A space for adults to learn and grow together
Winter 2025 workshop schedule
Monday classes
Moving Forward with Integrity: A Workshop for Men
What are your values as a man? Are you aligned with your purpose and power? Are you ready to step into your life more fully? Workshop participants will explore these questions and more as they examine where they are getting stuck in their relationships, in their careers, and in themselves. From there - and in community - they will reconnect with their integrity and authenticity. Instead of living a mile wide and an inch deep, we may start living an inch wide and a mile deep. Facilitator: Jesse Carter
Class starts Jan 13th and meets for six consecutive Mondays from 4 - 5:45 pm (Jan 13, Jan 20, Jan 27, Feb 3, Feb 10, Feb 17) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Rising Strong: The Reckoning, The Rumble, The Revolution!
If we are brave enough, often enough, we will fall. This is a highly experiential workshop about what it takes to get back up and transform the way we live, love, and lead. Join us for a deep dive into Dr. Brené Brown’s groundbreaking research on the Rising Strong™ process: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process to create nothing short of a revolution in our lives. Rest assured that you will leave this workshop with highly adaptive skills for immediate use. Facilitator: Jonathan Wilson
Class starts Jan 13th and meets for six consecutive Mondays from 6 - 7:45 pm (Jan 13, Jan 20, Jan 27, Feb 3, Feb 10, Feb 17) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Tuesday classes
A Career Incubator: Chart Your Path Forward
This experiential workshop is designed for people who are interested in making positive change in their work lives, whether that means advancing in their current role, pursuing a new career path, starting their own venture, or imagining what work might look like after “retirement”. Each participant brings and shares their vision or goal (half-baked ideas are most welcome), and through a process of skillful inquiry, rapid experimentation, and iteration, students deepen their understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and possibilities ahead of them as they articulate a clear path forward. Facilitator: Adam Lang
Class starts Jan 14th and meets for six consecutive Tuesdays from 4 - 5:45 pm (Jan 14, Jan 21, Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, Feb 18) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Economics, Policy, and Investment for Humans
Join us for an interactive exploration of the ways in which economic principles and policies shape our everyday lives and the world in which we live. Workshop participants will learn how human behavior, markets, natural resources, and technology interact to produce real-world economic outcomes and consequences. They will then use this understanding to generate and discuss big questions about how we – as individuals and as citizens of the world – might allocate our time and resources more effectively. Facilitator: Adam Lang
Class starts Jan 14th and meets for six consecutive Tuesdays from 6 - 7:45 pm (Jan 14, Jan 21, Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, Feb 18) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Wednesday classes
Build & Lead a Collaborative and Inspiring Work Culture
Every community has a particular culture, whether intended or not: ways of being, doing, communicating, and navigating conflict. Reflect on your own work or team culture. Are you an instrumental leader, a frustrated observer, a cautious sideliner? Whatever your role, whatever your particular team culture, this series of workshops will teach you simple skills to address counterproductive behaviors and foster positive, sustainable ways of being and doing. Facilitator: Charlie Noyes
Class starts Jan 15th and meets for six consecutive Wednesdays from 4 - 5:45 pm (Jan 15, Jan 22, Jan 29, Feb 5, Feb 12, Feb 19) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Intercultural Communication: Engaging with Differences
This workshop is designed for anyone who interacts with people from different cultural backgrounds in professional and social contexts. Participants will explore concepts, theories, and models that have pragmatic utility for communicating effectively across cultural differences with an increased understanding of how those differences affect social interactions. Together, we will engage in a cultural self-awareness journey and observe the ways in which culture affects interpersonal communication processes at all levels, with a focus on acknowledging and reducing misunderstandings and conflicts. Facilitator: Abdoulaye Fall
Class starts Jan 15th and meets for six consecutive Wednesdays from 6 - 7:45 pm (Jan 15, Jan 22, Jan 29, Feb 5, Feb 12, Feb 19) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Thursday classes
Roots and Words: Exploring our Place in Nature
Literature gives us new ways to listen to and engage with the landscapes around us, and it offers us a chance to feel grounded and connected in a world that is increasingly online. This course invites you to explore how various writers have celebrated, questioned, and shaped our understanding of nature. Join us for thoughtful discussions, shared reflections, and guided readings of texts that inspire us to see our surroundings – and ourselves – with fresh eyes. No prior experience with literature is needed, just a curiosity and a willingness to listen and share. Facilitator: Dathalinn O’Dea
Class starts Jan 16th and meets for six consecutive Thursdays from 5 - 6:45 pm (Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13, Feb 20) - $350
Registration is now closed for this workshop.
