About the Center for Courage & Renewal

Good work is done with heart as well as knowledge and skill, done with a depth of commitment that brings integrity and courage to the workplace. But workplace culture can make it risky to reveal our hearts. So we hide them – and sometimes lose them. By supporting teachers, medical professionals, clergy and others who want to reclaim their hearts, we bring new life to them, their work, and the people they serve.

Parker J. Palmer

The mission of the Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) is to nurture personal and professional integrity and the courage to act on it.

We do this by:

  • Helping people who wish to live and work more wholeheartedly renew themselves, reclaim their vocational vitality, and deepen their professional practice.
  • Supporting these people in becoming forces for positive change in their workplaces, professions, and communities, as well as in the lives of the people they serve.
  • Contributing to the growing national conversation about reclaiming integrity and courage in professional and public life.

The Center helps foster personal and professional renewal through supporting retreats and programs that offer the time and space to slow down and reflect on life and work. The retreats – based in the Circle of Trust® approach -- are often called Courage to Teach® or Courage to Lead® and are led by skilled facilitators and make use of poetry and stories, solitude, reflection, and deep listening.

In addition to offering Circle of Trust retreats nationally, we prepare Courage & Renewal Facilitators through our Facilitator Preparation Program who offer retreats in their local communities. 

The Center for Courage & Renewal is a 501 (c)(3) educational nonprofit organization. We accept charitable donations to further our work.  View our most recent annual report here.


The Center for Courage & Renewal admits participants of any race, color, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities and does not discriminate in administration of its programs, admissions policies, scholarships and/or financial assistance.