The work of protecting Oregon’s wild places and wildlife can be joyful, but it can also be heavy. In a time of climate crisis, political turmoil, and relentless attacks on our democracy and the natural world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or burned out. To build a movement that lasts, we must care for the people who make that movement possible: Ourselves and each other!
Join us for Active Hope for Wild Ones (Self Care for Activists), a virtual workshop designed to help us reconnect to purpose, community, and resilience. Together, we’ll slow down, check in on our mental and emotional well-being, and share tools to stay grounded and hopeful, no matter what challenges we face.
In this session, guest speaker Zoë Hanley PhD, a wildlife ecologist who also facilitates workshops and retreats on emotional resilience, will introduce the concepts of eco-grief and climate anxiety, naming the very real emotional impacts of witnessing environmental loss. Through gentle, small-group practices inspired by The Work That Reconnects framework, we’ll honor our pain for the world, acknowledge our shared grief, and rediscover the strength that comes from community care.
Whether you’re new to activism or a seasoned advocate, this workshop offers a chance to pause, breathe, and refill your cup. You’ll leave with renewed energy, a deeper sense of connection, and practical tools for sustaining your work for the long haul.
A resilient movement starts with resilient people. Join us on November 21st to nurture ourselves as we nurture the planet!
About Zoë Hanley (Presenter):
Zoë Hanley, PhD, is a wildlife ecologist steeped in systems theory and living in alignment with nature and life-sustaining community. In 2017, Zoe came upon Widening Circles: A Memoir by Joanna Macy and thereafter attended her first Work That Reconnects Workshop, which provided the healing balm of honest connection and practices to metabolize eco-grief that she had been looking for. Zoë now offers emotional resilience workshops and retreats online and at her home in the deep woods of the Pacific Northwest, USA, where nature’s rhythm’s call us back to our true selves and remind us of our role in the Great Turning. Her workshops draw in large part from Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects and deep ecology, using experiential and interactive processes, ritual, art, bird language and wildlife tracking. Zoë serves as a member of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Revive Working Group.
