SoulCollage® Facilitator Training in the Azores
with Mariabruna Sirabella, MFT

August 30- September 2, 2012 at the Saudade Wellness Center,
Manadas Village, Sao Jorge, Azores Islands

This extended residential Training is meant for those who wish to take the Training at a slower pace. The Curriculum is the same as any other Training, but there will be time to go to the ocean and enjoy the quiet natural settings of Saudade Wellness and Retreat Center. Dr. Filomena Trindade, the founder of Saudade, is an internationally recognized Functional Medicine physician with a private practice in Santa Cruz, CA but is originally from Sao Jorge where she leads group and individual Wellness Retreats. She will treat us to an ideal, tasty and healthy diet of locally grown organic foods - gluten free and including fresh catch of the day from the ocean.

The Training is presented in English. Linda Woolfson (SoulCollage® Facilitator) will be assisting Mariabruna and will translate into Portuguese when and if necessary.

The SoulCollage® Facilitator Training meets the qualifications for 18 continuing education credits for MFTs and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. A certificate of attendance will be provided by Mariabruna Sirabella #3449. If you are a licensed professional we can provide you with a certificate of completion. If you are not licensed in California, please check with your own State licensing board to see if they will honor California's continuing education units.

Special Group Retreat (independent from the Training)

For those who intend to make this visit to the island a special treat to themselves, there is the option to arrive at Saudade early and participate in a special group Retreat that includes working energetically with the powerful island’s landscape, healthy nutrition, and deep soul work. Detailed information will be posted separately and is also available upon request (sirarte.com@gmail.com). This Retreat is truly a full immersion in the mind/body/spirit connection co-facilitated by Filomena and Mariabruna, and is open to anyone. It is completely independent from the Training. You may also extend your stay at Saudade for a personal Retreat and optional consultations with Dr. Trindade (please see www.saudaderetreat.com).

What the SoulCollage® Facilitator Training Covers

This is a standardized curriculum aimed at giving all Facilitators the same information regardless of who the Trainer is. Of course each Trainer brings her/his own life experiences, style, and personality to the Training. The Training includes:

1. How to facilitate SoulCollage® card-making, including ways to support self-esteem and avoid competition and self-criticism.

2. How to implement a therapeutic structure which both protects and encourages self-discovery, without the facilitator doing therapy.

3. Ways to adapt the process to different individual issues and different populations.

4. Demonstration of ceremonial work with SoulCollage® cards.

5. Discussion about how to use the internet to support and encourage SoulCollage® community, including the SoulCollage® Facilitators' Listserve, the Facilitator's "Neter Letter" newsletter, SoulCollage® Exhibitions, and referral listings on the website for trained SoulCollage® Facilitators.

6. Help in envisioning a plan for facilitating SoulCollage® that fits your own passions, intentions, and competencies.

7. Ethical pitfalls and challenges that might arise when one is working with individuals and groups using the powerful spiritual and personal images of SoulCollage®.

Participants will make cards, share cards, and use their own processes as teaching examples for the group in learning how to facilitate SoulCollage® work, because the focus in the Training is training rather than card-making per se as in a workshop. We learn how to do "readings" which use our own intuition to deepen self-knowledge. We learn creative applications and how to adapt the process to different populations. We work towards constructing a plan that fits participants intended use of the technique.

Who Should Participate

Anyone who would like to form SoulCollage® Groups or use SoulCollage® in already established groups (such as church groups, women's groups, senior groups, hospice, educational classes) or as an art technique as an adjunct to other kinds of groups, classes, or workshops is welcome to register.

SoulCollage® Trainings have attracted many therapists and art therapists who love the SoulCollage® process and see readily how it can be used in their work. Training participants network with each other and share how to adapt the SoulCollage® process to their clientele. Some ministers and lay clergy have also completed the Training to be able to facilitate SoulCollage® in their ministry.

Facilitators have used this process with women's groups, spas, and libraries coaching, writing groups, seniors' life review, cancer support groups, and hospice. The therapists and art therapists among them are working with SoulCollage® with organizational development, with couples therapy, trauma recovery, addiction recovery, pain management, teenagers, at risk children, and with grief and loss.

Standard Pre-Requisites

No degrees or certifications are necessary to take this training. Preparation includes the following:

1.  Reading SoulCollage® Evolving by Seena Frost.

2.   Listening to Seena Frost's two CDs - Introduction to SoulCollage® and Facilitating SoulCollage® in Groups. Available at Hanford Mead Publishers.

3.   Making a minimum of a few cards in each suit. Note: Be sure to bring all your SoulCollage® cards to the Training.

If you live in an area where acquiring these products is difficult, please contact Mariabruna Sirabella at sirarte.com@gmail.com  ASAP.

It is not a pre-requisite, but it will be helpful at some point to listen to each of the CDs in Seena’s series, "Your SoulCollage® Cards." It also recommended that you attend an Introductory SoulCollage® workshop in your area if at all possible. The more prepared you are the more benefits you will acquire at the Training.

