked with the regional Interhelp (WTR) Network for many years. She’s grateful to be able to volunteer with the WTR Network and to participate with the Anti-Oppression Resource Group. Paula and her partner Carol Harley met at a workshop with Joanna in 2005.

Paula serves on the Communications Committee.
Read more about Paula in her Community Member profile.

Rebecca Selove (Joelton, Tennessee USA)

Rebecca has worked as a clinical psychologist in community settings and private practice for several decades. Currently she is a public health researcher focused on cancer-related disparities. The foundation for her love of Earth was established during her childhood on her family’s dairy farm in West Virginia. She was blessed to be surrounded by animals, flowers, clouds, creeks and mountains on a daily basis. She read her first Joanna Macy book in the mid-80’s and has been facilitating Work That Reconnects-inspired workshops since the early 90’s. She lives and gardens on a certified organic farm in Tennessee.

Rebecca serves on the Deep Times Journal Committee.
Read more about Rebecca in her Facilitator Member profile.

Sara El-Sayeh (Cairo, Egypt)

Sara serves on the Social Justice Committee.
Read more about Sara in her Community Member profile.

Shar Malloy (Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia)

Shar lives in Australia and spends half her time in Darwin, Northern Territory and the other half of the year on the East Coast of Tasmania. Shar first trained with Joanna Macy in 2001 and has been engaged in community engagement work and activism for over 25 years. Shar is currently the Acting President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and is committed to creating and supporting change which does not recreate the past. Her training in the Work that Reconnects, Nonviolent Communication and being a friend of Nonviolent Global Liberation (NGL) informs her action in the world. Shar can be contacted via her email.

Shar serves on the Webinar and Conversation Cafe Committee.
Read more about Shar in her Facilitator Member profile.

Thao Kin (Hanoi, Viet Nam)

Kin serves on the Social Justice Committee.
Read more about Kin in her Facilitator Member profile.

Committees & Volunteers