CIRCLE FACILITATION TRAINING

AUTUMN 2024 COHORT

AN IMMERSIVE PROGRAMME WHICH WILL TEACH YOU TO CREATE,
FACILITATE AND SHARE THE HEALING MAGIC OF CIRCLE

Imagine a world where going to Circle is as common and widely accepted as going to a yoga class.

Imagine a world where authenticity, connection and compassion are held above individualism, competition and a fear of BEING your true self. 

Imagine a world where the healing power of sharing stories ripples out from Circles into households, relationships, workplaces, and families, creating a more conscious, connected society. 

Imagine being part of creating this change.

Imagine how YOUR life would change. 

This is the vision.

Will you join us?

PLEASE NOTE:

We will be running two training groups for this programme:

GROUP 1: Thursday at 1pm UK time (8am EST/5am PST)

GROUP 2: Thursday 7pm UK time (2pm EST/11am PST)

Please choose which group you would like to be part of upon booking. We have women from all over the world joining this programme, you can convert UK times to your local timezone here.

You’re in the right place if...

You feel strongly called to facilitate sisterhood and want to make an impact in the world. 

You desire to facilitate groups in a way that feels deeply nourishing, soulful and full of purpose.

You wish to make a contribution to the world and be part of a global movement of women spreading the magic of Circle  

You long to feel empowered and graceful in your leadership, and as a facilitator. 

You want to take a voyage of personal transformation and discovery as you move towards doing this precious work. 

You want a structured, tried and tested training programme to hold your hand and help you to learn within a vibrant, supportive community, so you emerge feeling confident about leading your own spaces. 

IMAGINE How will life feel when…

You are holding Circle regularly and it provides you with community, inspiration, personal growth and a deep sense of purpose. 

You have the knowledge, tools, inner trust and support to create the kind of Circle space you most long for in your own life.

You have a thriving community of women who seek out your Circles for solace, inspiration, joy and growth.

You are part of a global movement making a positive impact as you help to spread the transformative magic of Circle worldwide.

A WORLD-CLASS, CPD-ACCREDITED TRAINING

Our training is accredited by the CPD Certification Service- a mark of quality, rigour and professionalism.

This is a huge step for our mission to take circle mainstream.

Our entire training programme has been assessed in-depth by this prestigious body to check content, leadership and learning methods. It is an honour for such a soul-led, yet practical, course to achieve this world-class recognition.

For those interested in bringing their circle work into more 'traditional' environments, having this recognition will be a huge bonus.

To find out more about the CPD accreditation, please see our FAQs at the bottom of the page.

WELCOME TO THE MOVEMENT...

It takes courage, conviction and confidence to create a thriving Circle.

It is always harder to go it alone.  

Perhaps you’ve felt drawn to holding Circle, but lack the confidence, training and support to take the leap into actually doing it. 

That’s what we are here for. 

We are here to create a movement of facilitators who can share this ancient practice with the modern world…

 And you can be part of it. We are stronger together.

This facilitator training is designed to give you the practical, emotional and spiritual tools to step into Circle leadership and create your very own Circle to share with the world.

You may be experienced in attending women’s circles or you may never have sat in Circle but are brimming with curiosity; this training is designed to support both those who are brand new to circles and those who are looking to deepen their relationship with Circle. The training provides a robust facilitation framework while supporting you to honour your own rhythms and intuitive guidance. 

If you value the power of community and yearn to be part of a powerful network of women, you will love how we ensure that you come away from this training with a group of devoted peer mentors, confidantes and friends. 

This is an opportunity for you to step into your feminine leadership, to become a lighthouse for other women in your community and to take the gentle yet bold step of leading women in Circle.

On this page, you will find lots of information to help you feel into whether this could be the right next step for you - take a moment to let the words sink in and see how they move you.

HOW CIRCLES CHANGED MY LIFE

(Gemma Brady, Founder of SisTer stories)

One of the great mysteries of Circle work is that on the outside, it looks so simple, yet within it, mysterious magic occurs.

For me, that magic has taken so many different forms. 

Developing trust in the unknown. Connecting to a profound sense of sisterhood I hadn’t been able to access before. Working with the power of intuition as a transformative tool - and so much more.

But one of the biggest things for me, was creating space for extraordinary stories to emerge. And, in turn, finding the courage to tell my own. 

I’d always been drawn to creating spaces for people to tell important, tender and vulnerable stories and sought out a career that allowed me to do that. I worked in the television industry for 14 years, creating celebrated content, from BAFTA-winning projects, to holding senior positions on some of the most popular documentary series on TV, all of which had sensitive stories at their heart. 

