Learn
How to host a healing circle

Healing Circles Global is not a classroom with teachers and students, experts and novices. It’s a learning community. The only requirements are to bring your soul, commitment, and creativity to the work.

The prerequisites? We all meet them, whether they’re easily accessible or hidden for the time being. They are the life experiences that make us uniquely human and uniquely capable of supporting one another.

Oren Slozberg

Learn how to host a healing circle

We’re delighted to introduce our newly redesigned How to Host a Healing Circle training and invite you to register.

In this training, you’ll learn to hold space in a way that provides others with the health benefits of social connection while also experiencing those benefits for yourself.

Why now?

The US surgeon general recently released an advisory on the health benefits of social connection which, according to the report, is “as essential to our long-term survival as food and water.”

The advantage of healing circles that take place online is that anyone with an internet connection can take part. These circles bring together people who seek meaning and connection as well as those who share a challenging life experience such as loneliness, grieving, racism, aging, and illness. Through online healing circles, we begin to realize how much we have in common with people all over the world.

So far, people from 33 countries have learned how to host a healing circle through this training. Trained hosts derive great meaning through helping their fellow humans and, just like circle participants, feel less lonely and isolated themselves.

What are the course objectives?

In this training, you’ll:

Discover the key concepts and format of a healing circle
Improve your capacity for attentive listening and compassion
Learn how to create a safe space online
Participate in a healing circle
Practice hosting a healing circle

What experience do participants need?

The best experience is to have already participated in a healing circle.

The essential qualities of healing circles hosts include:

the ability to work effectively in small group settings
the knowledge, or at least the sense, that they have the skills to do circle work
the ability to self-regulate in groups so they can share time generously with others
the ability to be comfortable with silence
a fundamental sense of personal humility
a willingness to speak from the heart
a desire to serve

How much does it cost?

Trainings are made possible through the generosity of donors. If you’re able, please “pay it forward” by making a donation to Healing Circles Global.

What’s the goal of this training?

Healing circles help participants experience the powerful benefits of social support by providing a safe space, attentive listening, community, and resources. Our goal is to train people who have a strong and sincere motivation to host healing circles.

We’re looking for compassionate listeners who can bear witness to the suffering and joys of others without thinking they’re responsible for finding a way out of them.

How does training work?

You’ll be part of a small training cohort guided by two experienced mentors and will have an opportunity to get to know your five fellow trainees. Altogether, you’ll participate in four healing circles. You and a partner will co-host one of them so you can put what you’ve learned into practice.

The training takes place on two platforms:

This website, where course materials are located.
Zoom, where your mentors, fellow trainees, and you will facilitate healing circles.

There are four parts to this training:

Introducing the fundamentals of healing circles
Welcome and heart-sharing
Harvest and close
Being of service

Within each part, there are three activities (watching, reading, and writing) to complete on your own before participating in the live, 90-minute Zoom session with your fellow trainees.

Week by week, you’ll acquire tools and gain the confidence to hold space, provide social connection, facilitate healing, and build community

The sequence of your weekly activities is always the same:

Week 1