Foundations of Impact Practitioner Programme

We are slowing down. Simplifying, and focusing on the most meaningful part of this work.

The essence of impact.

Who is this progamme for?

Have you experienced a life-changing shift through understanding The ThreePrinciples and felt drawn to sharing that potential with others? 

Our Foundations of Impact Programme is designed to fill the gap for people who see the potential of The Principles, want to share it with others, but find it difficult, complicated, feel a lack of clarity or confidence or don’t feel able to easily start. This programme is for aspiring practitioners and internal experts.

A practitioner is an individual whose work is sharing The Principles with clients - individuals, organisations or communities. We have had aspiring and existing therapists, coaches, consultants and trainers on our practitioner programmes.

An internal expert Is a person in an existing position within an organisation who wants to bring a professional-level understanding of The Principles to their work, either by providing support to their colleagues or through a more considered focus on their influence on the culture they work in. To date, we have trained internal experts from private and public businesses, government departments, the prison service, the NHS and education.

 

The history of One Thought Practitioner Training

Since 2010 One Thought has provided high quality, leading-edge professional training for Three Principles practitioners. One Thought's founder, Aaron Turner, developed The One Thought Institute in 2010, a comprehensive practitioner training that became the basis for many existing programmes. Many of today's new generation of practitioners are graduates of that programme. Before that, as early as 2003, Aaron designed practitioner development programmes at Pransky and Associates both for new community-based practitioners and internal experts in large corporations.

After running The Institute successfully for six years, Aaron evolved and refined our practitioner training to provide a programme called the One Thought Foundations programme. We didn’t want to offer bells and whistles. We wanted our training to focus only on the things that directly make up a good practitioner. In the constantly growing range of available trainings, we wanted to give people a grounded grasp of what they needed to be effective so they would have a foundation to draw on in order to meet the challenges they would inevitably face. The Foundations Programme allowed us to offer students a clearer understanding of where to look for their own answers in their life and their work.

The outcomes of the Foundations Training were consistently beyond our expectations. We knew we were on the right track and we honed the programme each year we did it. It has been such a meaningful experience to run this programme and we have had the most fantastic heartfelt passionate students. After three years of running The Foundations Programme, we saw the potential for another jump in evolution for what we can offer. 

During lockdown, like many people, we had our normal routines wiped away. As a result, we spent a rich period of time living in a quieter place in our own minds. We noticed a shift in the depth of our work and in our vision for what we were doing, that has been compelling and inspiring. A new vision for how we want to support and foster new practitioners has come out of this shift.

Focus of the new programme

We have slowed everything down, simplified and distilled our vision.  We are focusing on the simplicity and power of impact.

The Foundations of Impact Programme is focused on the underlying foundations of impact. We want you to discover, understand and get a meaningful feel for what drives your learning and your impact. We want you to understand impact at its clearest source so that you have clarity, confidence and an evolving learning curve around your work with others. The most fundamental piece in working with clients is really knowing what matters and what does not.

Programme description

The simple goal of this programme is to clarify and understand the vital elements of working with The Principles so you have a clearer sense for how to navigate yourself in your life and work. The goal is for you to know what you need and what you do not need.

Although this sounds like a simple goal, you would be surprised to hear how easy it is to get focussed on things that feel relevant but are not. For example there are things you might think need, but you don’t, like:

  • The way you speak
  • To have nailed down a concept of The Principles
  • The right way to say things
  • The right way to do things (proposals, meetings, client sessions, formats etc)
  • To have previous experience in a particular area in order to work in that area
  • To have a long list of impressive teaching examples to share
  • To have elaborate diagrams in order to be credible
  • To do endless trainings to improve and develop and to feel capable and confident
  • To have a certificate (yes you do get one, not that you need it)
  • To do things as well as, or like, somebody else

What you do need:

  • A deep feeling for this understanding for yourself, even if you can’t say it like other people
  • Knowing what it means, and feels like, to listen to others, and yourself, deeply and neutrally
  • To get comfortable in the face of insecurity
  • Finding your own voice and trusting yourself
  • To understand meaningfully what it means when people say ‘the feeling is your guide’
  • The ability to be a forever student to your own potential for depth
  • We are often asked about credentials. Your impact with your clients is your credentials (Okay yes, you do get a certificate too)

What’s new in the One Thought Foundations of Impact Programme?

With our new appreciation for the essence of what really matters we have evolved our approach to your learning in three key ways.

The focus

The programme this year has a more unwavering focus on the core that determines the impact of what we do.

Orientation to learning

We have changed our orientation to your learning. In order to maximise the impact of what you take away from this programme, we have shifted from a teaching and training orientation to more of an exploration and discovery orientation. It is this orientation that we use as a guidance system to navigate and develop our own practice and our client work. While we have always intuitively had this orientation, it has become clear how this approach engages you to discover more for yourself which makes your learning more real, impactful and sustainable.

