You can be part of The Great Turning.
Contribute to our Scholarship Fund
*All donations made through the links provided here will be directed to support Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program participants in need of scholarships.
Spiral Journey Scholarship Fund
We—the Spiral Journey team: Rukmini, ian, Sara, Constance, Molly and me (Yulia)—are really excited to begin the 10th cohort of the SJ Facilitator Development Program.
We are starting this new cohort from a place of deep commitment and from a financial deficit of $25,000. Each of us on the team feels this deep commitment toward our work and we decided a few weeks ago to go ahead with it, and to keep the start date as it had been announced, despite the unprecedented amount of scholarship requests. We are reaching many people in countries from which we have not previously seen any (or many) participants. We are elated about this development. Being able to bring WTR facilitation skills into countries like Nepal and Uganda means a lot to us.
But this deficit also means that currently we will not be able to adequately compensate ourselves for the facilitation work. In the same fashion that we offer our programs on sliding scales adapted to our participants’ economic realities, we pay ourselves on sliding scales based on the revenue. If we are not able to pay ourselves a set minimum required to sustain ourselves in our lives, the program will not be sustainable in the long-run.
We are asking for your support, so that we can continue this important work.
In the September 2026 weekly SJ newsletter, we will be highlighting some of the projects and initiatives that will directly benefit from the facilitation skills our participants will be developing over the coming 8 months.
Through the organizations and programs across our beautiful Earth in which our participants are already working, the Work That Reconnects will be able to touch lives and local communities. These local and grassroots projects include: permaculture initiatives, decolonial peacebuilding efforts, indigenous sacred land sites programs, ancestral story-telling, ecoversities, seed sovereignty programs, youth-programs including arts, crafts and land-based skills, and many more, in India, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Uganda, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, and Scotland.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity the Spiral Journey Facilitators Course bursary gave me. It enabled me to participate in the learning, which greatly enriched my abilities as a facilitator, as well as deeper personal transformation aspect gaining more confidence and insights through taking part. The experience also connected me with like minded people all over the world.”
Mary Duckett
Wales
People from all over the world are dedicating their time, work and attention to the Great Turning. In these times of economic, social and environmental uncertainty more applicants are requesting financial help and we see the importance of this work – especially in these times we’re living.
Ways you can help:
- Donate what you can – ANY amount large or small will be greatly appreciated!
- Share our request with people in your world who might be interested in giving.
- If you are a WTR facilitator and would like to donate your time – you can do so through our 3-hour mini spiral offerings, from which all proceeds will go to the SJ scholarship fund. Learn more and sign up here.
- Participate in our upcoming 3-hour mini spirals fundraisers and share widely with your social networks.
“When I found out about the Work That Reconnects, its philosophy and methods…I fell in love with it, with WTR. What I have been doing since I finished the training (this past spring) is putting myself in the service of change and activism. Practically, I often facilitate groups of climate activists, using a lot of WTR, asking for a minimum salary or whatever they can offer in exchange. Also, I am working on putting WTR in the service of feminism and its fights because it is so weak in this region, offering connection chances to circles of women and sharing together what next steps we can take to make the situation better for us and all women and all beings, especially the most oppressed ones. I dream of working with WTR with children and young people, to keep strong the connection we all are born with and get lost with time.”
Sara Bigi
Italy
How to donate:
Click the button below and select from the options: one-time or monthly. You can select a suggested amount or enter your own.
On the following page, you may choose to add a tip to Zeffy for the service. Zeffy is free and no bank-charges will be deducted from your donation.
This scholarship fund will support emerging facilitators of the Work That Reconnects who want to participate in the Spiral Journey 7-month Facilitator Development Program with limited access to sufficient funds.
We prioritize scholarships for People of the Global Majority and people who have been oppressed by the dominant socio-economic system.
Spiral Journey is a project of Gaia Passages, as 501(c)3 non-profit. EIN: 82-1688828
“Today, I come to you with a very personal story, my own, as a Spiral Journey facilitator. I have come to the Spiral Journey facilitator training as a mother of two who was in a (very) toxic marriage that was toxic for all parties. I was at a point in my life where:
– I did not have a job and it wasn’t possible for me to have one given my circumstances
– I didn’t have access to circles of support that I could fall back on – Access to finances was one of the main ways my actions and interactions were being controlled
– I was allowed very little and hence could see very little of the outside world
I applied for a scholarship and hoped for the best. I did my interview with Molly as I waited for my child to finish judo practice, wearing my infant, while talking to Molly on my phone. We agreed on a certain contribution and a few months into the program my circumstances changed (again) – it took a lot of commitment and belief in my own abilities, and a lot of encouragement from the facilitators, for me to make it through the program. And I did go through the program; I did my practicum with my now moving baby who was a few months older. It was the very beginning of the genocide on Gaza. We didn’t know the silence would last this long, but to see the world silent as people who look like me were being bombed—people whose names sound like mine and those of my kids and families, who spoke the same language-–this would take anyone into despair. I did what I could to bring the Work that Reconnects to my community.
Fast forward a few more months and here I am, writing this to you as a Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program team member. And this would have not been possible had it not been for the scholarship that I had received – which, in itself, was made possible through the scholarship fund.
So if you’re a returning donor, thank you and if you’re a first time donor, I want to let you know that it goes a long way, and thank you.”
– I did not have a job and it wasn’t possible for me to have one given my circumstances
– I didn’t have access to circles of support that I could fall back on – Access to finances was one of the main ways my actions and interactions were being controlled
– I was allowed very little and hence could see very little of the outside world
I applied for a scholarship and hoped for the best. I did my interview with Molly as I waited for my child to finish judo practice, wearing my infant, while talking to Molly on my phone. We agreed on a certain contribution and a few months into the program my circumstances changed (again) – it took a lot of commitment and belief in my own abilities, and a lot of encouragement from the facilitators, for me to make it through the program. And I did go through the program; I did my practicum with my now moving baby who was a few months older. It was the very beginning of the genocide on Gaza. We didn’t know the silence would last this long, but to see the world silent as people who look like me were being bombed—people whose names sound like mine and those of my kids and families, who spoke the same language-–this would take anyone into despair. I did what I could to bring the Work that Reconnects to my community.
Fast forward a few more months and here I am, writing this to you as a Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program team member. And this would have not been possible had it not been for the scholarship that I had received – which, in itself, was made possible through the scholarship fund.
So if you’re a returning donor, thank you and if you’re a first time donor, I want to let you know that it goes a long way, and thank you.”
Sara El-Sayeh
Egypt