My goal is to inspire, inform, and equip through engaging workshops and presentations.
(door in Roussillon, France)
Engaging/Interactive
In all my workshops/presentations, I strive to engage the participants with a blend of instruction, discussion, and experiential activities. Clients/students and/or practitioners will have the opportunity not only to explore the issues and techniques involved but also to personally participate in the process itself and to critically reflect upon their own life/career journey.
Flexibile/Adaptable
Whether your need is the delivery of one of my established workshops/presentations or the design and delivery of a new workshop/presentation especially for your needs, I have something for you. This flexibility extends even to the need for presenting online. Because of the pandemic, I have been presenting both presentations and workshops online. If you need something online, I can work with you to design an effective online experience for your needs.
All of my workshops/presentations can adapted as needed according to the following factors:
Workshop Participants
Most of my workshops are targeted for life/career practitioners who would like to learn more about working not only with mainstream people but also more diverse people. I also present to a broad spectrum of client/student groups such as Indigenous peoples, immigrants and refugees, the disabled, inmates, and others who have life/career journeys different from mainstream people. Over the years, I have found that many people who have had more typical mainstream life/career journeys have also benefited from a hope-filled, story approach.
Purpose of the Workshop
The purpose of a workshop/presentation may vary according to whether it is intended for life/career practitioners or for different client/people groups. A foundational goal I have in all I do is to inspire people with hope to help them to find motivation to keep going and keep trying. This usually involves some balance of information, story, or skill building. I believe it is important that participants learn not just what they need to know but also how they can put that information into practical life practise.
Length
My most usually workshop is some form of Crafting a Better Story through Hope-Filled Engagement, which usually covers 4 days or more, but it can be adapted to a 1- to 3-day workshop or to a shorter presentation as necessary. My other workshops/presentations can adapted as needed into the contexts of workshops of varying length (1/2 to 2 days), conference presentations (30 min, 1 hour, or more), or keynote presentations. Obviously the longer the workshop/presentation, the more time there is for discussion, interaction, and skill-building activities. Once topics are chosen, we can determine what format will work best for you and talk about details.
Topics
The following is a list of descriptions of most common workshops and presentations that Gray facilitates. Most of these revolve around the foundational concepts of Hope-Filled Engagement (including Guiding Circles), CareerCraft, and A Better Story; workshops and presentations usually overview these concepts or focus in on specific areas touched by these concepts. As mentioned above, my longer workshops typically combine many of these topics and common activities. For example, my most frequent workshop these days is Crafting a Better Story through Hope-Filled Engagement which combines material from Hope-Filled Engagement, Guiding Circles, and Crafting a Better Story. I usually facilitate this over 2 to 4 days and cover several of the topics below.
If there are other specific topics people are interested in, I can develop something specifically for your needs.
NOTE: I hope in the months ahead to present more detail on what is involved in these different workshops.
Hope-Filled Engagement
(1/2-day to 4-day workshop, presentation)
How do we create an environment of hope for people, even for those who feel hopeless? How do we equip people to walk their life/career paths with dignity and value no matter their challenges?
Based on my book Hope-Filled Engagement, this workshop is a person-centered, solution-focused, hope-focused approach, utilizing tools and processes that combine a wholistic worldview (including creativity, spirituality, connectedness, values, and life balance) with sound career concepts. It expands on the concepts and activities originally set forth in the Guiding Circles workbooks. The concept of practical hope is specially applied to enabling people to discover who they are and what they are capable of.
Guiding Circles
(1/2-day to 4-day workshop, presentation)
The Guiding Circle workbooks by Poehnell, Amundson, and McCormick, were originally developed from an Indigenous perspective integrated with effective career strategies. This workshop sets forth culturally appropriate concepts and activities that are more accessible to Indigenous peoples and their values. Key values include spirituality, connectedness, community, enculturated humility, wholeness, and life balance. Such values are reflected in practical activities relating to knowing who people are and what they can do.
A Better Story
(1/2-day to 4-day workshop, presentation)
Crafting a better story is an essential skill in today’s chaotic world of life and work. As we interact with people, we are not just dealing with them and their circumstances but also with their inner stories (conscious or unconscious) through which they are viewing their world. Because of their life circumstances, the story that far too many people follow is one of hopelessness, one that implies that there is no point in really trying. We may not be able to change people’s life circumstances but we can assist them to be hopeful and intentional about the life-long process of crafting a story of hope, a story that can sustain and guide them as they explore all their potential on their life/career journey.
