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

In September it will be 30 years since Robin and Skye offered their first ‘Advanced Permaculture Creative Teachers Facilitation Course’ as a result of many people asking them how they managed to present a whole 2 week Permaculture Design Course without using lecturing and other non-participatory learning methods. The pair spent the next 12 years or so supporting people to facilitate learning rather than ‘teach as an expert’ and published ‘The Manual for Teaching Permaculture Creatively’ in 1995 to address people’s requests for written documentation of their approach to education.

Since the early 2000’s Robin has evolved the bones of this early work with Skye into a Learning methodology called ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ and offered it to a broad audience from trained teachers, NVC Practitioners, CD workers through to Art therapists, Healers, Genders workers and also corporate people.

View a related post to see some recent testimonials.

You can help Robin Celebrate 30 years of dedicated work by supporting her Patreon Platform. This is designed to receives funds to produce the book series which documents many of the tools and wisdom underlying the work. Here’s a link to Robin’s Patreon

The Crystal Waters Community Cooperative hosts PDC’s in the village, traditionally once a year, but now twice a year, in Spring and in Autumn.

Robin has hosted, programmed and coordinated the presenter’s team and the catering for the last two courses as well as presenting the majority of sessions. Many other Crystal Waters and Local presenters join her to form a dynamic teaching and facilitation team, including Max Lindegger, Annaliese Hordern, Conor Cran, Jess Steele, Richard Mochelle, Nigel Paratt and several other guest presenters.

The course features many practical examples of Permaculture, hands on sessions, Crystal Waters and local permaculture garden tours, theory sessions and a culminating hands-on design exercise that brings all the learning from the intensive two week program to an exciting climax.

Dates for the Spring course are 28th August to 11th September

All information is on the website here

and have a look at the FaceBook Event here

“A Practical, interesting and creatively inspiring course – I learned more applicable skills here than I did in a University Curriculum Design Course!”

Jana Sacco – Canada 2019

Director of Terrawisdom Centre and Starfish Synergy Consulting.

“I came into the course feeling a bit bored and uninspired by my work. I am leaving feeling totally re-energised and excited about the possibilities to apply what I have learnt. I now feel a clear sense of how I can continue to be more and more effective as a facilitator in a healing environment”.

Clare Beverly – Crystal Waters 2020

Mental Health Worker

“This course taught me not only how to respond to the learning needs of the group participants but gave me tools to accelerate and enhance my own learning process”

Alexander Hugh Frazer – Canada 2019

Permaculture Educator and Landscape Designer

“Robin is a national treasure and powerful teacher and elder. Her pioneering work is a quiet revolution in education, her Dynamic Groups training a jewel of empowering, creative tools and experience. If you’re a human interested in other humans, you need to do this course”.

Lee Trew – Crystal Waters 2019

Counsellor, Psychotherapist and co-founder of Bluegum Bush Craft

Robin and Erin are receiving great feedback from the Social Permaculture Weekends they’ve been running for the last few years.
It has seemed like a wise decision to offer a second workshop for the year in October on the 8th and 9th given the extent of interest and encouragement.

Once again ‘Social Permaculture – for Times of Change’ will be the theme and be explored through offing many creative processes, engauging sessions, immersion in the content in practical ways and an abundance of resources.
Email Robin to express interest or to book

In modern times we seem to have lost the age old tradition of supporting our young people to make the transition from boyhood or girlhood or young personhood into young adulthood.

Virtually all indigenous cultures have Rites of Passage imbedded in their way of life and use ceremony, challenge, storytelling and wisdom sharing as key elements to support the change. Often the young people are witnessed and celebrated as they return to community after an experience in nature, away from daily life and distractions.

In recent decades in Australia we have had the Pathways to Manhood and Pathways to Womanhood which in Queensland has now evolved into Journeys to Manhood and Journeys into Womanhood. Powerhouse Programs is the host and organizer and a skilled and dedicated team lead two camps a year for the boys and the girls program has begun and is finding its natural flow.

Robin is one of the two Program Managers for the Women’s part of the boys program within the Journeys to Manhood camp and has witnessed hundreds of families benefit from their involvement since she first attended as a Mum with her Son and his ‘Uncle’ some 14 years ago.

The boys are taken away into the bush for five days by their fathers (or step fathers, mentors, uncles etc) and about 20 awesome men, including Leaders of the different aspects of the camp, Elders, Staff, Volunteers and Young Men who have been through the camp and return to help.
They go as boys and return to their community, family and friends with their head up, shoulders back and a sense of pride and confidence in themselves. It’s something to be felt and seen and brings hope to our culture and world, judging from the very positive feedback received from the Families.
See the website here

Delvin Solkinson’s next awesome publication will be a mega extension of the popular Permaculture Design Deck. This new edition will feature many new cards by Robin Clayfield, Graham Bell and Susan Weed. Robin has contributed heroically to the new edition of this creative resource deck, including sharing a new feature framework that she unpacks in her upcoming book called the ‘Vision Tree’.

The Permaculture Design Deck, now 20 years in the making, recently rewritten at sacred places on Delvin and Grace’s Irish honeymoon last September has gone to print at last!

You can download the 2018 edition for free or support the initiative by pre-ordering a deck. Here’s the Link.