Team
Adam Lang founded THRIVE in 2024, and he is a life-long learner with professional experience at start-up companies, in international development, and in health-care research and innovation. Adam most recently taught economics, public policy, and human-centered design at The Hotchkiss School, and he is passionate about building expansive and exciting learning environments.
Rebecca Bloomfield has professional experience in farming and education, and she is currently a photographer and a facilitator for communications workshops, including classes on active listening and nonviolent communication. Rebecca enjoys weaving the threads of storytelling, listening, and human connection into her work. She has lived in Falls Village for 10 years and loves being surrounded by natural beauty.
Jesse Carter is a Gestalt Psychotherapist based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts who specializes in men’s issues, relationships, addiction recovery, and attachment wounds. Jesse leads meditations on Insight Timer, and is completing his certification in equine and wilderness psychotherapy. Jesse has been heavily involved in men’s work in the Berkshires and in Boulder, Colorado.
Abdoulaye Fall is a native of Senegal, West Africa. He teaches Intercultural Communication and French at The Hotchkiss School. Abdoulaye is a graduate of the Institute for Communication & Leadership in Lucerne, Switzerland, and he currently serves as member of the 2024 CQ Fellows Program.
Charlie Noyes has been an experiential educator for almost 40 years. He taught visual art at The Hotchkiss School for most of his career, concurrently working with adults running workshops on experiential teaching methodology, leadership development and community building. Now retired, he continues to facilitate similar trainings with a wide range of adult groups.
Dathalinn O’Dea has over 20 years' experience teaching literature and writing at the high school and college levels. Like Adam, she considers herself a life-long learner. As a teacher, she is dedicated to creating engaging, reflective spaces for readers of all backgrounds to connect with texts and each other.
Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh has been taking people into the forests and onto the farm for the past 35 years to help people connect to themselves, each other and the world around them. He is the co-founder of the Adamah Farm and Fellowship at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, and he has taught at Berkshire Community College and the Wild Rockies Field Institute.
Jonathan Wilson maintains an independent psychotherapy practice in Lakeville, CT. He is also a member of the faculty at the Stanley H. King Institute, a consultant for the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education, and a Certified Daring Way™ and Rising Strong™ Facilitator. Jonathan presents Dr. Brené Brown’s groundbreaking research on courage, vulnerability, worthiness, shame, and resilience with varied audiences across the country.
Mission and values
We are building a community of teachers and learners who experience a greater sense of belonging, mastery, and purpose as a result of their engagement with THRIVE.
All THRIVE workshops are open and welcoming to everyone in our community, and they are facilitated by experienced local educators and practitioners.
Facilitators strive to create learning environments in which all participants feel supported to push their edges so that they may learn and grow together.
Workshop information for participants
All THRIVE classes meet in-person at 96 Main Street in North Canaan, Connecticut on the first floor of the “Wheeler & Taylor” building. Participants may park on the street or in the parking lot in the back, which is accessible by a narrow driveway next to the building.
We value distraction-free presence in our classroom settings and therefore request that all participants leave their digital devices (phones, iPads, laptops, smart watches, etc.) at home or in their cars prior to coming to class.
THRIVE provides each participant with a notebook and a writing utensil, as well as light refreshments during each class meeting. Participants are only required to bring their interest and energy.