Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning Dynamic Courses, Books, Resources and Tours for Healthy Groups, People and Culture with Robin Clayfield

ONGO supports people to learn elements of NVC, especially empathy and deep listening, exploring needs and feelings and working together and with oneself to practice healthful communication and a more Zen way of living our daily lives.

These are particularly good skills to have when being on Boards, Committees, in business teams or being in any kind of relationship.

It involves working through a beautifully written book called ‘ONGO: Everyday nonviolence’ by Catherine Cadden, Jesse Wiens with illustrations by Kate Raffin. There is one group meeting per week, one meeting with a ‘Buddy’ per week and some personal practices to do each week on 5 of the days, though many of these take only a short time and some take some focus and time.

I found the journey very valuable, especially the practice of empathy when in communication with another.

There is an ONGO group planning to start at Crystal Waters on Tuesday 30th April and will run for 12 week each Tuesday night.

Anyone can start their own ONGO group, you just need the book to guide the process. May you feel courageous enough to gather some friends and community and start one, for everyone’s best good and personal ongoing mental and emotional resilience.

Robin is excited to be involved with the organisation that is putting on a Nonviolent Communication (NVC) Retreat for people who share, facilitate and practice NVC.

It begins on Monday afternoon and runs till Friday morning from 22nd to 26th July.

There will be three full days of gathering, workshops, sharing and practice, with quite a goodly amount of the program potentially being facilitated using Open Space Technology. There will also be some preset workshops, group times, meals and free space for activities, relaxing and adventuring on Bribie Island, Queensland, where the Retreat is being held.

This isn’t a place for learning NVC as a first time encounter, rather, for people how use NVC to develop and share more.

Have a look at the website here

If you have a 12 to 16 year old daughter or granddaughter, niece, friend or neighbor you may like to know details of our 2024 Journey into Womanhood Camp.

The camp dates are Tues July 2nd through to Sat July 6th and the venue is Wild Mountain which is near Rathdowney (Scenic Rim region). It is an amazing spot and perfect for our needs.
More details and tickets are available via the link below. We have a super saving of over 25% (full price is $2,500) if you commit before the 3rd April.

Visit the Journey into Womanhood – Powerhouse Programs website here 

All families will benefit from this positive, powerful and unique experience.

Journey into Womanhood creates and acknowledges the girl-into-woman shift ‘from competition to co-operation’ and enables families to build a new foundation for their future. As you know this is a real-life game-changer!

If you can’t attend, please share this information or visit our facebook event here and spread the word for us – a like/love/comment is always appreciated. 

Journey to Manhood (‘J2M’) is a program that dives deeply into the real issues facing families with teenage boys today. Many families have benefited from the powerful experience of father and son spending 5 days in the bush with other men and boys (13-16yrs). This is precious technology-free time to do something memorable for your family. Mothers are very much a part of this program too, at community departure and welcoming home ceremonies.

All families benefit from this positive, powerful and unique experience. Journey to Manhood creates and acknowledges the boy-to-man shift ‘from dependence into service’ and enables families to build a new foundation for their future. This is a real-life game-changer!

The September camp runs from 24th to 28th September

The link to the website is here

There’s a magical and nourishing event that happens monthly in Maleny called the ‘Maleny Seed and Harvest Swap’.

Robin was invited to be a guest speaker after the swap session during one gathering last year and has been going regularly since then to the swap.

It’s the most awesome system. People bring anything they have surplus or to swap from their gardens, lay it out on the tables, then at 9am, everyone wanders around and takes what they want or need. More people come in later, place things down and the gathering continues.

People bring produce, plants, cuttings, flowers, eggs, honey, dried herbs, seeds of course and you never know what else.

Robin brings potted edible plants, bunches of greens from the garden, surplus produce, most recently chillies and passionfruit, dried herbs like Perilla, Horsetail, Peppermint and seeds that are in abuncance.

Her presentation on the first occasion was about Perennial and Self Seeding Plants for an Abundant Permaculture Garden. Dom Tati came to be her helper and drew some delightful pictures of plants and flowers for the Species Lists she wrote up for people to photograph. The lists were just of current plants being harvested in her garden at that time of year.

On the 27^th of this month the people who go to both the Seed and Harvest Swap and the Maleny PermaBlitz will be coming on a 3 hour tour to Robin’s garden. Please feel welcome to come along. Meeting in the Crystal Waters Village area at 9.45 to carpool into the Lot.

Robin and Wronka met nearly 30 years ago when Wronka applied to study Pedagogy for three months with Robin and Skye at Crystal Waters as part of her University studies. She come from Germany and participated and helped with the ‘Advanced Permaculture Creative Teachers Facilitation Course’ and the Permaculture Courses that they were running.

In 1998 she returned the favour and hosted Robin and Skye in North Germany and organized the Creative Facilitators course for them to offer there, as well as touring them all around the Permaculture places in North Germany, including all kinds of wonderful inner Urban communities and gardens in Berlin.
More recently she attended Robin’s ‘Wise Women’s Weekend Retreat’ way up in the mountains in Switzerland as a birthday present to herself. She then drove Robin and helper Kym Chi to her home in a little electric car to the Lakes area and hosted them both beautifully.

Now, living in Switzerland and with a fantastic partner and grow up family, they all made the decision to spend a year travelling the world and exploring EcoVillages, Communities and great places and cultures.
Of course she brought her family to Crystal Waters and stay with Robin’s and friends in the garden at Kutamullamee (Lot 58). Here’s a photo of them all in the garden after they completed three weeks volunteering for the Build for Woodford Folk Festival.

A passionate and skilled group of 18 people from India, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Solomon Islands plus two University Professors (Kristen from UQ and Jagjit from Monash and India) and two student interns participated in a specially designed 3 day tour of places of interest in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in mid December 2023.

Robin hosted the tour group with Raven’s help covering logistics and most admin tasks.

The program included beginning in Maleny with an Acknowledgement of Country, Lunch at an Indian restaurant and a presentation by Assistant Manager of 44 year old Maple St Co operative, a wonderful member owned food health food store. The afternoon completed with some shopping time and a tour of the Co ops, Collectives and points of interest around Maleny then a bus ride to Crystal Waters Permaculture Ecovillage and dinner with Yoav from ‘Good Food Vibes’ on the Deck at Crystal Waters.

Participants stayed over the two nights at Crystal Waters in the EcoPark which stretched to accommodate everyone.

The second day was a tour of Crystal Waters during the morning and a two hour interactive Permaculture learning session at the EcoCentre during the afternoon.

The last day’s program included at tour of Barung Land Care’s Seed Forest, plantings at Unity Waters’ Maleny Sewage Treatment Plant – Upgrade Disposal Forest & Tertiary Wetland and the new Barung Native Plant Nursery. This was of special interest to some of the participants who specialized or had needs for sewerage treatment solutions in their home regions.

The last component of the tour was a visit and guided tour of Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, a remnant rainforest with views over the Glasshouse Mountains, a Rainforest Discovery Centre and a Café where everyone had lunch before heading back to Brisbane on the bus.

A great time was had by all, many new friendships forged and the feedback was very complimentary and encouraging of this type of program.