In that world, you are holding space every day, but your voice is never heard and your face is never seen. 

I became curious about how the kinds of beautiful, tender spaces for storytelling could be transmuted into real world experiences and in 2017, Sister Stories was born in my living room in London. 

It felt vulnerable, daunting, terrifying, even, to offer something like this. Women’s Circles were not something that my immediate community were familiar with, but through the gentle power of conviction and showing up, I was able to create something which over the years has not only had a huge impact on my life, but a huge impact on hundreds of women around me. 

What started as an experiment in seeking to facilitate a space where women could come together and experience the transformative power of being seen and heard has since grown into a movement of women stepping forward to take the same step into holding Circles. 

The personal transformation I’ve experienced as a result of this work is huge. As someone whose voice would shake when speaking in public, someone who would be wracked with nerves before any sort of presentation, someone who actively wanted to hide away, I have stepped into a level of visibility that has transformed my life.

Leading Circle has been the catalyst to an entire life transformation. I have found the courage to do the work my heart truly desires. I have moved to the sea. I have been able to express myself more confidently, articulately and with the type of authenticity I never could have done before. 

And, more than that, I have seen the impact of what taking those first uncomfortable steps into Circle leadership has done for others. Without individuals taking that courageous step to offer Circles to their community, the opportunity for others to experience their life-giving and healing transformation isn’t possible. 

What started as a hobby has become my life commitment - I am dedicating myself to creating a global revolution of space holders showing up, spreading the magic of Circle and allowing its healing, transformative power to create a more connected, compassionate world. 

I’m offering this training to invite you to be a part of it. 

To take those courageous steps into life-changing work. 

Are you feeling the call?

PLEASE NOTE:

We will be running two training groups for this programme:

GROUP 1: Thursday at 1pm UK time (8am EST/5am PST)

GROUP 2: Thursday 7pm UK time (2pm EST/11am PST)

Please choose which group you would like to be part of upon booking. We have women from all over the world joining this programme, you can convert UK times to your local timezone here.

Sister Stories Circle Facilitation Framework

Stepping into circle leadership is a journey of inner and outer transformation. Dazzling in its simplicity, and daunting in its complexity, holding space for a group of women takes skill, compassion and courage.

Our framework combines the crucial aspects of Circle theory, design and facilitation skills with the emotional, energetic and intuitive, ensuring you are not only practically ready to lead Circle, but that you have a brimming emotional toolkit. 

CIRCLE FACILITATION TRAINING

This comprehensive four-month online training means you can join from anywhere in the world. 

With live classes held every two weeks, guest mentors and circles and a community learning space, this programme will mean that you haven’t just learned about the core elements of Circle; you have lived them. 

Our programme means you will have experienced the transformative power of Circle space firsthand through the training - you’ll have felt it in your bones, and integrated it into your heart, so you can take this beautiful work forward full of knowledge, confidence and with the power of community behind you. 

All of our live calls will be recorded and you will be supported by additional Q&A sessions with me to help you with the design of your individual Circle and a library of online learning resources, which you can come back to again and again. 

Because inclusion is a key value, we provide anti-racism training for white women at the outset of the course. We also provide a private and dedicated space for women of colour to gather, share and support their space-holding practice as women of colour.

The course offers you a framework to start from in planning and running your own circles, with plenty of space and capacity for you to develop this model and carefully bring your own unique expression, gifts, interests and individuality to your space-holding.

The invitation is to enter this training with a curious, open heart - so that the group and I can hold space for you to connect to whatever needs to be expressed through you. 

Lay down your insecurities, uncertainties and lack of clarity at our door, step into the glow of the warm fire around which we gather and allow the magic to unfold.

In order for the magic to be created, it is my experience that we need a beautiful, structured container, and this training will lead you through circle facilitation in six carefully designed pillars 

PILLAR 1: Circle Immersion

• The history of Circle - placing our learning in the rich lineage of what has gone before, paying homage to the traditions from which our work has emerged and been sustained. 

• Circle, ritual and ceremony - exploring your relationship to these traditions, developing a deep and personal dialogue with the work. 

• Immersion in the space - experiencing a variety of Circles delivered by our guest mentors, to feel first-hand the importance of individual expression. 

PILLAR 2: THE MISSION

• The vital, radical and beautiful mission of Circle - a guided masterclass to provide strong foundations for your work. 

• Your unique expression - identifying your gifts, interests, passions and desires and how can you start to transmute them into your Circle offering.

