Jan 19-21, 2007
Eighty-six percent of adults in America today would chose making the world a better place rather than making a lot of money. Melissa Everett is a skillful counselor and workshop guide who helps this generous majority make the choice that will bring out their strengths and inner resources and provide the key to future happiness and satisfaction.
Career transitions are opportunities for expansion. Whether you’re restless, unemployed, or just hoping for more from life, you can change your life. It is possible to face economic vulnerability without caving in. Melissa has developed a program that combines high quality, practical, career planning with a spiritual, social, and ecological vision.
Five strengths distinguish this method of career development from others. 1) It’s rooted in an awareness that living a responsible life is compatible with earning a living. 2) It links personal growth with career redirection; 3) It identifies and refines your personal vision, leading directly to commitment and action; 4) It enlivens the practical aspects of the job search, using humor and expressive exercises; and 5) it teaches skills of community building, so you can maintain momentum after the workshop.
We’ll use spirit, humor, and a refusal to accept obstacles as insurmountable. Part of the workshop will be presentation and discussion; much more will be directly applying the principles we’ll learn. We’ll speak in council, work in small groups, make some art,
take solo walks to let ideas percolate, name what’s worth struggling for, wrestle with what’s “realistic,” and shift focus from the immediate to the long term. You’ll leave the workshop with a concrete plan and a commitment to a set of self generated action steps for realizing your vision.
Melissa Everett, Ph.D. is a career consultant who helps global citizens to make a living and a life. She will be publishing a 2007 edition of Making a Living While Making a Difference: A Guide to Creating Careers with a Conscience, which was listed as one of “twenty books that can change the world” by Common Ground Magazine. As Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley, she has helped to create a regional organization that promotes sustainable livelihoods at the community scale. She also teaches leadership and community service learning as an adjunct associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and we’re delighted to welcome her back.