Building on knowledge gained in the Foundations program, the Courage & Renewal Practicum invites you to deepen your engagement with the Courage & Renewal® approach and integrate these ways of being more fully in your life and relationships. Alongside a supportive learning community, you’ll gain knowledge and insights on how to bring these ways of being and perceiving more fully into your life, expanding your capacity to influence and transform the communities and institutions you care about.
Through our deeper engagement with the core values, principles and practices in the Practicum, we kindle our ongoing formation and commitment to live as fully as possible out of our own identity and integrity in the many different aspects of our lives, while honoring the same in others.
Program Structure & Content
The Courage & Renewal Practicum is a 3-month program that includes a retreat, small online group sessions called peer learning circles, and an online capstone gathering.
During a 4-day retreat you are invited to take a deeper dive into the Courage & Renewal approach through a focused exploration of its concepts and practices and how they interface with your life and work.
How might you use the Courage & Renewal approach as a lens through which you view the world and your life in it? How might the practices and values of Courage & Renewal meaningfully impact your relationships, communities, and/or workplaces?
Together during the retreat we will delve into questions and insights about:
- Strengthening the connection between our inner and outer lives
- Developing deep listening practices that enable connection with our inner teacher and help us support others in seeking their own clarity
- Recognizing the value and honing the skills of using open, honest questions
- Exploring different modes of reflection that invite new insights
- Living the Courage & Renewal approach as a path towards life-giving liberation, and alternative to cultures of oppression and violence.
- Integrating these practical tools and ways of being that cultivate trustworthy relationships and acknowledge others’ identity and integrity in ways that support their wholeness.
Upon completion of the Practicum retreat, participants will participate in an online Peer Learning Circle facilitated by a member of the leadership team. Peer Learning Circles provide a community of practice to support participants in their on-going learning goals. PLCs allow you to think and reflect more deeply about what it’s been like to bring Courage & Renewal practices and values into your personal and/or professional life. PLCs offer space and time to dig into the practicality of what we focused on during the retreat. Participants can expect to participate in 2-3 PLC gatherings in the couple of months following the retreat.
The Practicum program concludes with an online Closing Gathering in which all of the participants come back together for a final 3-hour session to explore additional concepts and share learnings and insights about what they’re carrying with them moving forward.
Practicum participants will also be invited to join the Practitioner Learning Community – a community of practice for Practicum alumni who wish to continue supporting one another in further learning and growth.
Completion of the Practicum is a prerequisite for application to the Courage & Renewal Facilitator Preparation Program. The Facilitator Preparation Program focuses on creating space for others to engage in these principles and practices. Applications for the Facilitator Preparation Program will be available to those who are interested following the Practicum.
Program Prerequisites
- Completion of the Foundations of the Courage & Renewal Approach Program
- Recommended, but not required: Previous participation in a Circle of Trust® retreat or other Courage & Renewal Facilitator-led program
- Required Reading: A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer
