Dear Facilitators,
It has been a little longer than usual since our last facilitation newsletter and this one, but for good reasons. We wished to wait until we hosted our first ever 5-day in-person facilitation and community weaving training for 20 climate leaders and ecosystem builders in Europe to share some insights into that learning journey and explore the topic of Nature facilitation.
Climate anxiety as a daily reality
The Possibilists Report 2025 warns that “82.1% of changemakers are very of extremely worried that climate change threatens people and the planet, and 53.8% say these feelings affect their daily lives”.
It continues, “These levels of concern are higher than those reported in comparable international studies, even among younger age cohorts. This persistent emotional toll highlights how acutely young changemakers feel the impact of the climate crisis and its consequences. In practice, this means that many are living in a near-constant state of anxiety, an experience with serious implications for their long-term health and wellbeing, particularly given that these individuals are already at high risk of burnout.”
These findings strengthened our commitment to climate action and pushed us to launch an Ecosystem Builder programme for climate leaders in Europe, supported by Fondazione Cariplo culminating in a 5-day in-person facilitation and community weaving training.
How did Nature show up in the training?
The training team (Esther Grossman, Greta Rossi, and Katerina Chantzi) intentionally looked at Nature for inspiration and integrated it throughout the training in a variety of ways, such as…
Location
The training took place at Casa del Parco Adamello, a regenerated space at 1100mt immersed in the Adamello mountain nature reserve which hosts Italy’s largest glacier. The picture below is the view participants woke up to every day.
Land acknowledgment
At the very start of the training, participants learned a bit about the land welcoming them, with its history and legacy. A few days later, they also had the opportunity to engage with three locals to find out more about village’s anti-fascist history and ancient connection to Nature.
Bioinspiration
Nature inspired the learning journey metaphor, crafted around the wheel of the year, aligning the four seasons of Winter, Autumn, Summer, and Spring, with the four directions of North, West, South, and East, and the four elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
Each day and each activity called in a specific energy, helping participants create a safer and brave container for their unlearning and relearning journey. An example of this is the story-telling and story-listening activity participants engaged in at the start of the training, which involved them creating a river (using elements from Nature and natural materials) to visualise their facilitation journey thus far.
Grieving the future
Participants were also invited to take part in a ritual, an Earth Mandala, to feel the intimate union between themselves, others, and Nature. To feel the pain they carry for Mother Earth. To re-enchant their world with wonder, beauty, and joy. And to renew their commitment to this work from a place of abundance and regeneration.
Because facilitation is so much more than the ‘doing’ – it’s about the ‘being’. How can we touch other people’s lives if we’re not willing to be touched ourselves? We are aware that this kind of rituals is in the stretch zone for most changemakers, even in the climate action ecosystem, so we are even more thankful for the trust that participants put in the trainers to engage in this activity.
Inviting participants to contribute
Finally, the trainers encouraged participants to come up with other ways of taking inspiration from and integrating Nature throughout the week. An example of this is the gorgeous Nature altar that some of them created to be the centrepiece of our closing circle.
What did participants say about it?
We are very grateful for the extremely positive and reassuring feedback, and even more so for the constructive feedback we received, which directly informs how we continue to evolve the design and execution of our trainings. Here are some of buds we’re nurturing:
- Earth Mandala. For some participants, this ritual didn’t resonate as powerfully so we will think of adjustments to make in the future.
- Facilitation competencies. The one-liner descriptions for the competencies could be made sharper and simpler to avoid confusion so we’re going back to the drawing board!
- Buddy groups. Some wished for even more ‘facilitation-tasks’ for the buddy groups assigned to help the trainers on each day, which is fabulous!
***
Join our next practice call on Tuesday, 28 October 2025 at 4:00–5:00pm GMT+1 to share the ways in which you take inspiration from and integrate Nature in your facilitation, as well as learn from others on their best practices. The call will take place on Zoom (link here), and you can add it to your calendar here.