Loving Cohousing ^ Bios ^ Cost ^ Program ^ Registration ^ Schedule 


Keynote

Loving My Community
Jes Gordon
Jes will share her journey of discovering cohousing, contributing to her community as she and her partner raised their child in community, and now continuing to support her community as she relies on them to support her through illness. Jes is an inspiring example of loving her community and relying on her loving community at the same time.

Networking


Session 1
It's Not About The Nail: Empathy in Dialog
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
We will show a brief provocative video and then do role-plays to explore how to get past emotional traffic jams. The focus is on skill development and to understand the dance between empathy and self-expression. 1. listening to understand 2. expressing ourselves to be understood This session is based on the theory and practice of Nonviolent Communication (NVC).
All Work and No Play? No Way!
Shelly Parks
Nurturing member relationships in a developing community takes extra effort during these times. Peg Boettcher, Joyce Harvey-Morgan and Shelly Parks of Skagit Commons, a community under construction in Anacortes, Washington, will share what they've learned about fostering fun and making deeper connections with one another as they prepare to live together. Tips will include how to humanize general meetings, develop fun and engaging "happy hour" topics, and create strategies for meaningful internal communication.
Relating to Neurodivergent People
Crystal Byrd Farmer
Have you ever been annoyed at someone who is disorganized or forget things easily? The person who wants rules followed to the letter or makes a face when they smell strong scents? Neurodivergent people (those with autism, ADHD, and other so-called disorders) live among us, and they are probably just as annoyed at you! In this workshop you'll learn about the characteristics of neurodivergence, important accommodations people may need, and how we all can coexist peacefully in community.
National Cohousing Open House Days: How To Show Your Love Virtually and In Person
Raines Cohen
Co-presenting Alan O'Hashi & Raines Cohen. National Cohousing Open House Days are coming up April 22-23, just two months from now. How can you show your love for your community effectively, online or in person? Come learn from a coordinator of the event and a video production expert. It can be fun and easy to show off the best of your community, and you can even get a wide range of community members involved to spread the load.

Session 2
What can we learn from the Sound Relationship House (Gottman Couples Therapy ) for vibrant lively cohousing communities?
SarahArthurs
A high participation session generating ways to apply the prInciples of The Sound Relationship House from The Gottmann Institute to Cohousing Neighbourhoods.
Planning Virtual or In Person Retreats for a Cohousing Community During A Pandemic
Jennie Lindberg
Sunnyside Village Cohousing, a forming community in Western Washington, has planned and conducted retreats both in person and over Zoom. We will share with you how we set goals, organized the day with pacing and breaks, balancing business with fun, and resources. We will share with you the differences we found between Zoom and in person.
Fostering Connection Through Nervous-system Regulation
Joann Lutz
Recent neuroscience research has shown that our autonomic nervous-system state is very influential in determining how well we can listen, think, respond, and act. If it is balanced, we can function optimally, offering the warmest and most rational and altruistic responses. If it is hyperaroused, in a flight-or-fight mode, or underaroused, in a freeze/shut-down mode, our ability to connect and participate in community can be compromised. Sometimes the dysregulation is subtle, and neither our neighbors, or even ourselves, are aware of it. In this workshop, I will teach autonomic nervous-system basics, and offer some experiential exercises which can help to balance it.
Rocky Corner v. NY Times: Setting The Record Straight with the "Paper of Record" and commenters
Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach
Rocky Corner Cohousing, in Connecticut, has been going through what could be every community's nightmare, just as they were approaching move-in: construction challenges, financial overruns, bank foreclosure, government rule changes and funding delays, all on top of COVID and materials shortages affecting us all. Last week they were profiled on the Sunday New York Times Real Estate section in an article that omitted lots of details and, combined with the over-a-thousand comments practicing Monday-morning quarterbacking, created many wrong impressions. Join us as two members of the group share the reality and how it felt to deal with the challenges, with lessons for other communities in preparation and media management. And let's explore together what this level of attention and energy means for the cohousing movement.

Session 3
I love them, but . . . CANCELLED
Karen Gimnig
CANCELLED DUE TO FAMILY EMERGENCY In community we generally love our neighbors, but we don't always like them. This session will explore the challenges of living with people who are different than we are and some strategies for living together more happily.
How sociocracy supports care, connection and relationships
Dr Pati Beaudoin
A brief introduction to Sociocracy followed by a description of how Sociocracy has contributed to loving community at Kawartha Commons Cohousing. This talk uses various components of Sociocracy, including rounds, check-ins, check-outs, and objections, as examples illustrating both the process of creating a loving community and loving to live in community.
Ecosystems of Love
Lotus Thomas
This session with roots in Deep Ecology, Social Permaculture, Nature Therapy and Transformational Leadership will weave a web of understanding the interconnection between loving self, others, society, and nature. It will honor ancient origins and highlight some of the pioneering species of the Great Turning toward Love like Joanna Macy, Bill Plotkin, Starhawk, Otto Sharmer and more. There will be four elements of this session including an overview of these modalities, anecdotes of how they seed love, related actions people can take, and feedback about how they have or could be integrated into cohousing.
Love in the Age of Covid
Charles Durrett
Author/Architect/movement co-founder Charles Durrett will be sharing insights from his new book Community-Enhanced Design: Cohousing and Other High-Functioning Neighborhoods related to how Cohousing alleviates isolation, especially in light of the pandemic. The talk will discuss previous patterns of social connection and how cohousing communities are adapting to covid, such as greater numbers of people working and studying from home.

Times

PacificMountCentEast
9:0010:0011:0012:00Welcome and Introductions
9:2010:2011:2012:20Keynote
9:5010:5011:5012:50Networking
10:1511:1512;151:15Break
10:2511:2512:251:25Session 1
11:2512:251:252:25Break
11:3512:351:352:35Session 2
12:351:352:353:35Break
12:401:402:403:40Exhibit Hall
1:102:103:104:10Break
1:152:153:154:15Session 3
2:153:154:155:15Closing and Takeaways
2:303:304:305:30Open Discussion
3:004:005:006:00End of Event

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Loving Cohousing ^ Bios ^ Cost ^ Program ^ Registration ^ Schedule