This workshop sets forth material that I am currently developing while writing a new book entitled A Better Story.
CareerCraft
(1/2-day to 1-day workshop, presentation)
CareerCraft is a new paradigm for a new career reality. This new reality, described by such terms as “chaos” and “positive uncertainty,” calls for new approaches that are more holistic, flexible, and creative. This practical workshop will explore the value of looking at career issues from the perspective of “craft”—the “art of career” more than just the “management of career.” This approach emphasizes the synergism of creativity, skill and practicality as essential components in “crafting” one’s career.
Imagination & Career
(1/2-day to 1-day workshop, presentation)
Often people struggle with career issues because they are suffering a “crisis of imagination.” This session will explore imagination as a powerful innate ability essential in effective personal and career thinking and decision making. Imagination enables us to experience (see, hear, taste, etc.) things in our minds. It is this ability that makes imagination a key to making sense of our lives and to see creative possibilities for our future. This workshop will present practical ways to help people understand this ability, to nurture it, and then, to use it effectively in crafting their lives and careers. A special feature of this workshop will be the opportunity for the participants to learn and apply creativity and imagination techniques in a fun atmosphere.
Diversity Improv
(1/2-day to 1-day workshop, presentation)
Diversity is an increasing reality in our work as life/career practitioners. As a result, it is often necessary not only to know our materials but also to know how to adapt them so that they can be used effectively with diverse peoples. This can seem daunting, but there is hope: we have all been hardwired to improv. This workshop will explore how you can cultivate the adaptive expertise needed to improvise language, tools, and processes as needed.
The Unsung Potential of Weakness
(1/2-day workshop, presentation)
Give “weakness” a chance. An over emphasis on a strength-based career approach need not imply that only “strengths” matter and that “weakness” is equated with failure and cannot lead to success. Such a perspective may cause some to give up prematurely. What is a more holistic perspective of “weakness”? Are not “strengths” and “weaknesses” relative to different values and perspectives? If a “strength” can become a “weakness”, why can’t a “weakness” become a strength”?
Mattering
(1/2-day, presentation)
Mattering is integral to hope. People who don’t feel they matter are like invisible people - invisible to themselves and to others. If they see little in their lives that makes any difference in their world, what’s the point of even trying? How can we assist these invisible people to become visible again (to us, to themselves, and then to their world)? We can start by looking from different perspectives than those that made them feel invisible in the first place. These approaches are meant for use with diverse client populations.
Resiliency
(1/2-day, presentation)
In a world characterized by ongoing, chaotic, and often disruptive change, resiliency is one of the essentials for thriving in the ups and downs of one’s life/career journey. This session will explore how to cultivate resiliency as an innate capacity people already have, which will enable them to respond effectively rather than merely react to life situations. It will suggest ways to cultivate resiliency by embracing different metaphors for our life/career and by reconnecting with how we have been hardwired to face the ups and downs of life.
Career Integrity
(presentation)
Career integrity involves people discovering their sense of identity and remaining true to that identity. This is a becoming increasingly difficult for many in today’s uncertain and chaotic labour market, especially for those who struggle for a sense of personal value when they must accept jobs that are less than ideal or when they can’t find meaningful employment at all. Career integrity involves finding and maintaining a life/career balance in response to the challenge of increasing values clutter in today’s pluralistic world. This presentation will explore how to keep three key interdependent themes of Career Integrity (self-discovery, values, and hope) in perspective as we work with others and ourselves.
Above the Noise: Making Our Voices Heard
(presentation)
Clients often come to us with a cacophony of voices in their heads and we are challenged to speak with a voice that can be heard above all that noise. This session will unpack reasons why some clients tune out. We will explore the possibility of engaging clients in such a way that we get the attention of people and that all the noise won’t drown out our voice.
Discover Uncharted Entrepreneur Potential
(1/2-day workshop, presentation)
What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur? How do you tell what an entrepreneur looks like? In today’s labour market, these are important questions as more and more people find themselves having to consider the entrepreneurial path. People who successfully create their own work opportunities come in all kinds of sizes and shapes, but many people wouldn’t even consider entrepreneurship as an option to explore because they think they don’t fit some “standard.” But what about all the entrepreneurs who don’t fit into the “mould”? What about entrepreneurship for the non-entrepreneur? Based on the Guiding Circles approach, this session will explore a person-centred approach to assist people to consider whether entrepreneurship is an option they should investigate more.