• A powerful group session - in which we weave a tapestry of our individual and shared vision for the world, which will act as beautiful inspiration in times when doing the work feels hard. 

PILLAR 3: CORE FACILITATION PRINCIPLES

• The core elements of Circle - a masterclass on why they’re important and how to translate them into practice. 

• Creating agreements - how to create strong group agreements to allow the space to feel secure and allow brave sharing. 

• Defining your scope of practice - ensuring you can bring a professional approach to your Circle work and create clear boundaries around what you are and aren’t qualified to do. 

• The Ethical Circle - your commitment to a code of practice. 

PILLAR 4 : DESIGNING YOUR CIRCLE

• Circle Format - A masterclass in the core Sister Stories format as a foundational pillar on which you can build your own Circle.

• A creative framework - to support you in designing your Circle. 

• Q&A - support to receive feedback and develop your individual Circle format. 

• Practice sessions - in which you can test elements of your format with the group so you can develop clarity and confidence. 

PILLAR 5 : SOULFUL MARKETING & THE BASICS OF BUSINESS

• Connection - How to connect to your ideal client.

• Invitation - How to create clear, soulful and magnetic Circle invitations.

• Inspiration - Creating a visual brand.

• The Energetics of Business Module - Gayle Berry, founder of Blossom & Berry, brings her 20 years of business experience to share with you.

PILLAR 6 : EMBODIED PRACTICE & INTEGRATION

• Nervous System Regulation - Working with nervous system regulation as a tool to support your facilitation practice.

• Trauma-Informed Circle Practice & Module - Tools to support the nervous systems of people in your Circle with guest teacher Claire Rother

• Celebration Ceremony - integrating all you have learned and being celebrated as you walk the path to starting your own Circle.

  As part of the training, you’ll also have access to world-class voice workshops with Amelia Donkor, and Sacred Inclusion training with Eva Glamaris.

PLUS: NEW FOR 2024

In addition to all the support available to you on the live calls and online course, we have added a weekly Processing & Support call, for you to check in, ground and centre yourself, receive additional help, ask advice, share your experiences and really dive into the materials with depth and curiosity.

Guest Teachers

This training is for you if:

• You feel strongly called to facilitate sisterhood and want to make an impact in the world. 

• You are ready to say ‘yes’ to an opportunity that could transform both you and the community you live in.

• You value a supportive, nurturing environment in which to take the leap and grow.

• You feel aligned with our Values and Mission .

• You are not afraid to ‘do the work’ and are committed to taking the action needed to get a successful Circle up and running in your community. 

• You are committed to developing yourself, your feminine leadership and are looking for a space in which to be held while you defy your own expectations of what is possible.

• You have some experience of holding space. What this experience looks like can take many forms. Our current facilitators come from a wide range of backgrounds from yoga teachers and coaches to filmmakers, charity sector workers and corporate backgrounds. 

• You absolutely love the idea of being on a journey of creation, depth, adventure and purpose alongside a group of fabulous women.

• The training is designed for those who are looking to lead circles but is also a healing journey in itself. Women who attended the previous trainings found it was a bigger journey of self-discovery and coming home to themselves. If you are curious about whether the experience is for you and want to hear first-hand what it involves, we can connect you to women who have trained previously. 

This training is NOT for you if:

• You do not thrive in group environments and prefer 1:1 learning. This experience is designed to be enriched by taking part in community and we are looking for women who will actively contribute as well as receive. 

• You are not willing to commit time, energy and resources to training as a facilitator and getting your groups up and running. We will give you all the training and support you need to get started and hold beautiful circles. Your role is then to take this work out into the world and spread the word in your local community. 

• You do not enjoy personal development, working with your own triggers and approaching challenges with curiosity. Holding space for other women is nourishing and rewarding, and it can also uncover new areas of emotional development that we must undertake. 

MEET YOUR MENTORS

I’ve undertaken training with some of the world’s best

mentors & teachers to assist my journey in holding space:

Narrative Therapy training with the Institute of Narrative Therapy

Pause Place Practitioner Training- cultivating love, presence & connection with Katie Abbott

Beautiful You Coaching Academy Training with Julie Parker

Two years of Mentorship with Nisha Moodley, founder of Global Sisterhood Day 

Heartmath Coach Certification with Heartmath Institute UK 

Trauma Informed Space holding training with Katie Kurtz

Sacred Inclusion training with Eva Glamaris

With 14 years of experience as documentary storyteller, I bring a wide range of space holding experience to our training and learning community. 

