Active Hope Community Resilience Program 2025-2026

Event Overview

Join the fourth year of this ongoing programme!

• 9 month programme, October 2025 – June 2026
• 2nd Sunday of every month, 10 am – 5:30pm (3rd Sunday in January)
• Takes place IN PERSON on lovely eco-farm in Gort, Co. Galway, Ireland
• Offered on sliding scale; payment plans available
• Includes accountability + practice partners, and apprenticeships (read more below)
• Facilitated by Anna Swisher (+ team)

(*See dates listed below)

This is a 9-month immersive program that is designed to:

• Build a strong and consistent Community of Practice, that enables us to face the crises and pain of our world, and take action on its behalf
• Support local action, collaboration, and community building, leading to stronger and more resilient local networks
• Address our concerns and equip ourselves to respond to local + global crises with resilience and creativity
• Facilitate and move towards life-sustaining community action
• Give our heads a break and get into our bodies more!

“The Active Hope programme with Anna is one of the most transformative courses I have ever undertaken…and a lot of fun! I felt that I emerged from the course with a sense of clarity and purpose for what my role in The Great Turning is.” -Paul, 2023 participant

This program acknowledges that our world–and we–are in multiple levels of global and local crises, and asks together: What shall we do about it? How then, shall we live?

Together over the span of 9 months, we will meet one Sunday a month, to spend the day together building community, addressing our concerns, evolving ourselves and our approaches, cultivating resilience and creativity, and inspiring + supporting each other to take collaborative action within our own communities. The program is capped at 15 people.

This program will weave together practices from Active Hope and the Work That Reconnects, as well as incorporating a bit of dance & movement. NO DANCE EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY to participate! This is guided, free movement accessible to all body types and physical abilities.

Active Hope/The Work That Reconnects is a set of tools and practices that helps us address our pain for the world, and discover new and inspiring ways to do something about it. We use dance to give our brains a break and build resilience in our bodies, not to mention, it’s great craic! and helps us to laugh, relax, let go, stomp our feet, and act a fool! Movement + dance will encompass roughly 15% of our time together.

“It’s hard to know where to start in describing all that this programme has given me, my husband (also on the programme), and (indirectly) our children, wider community and workplaces… so much! This past 9 months has been an incredibly rich learning and practice space in navigating life. We all need this. This programme has offered me deep reconnection. And with that came healing, more meaningful relationships, adaptability, new skills, deep joy, and a fresh relationship with myself, my body and my gifts which I can share for the healing of our beautiful world. As a professional life coach, I have participated in many programmes, and Anna’s Community Resilience programme has been the most transformative.“ -Roisin, 2023 participant + apprentice

MEETING DATES: Sundays, 10am – 5:30pm

-12th October

-9th November

-14th December

-18th January

-8th February

-8th March

-12th April

-10th May

-14th June

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This program is ideal for people who are looking for sustainable ways to engage with the world, and play a role in doing something about the planetary crises we collectively face. Participants have often described our days together as “a visit to the well” to rejuvenate, and strengthen and inspire them to return to the world with fresh eyes, renewed spirit, and more clarity about what’s important and how to take right action.

You may be someone who is new to the Work That Reconnects (WTR), and is trying to figure out how to navigate our current local and global situations; maybe you are simply trying to figure out how to face the enormity of the mess we are in, and keep going. Perhaps you are already familiar with the WTR, and you want to explore it more deeply, and/or apply it towards taking action in your community. Maybe you are a burnt out activist in need of a regular visit to the “well” of rejuvenation. All are welcome.

In terms of the dance/movement, everyone is welcome, of all physical abilities and/or limitations. Even it dancing makes you nervous or uncomfortable. The way you move is always up to you; you are in complete control of your own body and your own needs for comfort.

If you have questions about whether this program is for you, please reach out to Anna.

“A special and rare experience; We formed connection, found purpose and built resilience. Space to laugh dance and dream together about a future world, this course truly embodied the WTR. The nine months renewed gratitude, allowed hope to rekindle and a new narrative to emerge. The perfect antidote to ‘Business As Usual’ in a broken world.” –Marie, 2023 participant

APPRENTICESHIP:

This year we offer two apprenticeship spots. The apprenticeship programme is intended for people with experience of the WTR, who wish to work towards facilitating, and/or to incorporate the WTR into work they are already doing. Apprenticeships include participation in the program, as well as individual and group support to develop your capacity as a facilitator. The apprenticeship is participant-centered, meaning that each apprentice brings their own goals and intentions, and we work together to support each person in ways that work for them. You must have experience with the WTR to be eligible for apprenticeship. TO APPLY FOR AN APPRENTICE POSITION, PLEASE EMAIL ANNA (AnnaSwisherIreland@gmail.com.)

The program also includes Accountability + Practice Partners. Throughout the 9-months, each person will have partners with whom you will connect in between our group sessions, to support your own personal reflection and action steps. You will be provided with formats for these meetings at first, based around the WTR format; partnerships will change throughout the program so that natural supportive connections have a chance to develop organically. Small groups with shared interests ay also develop organically, and will be supported.

Partnerships/groups can take place according to your own schedule, whatever you have time for. (A minimum of one hour a month will be necessary for your partner meeting.)

You do not need to know what you want to do to make a difference in the world, in order to participate in this program!