“With CGA and GROW, you are helping organizers and organizations to rediscover the heartbeat, or forgotten core in the heart of organizing, which is deep care for each other and love for our communities.”
Francis Calpotura
Join Us. Stay Connected.
Welcome to the Center for Grounded Action
When communities are in crisis, we step forward. When polarization and reactivity are driving us apart, and geo-political conflicts are dividing us, we step forward. When internal organizational conflicts are on the rise, we step forward. We give people a way to come together, to move forward together with positive action. We bring the human connection element to global tensions. We partner with you. We provide essential skill building so that you and your group can be more effective, resilient, relationally intelligent, and successful. We support organizers, leaders, every day people, and organizations:
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We empower you and your team with new skills in communication and conflict resolution
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We help your group get unstuck
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We move communities from conflict to connection and understanding
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We bring people together across differences, to move forward together
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We see new possibilities, even when things are tense, and create a new way of coming together.
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Right NOW, we are offering free Grounded Resilience trainings for federal workers who have lost their jobs, and staff who have been impacted by the cuts to programs - offered at no cost. Join us. Register here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/znf83r2
What We Do
Grounded Resilience Training
We empower you and your team to have greater impact. The Grounded Resilience Training teaches easy to implement skills in relational intelligence and resilience, so that you can have the greatest impact. Right now, we are offering free Resilience workshops for staff impacted by the cuts to programs.
Resources
The UN identified worldwide Sustainable Development Goals, but then realized that people and organizations first need inner development in order to be able to create sustainable development, hence the emergence of Inner Development Goals. We are collaborating with the IDG Boston group as it explores this new thinking. https://innerdevelopmentgoals.org/. Listen to a Podcast interview with CGA founder Jen Wofford on the IDG Revolution podcast with Max Klau: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/idgrevolution/episodes/Episode-11-Jen-Wofford-on-Outer-and-Inner-Change-e30lg41
Internal Family Systems works with the different parts we have inside and with our inherent Self leadership. IFS is a profound and yet easy to access model which we draw on in to help people work with reactive and defensive parts, and other parts that might be ready for help, and integrate with Self leadership. We are also honored to partner with the IFS Foundation and it's Director Toufic Hakim in our shared pursuit of bringing healing to the world. https://www.foundationifs.org/. Dick Schwartz the founder of IFS has said he is ultra supportive of the work we are doing to take IFS beyond therapy and into community and public spaces. https://ifs-institute.com/.
We offer several models of our Dialogues Across Divisions. If you'll sign up to get connected, we'll gladly share the models and offer guidance and advice. We also are available to support your community or group with a facilitated Dialogue. Before beginning any dialogue, the key is to create a clear, strong structure which creates a container for strong feelings and strong personalities. When the structure and container is clear, and people are given new skills for how to manage their own inner reactive feelings (which may likely happen), and new skills for how to respond with validation or empathy even when they disagree, they are then ready to speak. We have given prompts for each round of dialogue that help to keep people focused on their feelings, needs, concerns, and the impact on their lives, rather than on their political positioning. When we can hear another person’s concerns, feelings, worries, story, and needs, we can relate to someone who holds different views far more easily with empathy.
Nonviolent Communication Method (NVC) is a remarkable, powerful, very simple and profound method, developed by Marshall Rosenberg. Simply, NVC helps us communicate to each other without labeling, judging, or evaluating, and quickly learn how to address and express our Needs, and other people's needs at the root of connection. Marshall's book is called Nonviolent Communication.
We are people with bodies, we experience life through our bodies and sensations. We also experience and hold stress in our bodies. There are simple and powerful somatic practices to release tension and complete the stress response cycle. Much has been written about how the body holds trauma and stress. We suggest Peter Levine's work of Somatic Experiencing and his book Waking the Tiger. We offer Somatic Practices, in which we are trained, from Yoga, to Qi Gong, to Somatic Imagery and experiencing methods in our Grounded Resilience Training. https://www.somaticexperiencing.com.
Where Inner Change
Meets Outer Transformation
When communities are in conflict, when division and polarization are driving us apart, when internal tensions have organizations stymied, the Center for Grounded Action can help. We partner with you, and we bring essential new skill-building so that you and your group can be more resilient, effective, relationally intelligent and successful! We support organizers, leaders, every day people, and organizations to create a world guided by the values of connection, unity, compassion, progress, and love.
