Workshop on Dynamic Facilitation
and the Wisdom Council Process
In nature, division is not destruction, it’s creation.
A single cell divides to multiply life. Seeds split open to release forests. Rivers branch to nourish valleys. Everywhere in the living world, division serves growth, evolution, and the emergence of higher forms of organization.
But the kind of division we see in today’s society, political polarization, media outrage, and cultural fragmentation, is of a different nature. It doesn’t evolve life; it erodes it.
This is divisiveness, not division. It tears at the connective tissue of community, feeding on fear and mistrust. Instead of leading to new life, it leads to exhaustion, cynicism, and retreat.
Nature offers another way: transformation through tension.
When differences are held in a living system with enough energy, care, and openness, something new can emerge, a higher level of order, wisdom, and coherence. That’s exactly what Dynamic Facilitation and Wisdom Councils are designed to do.
Details about the Workshop:
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Where: Highland Lake Cove Retreat Center, 34 Lake Cove Rd, Flat Rock, NC 28731
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When:
Thursday, October 30- Saturday, November 1st, 2025
Times:
Thursday 9-5 PM
Friday 9-3 PM
Saturday, 9-5 PM
Workshop Price:
$325
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Who Should Take this Seminar
Anyone wanting to better address challenging, persistent problems in our communities and organizations. The breakthrough approaches taught at this seminar are used by business leaders, community leaders, organizers, elected officials, facilitators, counselors, therapists, and trainers.
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Dynamic Facilitation (DF):
An approach designed by Jim Rough to uncover group wisdom by processes that result in deep, meaningful, and uncontentious conversations. The process builds consensus on difficult topics that have previously divided groups. (For more info: https://www.wisedemocracy.org/). The experiential format offers opportunities for significant personal growth and group growth as well.
What People are saying about Dynamic Facilitation:
“… Dynamic Facilitation Seminar teaches the most fluid, powerful form of consensus process I know, which also happens to be key to the Wisdom Council, the most powerful democratic innovation I know.” Tom Atlee, author of The Tao of Democracy and Empowering Public Wisdom.
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Citizen Wisdom Councils:
A practical application of Dynamic Facilitation (DF) with a proven track record in addressing challenging community level problems.
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Ordinary citizens, chosen at random, use DF to address a particular community issue for local government councils to consider and implement. They then present their ideas to the community through community wide listening sessions. In two Austrian states, Saltzburg and Vorarlberg, these councils were so successful at addressing challenging issues that Citizen Wisdom Councils are written into their state constitutions.
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Workshop leader:
Corrina McFarlane serves on the board of The Center for Wise Democracy. She champions the Dynamic Facilitation model in a variety of settings including industry, schools, and training seminars, a role which extends to senior associate at London-based Change That Matters. She works closely with Europeans who have used the model extensively.
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Certified in Conflict Resolution, she has served in her community on the Santa Cruz Probation Department's Restorative Justice board for first time offenders (a nationally acclaimed initiative).Program Coordinator, Wise Democracy Santa Cruz County, CA.
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Text Ruth Backstrom at (919) 282-2323 with questions about scholarships and lodging options.
Sponsors: The workshop is sponsored by The Center for Wise Democracy in collaboration with Highland Lake Cove Retreat Center and a team of facilitators and activists interested in catalyzing community change hubs. Ruth Backstrom, author of Igniting a Bold New Democracy, is a member of that team.