I am committed to my personal and professional development, infusing all of my teachings with the wisdom I have learned from these great teachers. As a space holder I believe it is my responsibility to engage in supervision and support to ensure I can support those who train with me at a deepend level. 

I take holding inclusive spaces very seriously & am perpetually engaged in anti-racism training and working with my blindspots. 

The deepest intention of my work is to create nourishing learning environments in which the ancient magic of Circle can be passed into the hands of a movement of dedicated facilitators who can take it out into their communities with love, devotion & hope. 

Over the years I have cultivated a reputation as a trusted guide, mentor and offer all my students care, compassion and an approach centred on integrity. 

It is my belief that Circle is a powerful agent for change in the world and I’m here to help you be part of it in a soulful, conscious and responsible way. 

Circle training has reconnected me with my deeply matriarchal family line, and made real the legacy of women’s stories that have been passed down through my ancestors. And now, in my own life, that legacy is being passed on and seeded in my children, my wider family and my community. 

I often say in my circles, that gathering in this way feels like a quiet revolution, a way of holding each other with a compassion and openness that we then take with us from the Circle and out into the world. The ripples of this work are never-ending. And they are vital. 

Every single woman I sit in Circle with says that it has changed their relationships for the better. Many, many of them have told me: “This has done more for me in two sessions than years of therapy.” Three of them have gone on to train in Circle themselves. Lots of them have wept as they reconnected with their divine feminine energy, and shook off a sense of patriarchal stifling. All of them have found that Circle was there to catch them when they fell. 

As it was there to catch me.

Its impact on my life has gone far beyond anything I could have imagined, and I am only at the beginning. The Circle moves ever outwards, ever-increasing, with so much possibility. It is such an honour to hold each new cohort of women as they walk this path together.”

training FORMAT & key info

This training will be held over Zoom, so you can join from anywhere in the world.This training will be held over Zoom, so you can join from anywhere in the world.

Everyone learns in different ways, so this course is made up several elements:

Self-study materials online via Teachable - that you can work through in your own time and come back to again and again.

Core fortnightly live group calls - dates below - which is your chance to gather as a group, learn the ancient and powerful art of circle, ask questions, test out facilitation methods, and much more.

Regular guest mentor sessions and masterclasses - to deepen your knowledge and skillset

Weekly Processing and Support calls - on Mondays, at a choice of two times

Free guest circles - to offer you a chance to be held in circle as much as you need to during the training

One of the unique elements of this training is the strong community it creates. Women that train with Sister Stories tend to form bonds that last for years, so we ask that you enter this training with the intention to commit to the group and attending the live training calls.

AUTUMN 2024

LIVE CALLS: DATES AND TIMES

We will be running two training groups for this programme:

- Thursday at 1pm and Thursday at 7pm -

Please choose which group you would like to be a part of upon booking.

YOUR TIME IS NOW…

It can be daunting to make a decision that requires emotional, spiritual and financial commitment. Yet, these places outside our comfort zone are the spaces where true change happens. 

Sister Stories Facilitation Training can support all areas of your life: it shines a new light on existing relationships, allowing new depths to emerge. It opens doors to new and unexpected connections and friendships. It connects you to something ancient, primal and deeply feminine. Facilitation work can be done alongside a job, as a mother, as a carer, single or in a relationship. 

It is an opportunity to be part of a global network of women who, circle by circle, are bringing more connection, compassion and much-needed real-life community to our planet. You will be supported every step of the way. You will be held by the group. You will receive training at the highest level and feel yourself sink into the essence of your feminine leadership that was there all along. 

This is transformational work. 

We hope you choose to say ‘yes’ to this invitation. We welcome our arms to you...

Come on in…

PAYMENT PLAN OPTIONS

When signing up, we ask that you make an honest assessment of whether it is possible for you to pay in full or over six months. If it is, we trust that you will choose that option, as it is these payments that sustain the delivery of the course and the timely payment of the ten women who work so hard to deliver it. And if nine months is the only option that feels right for you, please choose that option. Thank you.

Where possible, we offer flexible payment plan options so if you feel called to this training but the listed payment plans don’t work for you, please follow your instinct to explore doing the training, book a call and mention this in your booking form; we will do our best to work out an option that makes this feel more accessible.

BURSARY SCHEME

We are delighted to offer 1/4 of our places as full or partial bursary for those who are ready to commit to the training but do not have the financial means to do so. To apply for a bursary place, please click here.

We ask that if applying, you do so because you are in genuine financial need and we will ask you to consider yourself against a number of key criteria.

Lucy Lee Testimonial: Circle Facilitation Training

Want to watch conversations with previous students about their experience of training? Click here.