Joel Regehr
Soul Work – Non Violent Communication – Ecotherapy – Consulting – Training – Green Woodworking
A Path to Soul
We live in a time where separation from nature/earth, from soul and community shapes much of our experience. Yet, each of us is needed in these times. You already have inside you the potential for the unique possibilities of what you have been called to be. Just as the acorn holds within it the pattern of the oak tree it will become.
I provide individual training and support in ecotherapy, non violent communication and grief work. I also provide consultation and training to organisations and groups in collaborative decision making and supportive housing design. I am also a professional green woodworker specializing in spoon carving, cups, carved boxes, cutting boards, stools and custom shelves.
I am based in Toronto and available in person in the Greater Toronto area or virtually. Please contact me if you’d like to work together or to learn more about the work that I do. I offer a free initial exploratory call for us to assess whether working together would be a good fit.
“Let me put in a nutshell what we may so far cautiously attribute to the acorn theory. It claims that each life is formed by its unique image, an image that is the essence of that life and calls it to a destiny. As the force of fate, this image acts as a personal daimon, an accompanying guide who remembers your calling.”
James Hillman, The Soul’s Code
Areas of work
Ecotherapy
Ecotherapy is a practice that includes our relationship with the earth as part of our healing process. It is an ecologically focussed therapy where nature, and the more than human world, are the healing force. Some well known ecotherapy practices include Forest bathing and Walk and Talk therapy. I offer both of these approaches as well as nature based ritual practices and nature based Rites of Passage work. A key part of this practice is supporting you to explore your Ecological Self, which is a way of experiencing Self as being not limited only to your ego or physical human form, but connected or interconnected with the wider web of life.
Grief Work
Grief work, and our individual and collective capacity to grieve fully is a crucial call of these times. I use Francis Weller’s and Holly Truhlar’s 6 Gates of Grief to identify the full range of grief we experience. Through teaching and coaching I support people to process grief individually, in family or through leading grief rituals in community.
Spoon Carving and Woodworking
I am a spoon carver and green woodworker. I carve eating and serving spoons. Wooden spoons have a lightness and textural quality that is beautiful. Wooden spoons are great for morning granola or soup. In addition to spoons I make carved wooden boxes and containers, cutting boards, stools, floating shelves and bookcases. Some premade items are for sale and new work can be ordered through email. I teach spoon carving in individual sessions or to groups.
If you are interested get in touch!
Non Violent Communication and Mediation
NVC is a simple yet powerful approach that can transform our relationship to conflict. By drawing out the essential and non controversial needs alive in those who are in dialogue or in conflict, we can begin to create a space for being heard and seen, which can lead to more creative strategies that meet the needs of everyone involved. I provide training in NVC as well as coaching and mediation for individuals, couples, families and community groups who are navigating painful conflict.
Men’s Work
I support men individually and in group sessions in their healing journey. As men we often have a better idea of what we shouldn’t be than of what we could aspire to be or what a healthy model of masculinity could look like for us. When men struggle it can often show up through explosive anger and controlling behaviour, emotional withdrawal, risky behaviour, difficulty concentrating, addiction and escapist behaviour. Through coaching and ecotherapy practices that can include talk sessions as well as work outside we move beyond blame and judgement with empathy to connect to soul, our emotions, our bodies and our nervous system. Through this practice there is a potential for healing and becoming more rooted in the sacred masculine, a masculinity that is relationally and interbeing oriented, that is creative, life-sustaining and life-enhancing.
Teaching, Facilitation and Consulting
I consult with organizations and businesses interested in supporting better team work, and processes that lead to more effective results. I consult with organizations around supportive housing models and supportive housing design. I can also support strategic decision making processes or project specific decision making processes that lead to outcomes with high rates of success and satisfaction due to the level of shared understanding, participation, ownership and accountability in the process.
Types of Work and Rates
Below are examples of sessions, workshops, trainings and classes that I provide on a regular basis. I work virtually and in person. If you are looking for something not listed below, please contact me. I enjoy opportunities to work collaboratively to create meaningful sessions, trainings or classes.
Individual Session
$60-$100 per session
✓ Ecotherapy session
✓ Nonviolent communication support session
✓ Grief support session
✓ Attuning to your soul’s calling
✓ Carving/Craft work as an Ecotherapy session
Group workshop or Training
Please see listings of offerings or contact me to book group workshops/trainings
✓ Introduction to Non Violent Communication
✓Consensus decision making that’s effective
✓ Restorative Circle Facilitation
✓ Loving, Dying and Letting Go
✓ Community Grief Ritual
Woodworking Classes
$50/group; $80 individual
✓ One on One spooncarving class
✓ Group (up to 10) spooncarving classes
✓ making small boxes and containers
✓ chip carving and decorative symbols
✓ Make a stool from a log
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense.”
— Rumi
Joel Regehr 