In 2015, as the Work That Reconnects root teacher Joanna Macy was moving toward retirement, a group of long-term facilitators and supporters wished to insure that the Work continued to develop and spread. Their hope was to encourage participation and collaboration among all interested in the Work. An exploration of how living systems function led them to the concept of networks, and the Work That Reconnects Network was born, with the aim of responding to the needs of both facilitators of the Work and interested members of the general public.

At the heart of the Network is everyone with an interest in the Work. All who find their way to this website, our facebook page, a workshop, or a book, article or video, are invited to explore this website and register as friends. Facilitators and supporters of the Work from around the world help make this Network possible. A core group of Network Weavers and staff maintain the infrastructure needed to keep the work available and evolving in response to the needs of these times. 

Our aim is to engage all interested community members in leadership, on the Core team of Network Weavers and/or in various projects of the Network. To explore how you can participate, click here.

You’ll find the Mission, Vision and Values of the Network here. 

Network Weavers

The Core team of Network Weavers, all volunteer, meet monthly and make decisions by consensus. Each Weaver provides leadership to one or more of the projects and interest areas described throughout this website. The core team is supported by other volunteers and by a small team of dedicated paid staff.  We welcome new Weavers from around the world and from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Aravinda Ananda, Facilitator

I am a social ecologist currently finishing my forthcoming book, Living rEvolution. I’ve studied numerous times with Joanna Macy since 2008 and in the past several years have been deepening in my facilitation of the Work That Reconnects. I’ve been a part of many co-facilitation teams including for the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 Earth Leadership Cohorts (an immersion in the Work That Reconnects for young adults) and the 2015 Community Leadership Cohort (an exploration for people interested in establishing or deepening local WTR communities of practice). In spring 2015, I helped to establish an ongoing practice group in the Boston area. I serve as a Council member of Interhelp, a WTR network serving the northeast US, and helped to launch the global Work That Reconnects Network. I’m on the editorial board of the Deep Times Journal. A current passion is learning with other facilitators how to integrate anti-oppression awareness and approaches more deeply into Work That Reconnects facilitation.

Constance Washroom, Facilitator

I am an activist, educator, director and a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects. Since 1994 I have attended many intensives with Joanna Macy.  Along with Molly Brown, co-author of Coming Back to Life: Guide to the Work That Reconnects, and Mutima Imani I have been leading WTR retreats and workshops in Northern California and in 2017 we started the Spiral Journey: a Facilitator Development Program. I am a founding member of the Conscious Elders Network and lead workshops and retreats for Elders in the WTR. I’m a Buddhist practitioner since 1968, a yoga teacher and  a Community Dharma Leader. I have an MA in Theatre and Education with studies in psychodrama and sociodrama and spent years teaching and directing theater. My land-based work was 20 year working in farmland preservation and education on behalf of organic local sustainable food systems. 

Emily Ryan, MSc. Facilitator

I am a transformative educator, facilitator, and activist.  I have undergraduate degrees in Human Ecology and Philosophy and Comparative Religious Studies, and a Masters degree in Holistic Science. I have been a student and practitioner of the Work That Reconnects since 1993, when, at nineteen, I participated in a course that incorporated the Work into its core curriculum. The Work plays a central role in every aspect of my life and work. I am dedicated to offering human beings as many opportunities to awaken their authentic Gaian identity as possible, and I celebrate the ways the Work is singularly positioned to do so in this poignant time.

My service to the Weavers team is to nurture the growth of this network during this vital stage of its development.   

Molly Brown, M.A., M.Div., Facilitator

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.

Paula Hendrick

Paula lives in rural Massachusetts. She volunteers for Interhelp, a WTR network serving the northeast US, where she edits the newsletter and serves on the Tending and Mending the Social Web Action Circle. She has practiced Despair and Empowerment work and the Work That Reconnects since 1981.  

Werner Brandt, Facilitator

I am committed to the mindful use of technology to foster social justice and ecological equality for all species. For over 15 years I have been involved with The Work That Reconnects, and have facilitated the work for men. More recently, I had the opportunity to present the work in China. I am a lover of the earth and hold the intention that our great great grandchildren will be able to look back at our time and see that our work contributed to the Great Turning.

Kathleen Rude, M.S.

I conduct workshops on sustainability, environmental and social change and earth-based spirituality. I am also a shamanic practitioner and ceremonial leader in Earth-based tradition, and an environmental writer/advocate with an M.S. in natural resources. I facilitate Council of All Beings, and one or two-day WTR workshops for adults and high school and college students. Emphasis can be more scientific or spiritual, depending on group. I also offers a 3- and 4-part series, Deepening in the Work That Reconnects.

Our Support Team

Silvia Di Blasio, CCDP WTR Network Coordinator

As a Life and Career Coach and community resilient facilitator, I am committed to the co-creation of spaces and practices that are truly inclusive, compassionate and non-oppressive. Among other things, I am a lifelong student and practitioner of permaculture, ecopsychology and the WTR.

I provide support to the WTR Network and also work as Moodle course creator and eLearning assistant to the Spiral Journey of the WTR Facilitators Development Program run by Constance Washburn, Molly Young Brown and Mutima Imani. I am also the eLearning consultant for the English and Spanish Certificates of Design in Sustainability of Gaia Education, a member of  GEN (Global Ecovillages Network) and a settlement and support counsellor for immigrants and refugees at DIVERSECity.

My vision as a coordinator of the WTR Network is to bring the evolving edge of the Work to all who need it and support the growth of an ever-evolving network of practitioners and facilitators acting as both hospice workers of a collapsing and tremendously broken system and doulas for what’s to come….

Frieda Slavin, MA, WTR Network community coordinator

Frieda has a diverse background including communications, non-profit administration and programming, transformative adult education, mentorship, and yoga. She has a BA in religion in visual culture and a MA in psychology. The thread that underscores all her work is the recognition of the healing and regenerative powers of nature. As a facilitator and practitioner of the Work That Reconnects, she is dedicated to serving the planet and growing the cultural shift of the Great Turning. As a mentor, she empowers individuals to step into their true purpose through greater connection with the natural world.

Jo delAmor, WTR Network coordinator assistant

I am grateful and honored to be able to provide administrative support to the WTR network and its Weavers. I have been facilitating personal and cultural transformation for planetary healing since 2007 in private coaching programs and experiential group work. My work is deeply holistic, incorporating reconnection to self, all our relations, the Earth and the Divine across Deep Time in service of the ones yet to be. I present the WTR in the context of understanding the roles that oppression and colonization have played in creating our current circumstances and with a strong commitment to actively undoing oppression. I completed the global WTR Facilitator Development Program in 2018 facilitated by Molly Brown, Mutima Imani and Constance Washburn.