Islands of Coherence

Islands of Coherence
Growing Place-Based Communities of Support with the Work That Reconnects 

When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.
— Ilya Prigogine 

We are living through a polycrisis — climate breakdown, social fragmentation, and a deepening erosion of meaning. Across the world, people are feeling more isolated, more anxious, and more disconnected from one another and from the Earth. 

People have been using the WTR for decades, helping each other move through grief, fear and overwhelm without collapsing into despair or paralysis and transforming the overwhelm into clarity and collaborative action. Online, the WTR Network has built a global home for this work: a website, an event calendar, and a thriving community of facilitators based all over the world. Now, we’re answering the call to use our global connectivity to root the Work even more deeply in the local communities and ecosystems in which we all live. 

What is Islands of Coherence?

The Islands of Coherence is a co-ordinated, two-year initiative of the WTR Network and our partner organizations to initiate and nourish local, place-based Communities of Support around the world. 

Leveraging the global reach, trusted relationships, and transformational resources we have built over the last ten years, this project will inspire, encourage, and support the formation of local “Islands of Coherence” — gathering places where people can practice the work together, build real relationships of mutual care, and act as catalysts for the Great Turning. 

The future of the global is local — most solutions to our shared crises are hyperlocal, place-based, and built one community at a time. The WTR Network, with facilitator members across Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, the Fertile Crescent, and the Americas, is uniquely positioned to help these islands take root. 

How It Will Unfold 

Phase 1 – Global Online Launch Event 

An online worldwide gathering, in the spirit of our beautiful Gaian Gathering of 2023, to inspire and mobilize facilitators and community members. 

Phase 2 – Fostering Place-Based Communities of Practice

Following the launch, WTR facilitators around the world will organize and sustain their own local, in-person Communities of Support. We anticipate at least 50 Islands of Coherence forming across many countries and regions, supported by a structured online forum, regular check-ins, shared resources, and modest stipends to help facilitators steward these communities over time.

Phase 3 – Trans-local Convening 

As local communities develop within a shared timeframe, the WTR Network will weave together an online “global-local” experience — a synchronized celebration that builds solidarity and connection across the Islands of Coherence. 

Ways to be Involved…

🌀 Volunteer for the Islands of Coherence committee. Volunteers will collaborate with and assist the Project Coordinator with program planning and implementation, fundraising and revenue generation, administrative tasks and outreach.  Apply to become a volunteer here.

🌀 Make a personal donation to support this project using the form below

🌀 Make an introduction between the WTR Network team and potential funders you are connected with. You can share our full funding proposal with the potential funders and send a message to us through our contact form so someone from our team can follow up with you.

🌀 Once the project is underway, there will be opportunities for Facilitator Members to become hosts for local Islands of Coherence – place-based communities of support – and participate in a co-learning and mutual support cohort with other IoC hosts. Stay tuned for more information!