Travel

Direct flights are available from San Francisco and from Boston through Azoresexpress.com and SATA Airlines. Multiple connections are available from the major European airports. Transportation from and to the airport is available upon request.

Registration Information

Please refer to the Registration PDF to send your information to Mariabruna. Deadline for Registration and full tuition payment is July 15th 2012. For questions, email Mariabruna at sirarte.com@gmail.com. Download Registration PDF here.

Training Tuition

The Training fee is $500. Participants will be registered on a first-come, first-served basis. Space at Saudade is limited. Any overflow will be accommodated in a nearby building, but this group is limited in size.

Register early!!! Deadline for Registration and full tuition payment is July 15th 2012.

Your Tuition Fee includes the following benefits:

1. Training sessions (Thursday to Sunday)
2.  All materials needed for the Training (blank cards, images, scissors, hand-outs, binder, glue)
3.  One-year membership in the professional organization: the SoulCollage® Facilitator’s Circle
4.  Facilitator Profile and Workshop Postings on www.soulcollage.com
5.  SoulCollage® Product Discounts
6.  An invitation to join the Facilitators’ only list serve and other Facilitator blogs
7.  A monthly e-newsletter for Facilitators only.

After the training, you will be able to use the trademarked name "SoulCollage®" and the designation "SoulCollage® Facilitator." In order to receive a completion certificate, all sessions must be attended.

Accommodations

Your accommodations fee at the Saudade Wellness Center includes your meals, starting with lunch on Thursday and ending with lunch on Sunday (no alcohol beverages are available at Saudade). Details on payment for accommodations will be sent upon registration.

Single: 170 Euros (Only a very few single accommodations are available).
Shared: 140 Euros  

Cancellation Policy

 TBD

7 Reasons Why People Train as SoulCollage® Facilitators

(in addition to their enthusiasm for creating and reading from their own SoulCollage® cards!)

1. Non-artists struggling to express their longing to be creative appreciate that there is no wrong or right way in SoulCollage®; the process is simple, fun and profound. Anyone able to manage scissors and glue can create beautiful cards and enjoy sharing them with others.

2. Therapists, counselors, nurses and other helping professionals find a creative way to work with clients that goes beyond words and concepts, one that provides direct experiential access to intuition and transformation.

3. Healers and people seeking to heal see in SoulCollage® a gentle yet deep self-care method that reveals their inner guidance by exploring and "becoming" images and using their cards to do SoulCollage® readings.

4. Artists interested in bringing a new dimension to their art find a spiritually-infused process that they can share with others, a creative threshold to surprising revelations, greater self-understanding and the enriching acceptance of the light and shadow at play in our lives.

5. Anyone who values participating in and building learning communities based on mutual respect, support, and a commitment to care for self and others are drawn to learn and share SoulCollage®.

6. People looking for a way to give back to their communities, families, friends, children, church groups, women's/men's groups, hospices and other organizations see SoulCollage® as an opportunity to support the growth and well-being of others and themselves.

7. Individuals seeking spiritual renewal and a creative way to access their deeper guidance and wisdom.

About Mariabruna

"Mariabruna definitely gets five stars in my book of SoulCollage® Facilitators. She and I have co-led several workshops over the years, so I’ve had a close-up experience of her teaching skills, and also of her ability to be very present both as a high witness and a gentle guide. Intuitively she knows when to alert a person to unexplored layers of soul, ones she may see hidden in a card’s images or in the words of a SoulCollage reading. As needed, she will then assist in the birthing, naming and exploring of these newly found soul parts. Perhaps we could call her an excellent soul midwife. In addition, if ever you have the chance to let Mariabruna guide you through the beauties of her home country, Italy, take it. I did, and my soul expanded several sizes."  ~ Seena Frost

Mariabruna fell in love with SoulCollage when she first attended a group with Seena Frost in 1996. Being mostly a visual person, she experienced the process of journaling in images, integrating colors, symbols and composition through collage inspiring and deeply satisfactory. She immediately realized and applied its potential for therapeutic work with her clients. Trained as a SoulCollage® Facilitator in 2004 by Seena Frost, she assisted in several trainings and became a trainer herself in 2007.

Mariabruna has taught at JFK University, UCD Experimental College, Cabrillo Community College, and at Mount Madonna Center and many other retreat centers and Yoga Schools in USA and Italy. She has presented SoulCollage at the Dance Therapy Conference, the Transpersonal Psychology Conference (with Seena Frost), The Psychosynthesis Conference (with Seena Frost) and the 2007 and 2008 SoulCollage Facilitators' Conferences.

What participants have said about the SoulCollage® Training with Mariabruna... "Learning this process has truly been a relief because finally I have a way to express what has been locked inside of me for years. I could not have done it only with words! Now I safely dialog with many dark aspects of my past." "Please know the SoulCollage process has been life changing for me!" "I really appreciate your wisdom and ability to dance in the moment as the pictures evolved throughout the weekend. You were SO inspiring and it was so freeing for me to put some of the images I have been saving down on a card."