Overview

None of us are free until all of us are free-overcoming systemic oppression through transformative group work. The Work That Reconnects has helped countless individuals to move through denial and despair into meaningful, collaborative action. This essential guide is ideal for those seeking to deepen this work by addressing systemic racism, injustice, and oppression. Rooted in the deceptively simple premise that none of us are free until all of us are free, Coming Together in the Great Turning represents a decade-long interrogation and expansion of the revolutionary practices of the Work That Reconnects. Powerful contributions from practitioners: Address the false split between environmental and social justice and identify the common roots of human rights abuses and ecological destruction Explore how intersectional systems of oppression manifest in group settings and provide strategies for shifting these dynamics to interconnected systems of support Demonstrate how to move beyond ""-isms"" and identity politics toward true diversity, equity, inclusion, allyship, solidarity, collective liberation, and a ""Just Transition"" Share powerful perspectives, teachings, exercises, and rituals drawn from the practical experience of facilitators worldwide Offer specific guidance for creating safer spaces and expanding cultural competency through anti-oppressive and trauma-informed facilitation. This vital resource is required reading for facilitators and participants, change agents and activists, visionaries, and anyone who feels pain for our world and is committed to catalyzing change for a just and thriving world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Aravinda Ananda ,  Molly Young Brown ,  Kurt A. Kuhwald
Publisher:   New Society Publishers
Imprint:   New Society Publishers
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9781774060131

ISBN 10:   1774060132
Pages:   424
Publication Date:   16 December 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Foreword Preface - Diversity Welcome to Readers Introduction Part I: Context Chapter 1: Updated Overview of the Evolving Work That Reconnects Chapter 2: From Interlocking Systems of Oppression to Interconnected Systems of Support Chapter 3: A Critical History of the Work That Reconnects – Phases of Development Chapter 4: Work That Reconnects Evolving Commitment to Social Justice Over Time Part II: Expanding the Frame, Deepening Awareness, Shifting Patterns of Harm Chapter 5: Expanding the Work That Reconnects with an Undoing Oppression (or Collective Liberation) Commitment Chapter 6: Seeing and Addressing Patterns of Harm Part 1 Chapter 7: Seeing and Addressing Patterns of Harm Part 2 Chapter 8: Queering the Work That Reconnects Part III: Anti-Oppressive Facilitation Chapter 9: Anti-oppressive Facilitation Checklist Chapter 10: Trauma Awareness, Skills, and Approaches to Group Facilitation Chapter 11: Addressing ISMs in Workshop Spaces Part IV:- Cultural Integration Chapter 12: Cultural Integrity Chapter 13: Reconectando Part V: Going Forth in Today's World Chapter 14: Shocks and Slides Chapter 15: The End of the World, for Whom? An Afrofuturist & Afropessimist Counter Perspective on Climate Apocalypse Epilogue Appendices Facilitator Assessment Framework Proposal for Giving and Receiving Feedback About Harm Example of Anti-oppression Informed Community Agreements, Guidelines, Container Acknowledgments

Reviews

For anyone who's been drawn to the beauty and power of the Work That Reconnects, this book is a timely adjunct, providing tools, practices, framing, and facilitation tips to help make the Work more accessible to people of many ages and identities. Given the genius of Joanna's work, it merits all the care, framing, and insight that may be readily accessed in these pages. —Nina Simons, author, and Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Officer, Bioneers I'd place this book next to Coming Back to Life on the shelf, not as a replacement but as a companion that brings the work into this new era with clearer eyes and a wider web. It remembers that forests fall when people are devalued, and that people fall when forests are cut down. It treats liberation not as a metaphor, but as the ground we plant in. —John Seed, founder, Rainforest Information Centre, and long-time facilitator, Deep Ecology and the Work That Reconnects. Brilliant, helpful, and kind. The authors lovingly guide us through difficult truths on the path towards collective liberation. They provide diverse historic, cultural, and practical examples for growing the capacity of the Work That Reconnects to be more effective in creating deeply interconnected, just, and inclusive spaces. This book is a valuable resource for anyone working with groups to co-create a flourishing world for all. —Constance Washburn, Founding Weaver of the Work That Reconnects Network, and Co-director, Spiral Journey Facilitator Programs Coming Together in the Great Turning is an extraordinary, exquisitely articulated manifesto and guidebook for community and cultural transformation. —Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Mentor, and author, Undaunted, Collapsing Consciously, and Savage Grace

Author Information

Aravinda Ananda is a social ecologist and principal lead at Living rEvolution, dedicated to healing, transformation, and intergenerational, interspecies, and intraspecies justice. She has been a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects for nearly 15 years, co-facilitator of the first five Earth Leadership Cohorts (an immersion in the Work That Reconnects for people ages 18-30), a founding weaver (emeritus) of the Work That Reconnects Network, and a lead convenor of the Anti-Oppression Resource Group. Aravinda is also President of the Board of the Interhelp Network, a nonprofit dedicated to liberatory and transformative group work. She and her partner and child are living the rEvolution in Watertown, MA. Molly Young Brown, M.A., M.Div. is a facilitator, teacher, life coach, and writer who draws on the Work That Reconnects and the disciplines of ecopsychology and psychosynthesis in order to support people struggling with feelings of despair and helplessness in the face of political, social, and environmental crises. A close colleague of Joanna Macy's for several decades, she is co-director of the Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program, working toward the Great Turning, decolonization, anti-oppression, and a thriving world for all. She offers personal training and mentoring, and speaks and conducts workshops internationally focusing on self-awareness, transformation, and spiritual awakening rooted in an understanding of the interconnectedness of all life. Molly is the author of 7 books including the two editions of Coming Back to Life and Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning. She lives in Mt. Shasta, CA. Kurt A. Kuhwald is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister (retired), spiritual director, transformational coach, elder circle facilitator, and an activist focused on anti-racism, climate change, and low-wage workers' rights. He spent 23 years as a high school special-education teacher and then trained as a psychotherapist in 1985, after which he worked in community, hospital, and private settings. Kurt has facilitated the Work That Reconnects and has worked with the Anti-Oppression Resource Group to bring oppression, power, and privilege issues into the community of WTR. While engaging in this work in the world, Kurt has honed his capacity to support individuals and groups to walk onto that ground where the intersection of care for the world meets inner liberation. He lives in Oakland, CA.

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