A Better Story’s Answer to Career Foreclosure
(presentation)
Career foreclosure can affect people at any age, especially in later life. The belief that their career journey is over may lead to crippling hopelessness, depression, or anxiety. Cultivating a better story is a life-long journey in which people can rewrite their story at any age in ways that enable them to explore and pursue their future possibilities and opportunities
Words & Actions: Building Blocks for Life/Work
( presentation)
Words and actions matter; they have power. They feed off each other on our life/career journeys and express our thoughts, emotions, and choices. This session will explore how to take small steps to identify, choose, and cultivate the words and actions that will enable us to do more than just survive or even succeed—but to thrive by living well
Crafting a Career Worthy
of God’s Calling
(1/2-day to 2-day workshop, presentation)
This reflective workshop looks at the life/career journey from a spiritual perspective. With our increasingly diverse culture, it would be helpful for people from different faith backgrounds to present on how life and career are viewed from their unique backgrounds. In this workshop I look at the life/career journey from a Christian perspective. Many Christians struggle with integrating their desire to know the calling of God with today’s world of like and work. This reflective workshop integrates a holistic dynamic view of Christian calling with the Hope-Filled Engagement approach.
Prepare for the
Journey of a Lifetime
This workshop presents 5 life/career skills that people need craft a story and career of hope in our chaotic and uncertain world of work:
How to craft a story of hope and possibilities
How to negotiate your identity
How to discover what you want in your life
How to actually choose what you want
out of lifeHow to start and keep going
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Though very committed to the important task of assisting people on their life journeys, practitioners can experience significant stress as they struggle to work effectively between a stone and a hard place. This workshop will present practical suggestions for self-care in order to prevent the damaging effects of compassion fatigue and burnout that result from working long term with emotionally draining situations. Practitioners must engage not only their clients (the hard place) and the organizations they work with (the rock) but also themselves with hope, creativity, and imagination, as they strive to make a difference in their work and world.
Active Engagement
(1/2-day to 2-day workshop, presentation)
BAsed on Norm Amundson’s book Active Engagement, this workshop is an overview of some of the key principles of active engagement. These principles include an emphasis on imagination, creativity and flexibility imbedded within a more active communications approach. The active engagement approach extends client-centered and cognitive behavioral theory and methods. Traditional conventions are challenged along with some of the dynamics underlying the helping relationship.
Several intervention strategies will be highlighted in the workshop. These approaches are drawn from different stages of the helping process and include use of creativity, metaphors, second-level questioning, the wheel, personality analysis, pattern identification, and action planning.
Career Crossroads
(1/2-day to 1-day workshop, presentation)
Rapid changes in the labour market and in the social context have led to radically new experiences of working life. These changes have created a context where people are repeatedly facing career crossroads. Whether employed or unemployed people are finding themselves having to cope with career unrest or career indecision.
Based on the Career Crossroads workbook, this workshop presents an innovative approach to counselling people who face some sort of career crossroads. It may be those who, though already on a career path (employed or unemployed), wonder if they are on the right career path and become unable to sort through their confusion. It may be those who have yet to select a career path but have several options. It may be those who have several job opportunities. The common theme in scenarios such as these is that such people experience career unrest and career indecision. Specifically, the workshop will illustrate how to facilitate effective decision making by assisting people to sort out conflicting and confusing thoughts and then how to recognize, evaluate, and choose options at such times.
Activities
My presentations/workshops usually involve a combination of instruction, discussion, and activities. The exact combination at any occasion depends on several factors, such as purpose of presentation/workshop, topic, participants, and length. I draw from a number of different activities that I can adapt according to need. I describe them as accordion activities because I strive for flexible activities that can be stretched or shortened according to the time allowed, for example whether 10 min, 30 min, or 60 min. Since one of my key values is the equipping of those I work with, one of the goals for my activities is to provide participants with activities that they can do on their own.
Costs
Costs usually include presenting fees plus expenses (flights, taxis, accommodations, meals, etc.) and any costs of materials and/or books. Major revisions of current workshops or development of new material may require additional costs. Fees are negotiable; I am flexible with rates when limited budgets necessitate this.