Development

We want to provide a more sustained focus and development for you. To do this we have a very small core faculty; Lila and Aaron. We will be with you through every part of the programme. We think we will get to know you better. We will see for ourselves how you are learning and what you might need to explore more specifically so we can point you in the right direction for your personal learning and development. We want to maximise the continuity, focus and depth of your learning. Lila and Aaron will be leading all aspects of the programme. We are also limiting the group size so we will be able to give thought and focus to every student we have. We will have guest speakers contribute to the programme.

We are creating a space for us to learn together in a way that allows you to discover a deepening of understanding that happens outside of what you know. A deepening that cannot come from a desire to ‘gather’ ideas or capability. The retreats and meetings will be structured for mental space to digest, reflect, and have new thought occur. A chance for you to feel in real time what mental space and a quieter mind has to offer. 

We feel excited to be launching this programme with this distilled focus and exploratory orientation.

“New thought always appears in the gaps.”

Lila Turner

The Core Faculty

The programme is designed and led by Aaron and Lila Turner. To find out more about Aaron and Lila click here.

Aaron has worked in this field for over 27 years as a counsellor, consultant and director at One Thought. He has extensive experience with individuals, couples, families, executives and leaders, groups, teams, public speaking, conference development and in practitioner training and mentoring.

Lila has worked in the field for the past 8 years, has been around the Three Principles for 27 years and has been involved in One Thought’s Practitioner training from the start. She has also worked with individuals, organisations, leaders and created her own relationships programme Relationship Ready.

Programme Structure

The programme is set over 9 months and is made up of 

Three virtual immersion retreats

Each retreat involves three days of exploration, discussion and reflection (3-7.30pm UK time)

Retreat immersion 1: A new platform for learning.

We kick off the programme with the first virtual retreat. This session sets the tone for the rest of the programme. This retreat is focussed on: Meeting each other as a group; Getting a new orientation for learning; Getting a fresh understanding of the principles for yourself; Getting a feel for looking beyond what you already know.

This retreat will be a real chance to get an appreciation for the direction of freshness and depth within yourself and for the essence of The Principles. The goal is to establish a new feeling for ongoing learning and development as a basis for the rest of the programme and the rest of your life.

Retreat Immersion 2: The essence of impact in real time. 

The second retreat session will focus on what determines the quality of work that you do. This retreat will be a practical exploration of what determines the impact of what we do when we are working with others.

In the weeks following this session we will set some practical client conversation exercises and we will discuss them in the regular meetings and will give you input for the following week’s exercises. The goal of these exercises is to get a feel for how your engagement and impact works, so you can get a feel for it and discover how it works for yourself.

 

Retreat Immersion 3: The reality you are dealing with. Discovering what is possible. Discovering what is, or is not, a problem and what is, or is not, a solution.

The final retreat is a chance to bring together the group’s discoveries during the programme and start to appreciate the foundation you have developed during the programme.

When the programme finishes, no matter what you do after it, you will face the challenges of your life and your work and your insecurities. The final retreat is a chance to reflect on, and appreciate the power a clear foundation gives you in the face of any challenge, no matter what it is.

Eleven virtual learning and reflection meetings

(1.5 hours each) with Aaron and Lila and occasional visiting guest speakers (6-7.30pm UK time)

In between the retreats, there are regular meetings of an hour and a half. These meetings allow you to stay focussed, reflective and learning. We want to see what challenges you have, what struggles and what moments of clarity you are experiencing. We want to see where you are learning and developing and where you feel stuck or lost in any way. In the meetings you will have a chance to see how this understanding works in the face of all the issues, topics and experiences that emerge during the programme. The goal is to look behind these dynamics and get a real sense of how it all works so it simplifies for us all. The programme is designed to have enough of these meetings for you to get a real feel for what you are dealing with day-to-day and a confidence in your ability to navigate it and learn as you go.

One virtual mini retreat

Spaced over 2 evenings (2 hours one evening, 1 hour the following evening) with a visiting guest speaker who we feel has a rich and different sense of the foundations we focus on.

Visiting speakers

The focus of this programme is an unwavering interest in what drives impact. To help us explore this more directly and deeply, we have invited a lovingly selected number of guest speakers. These are people we feel have an unwavering respect for the essence behind what we do and, as a result, have resonance and impact. They all see and talk about it differently. This variety in feeling and ‘voice’ allows you to consider and explore the essence more richly and sensitively. We have invited them because when you meet them you can feel the focus and substance of where they come from and the understanding behind it. We will get the chance to have meetings with the guest speakers, hear from them and discuss what you are learning with them.

The groups and meeting will be reflective spacious and intimate. 

Continued Development

Following your graduation, we will schedule a further two listening sessions so we can catch up and check in about how things are going with listening and working with people.

Furthermore, you're invited to become part of our growing One Thought Alumni family. This is a rich community of practitioners and internal experts who have trained with us. Periodically, we arrange two alumni webinars as a way of staying connected. We love staying in touch with our graduates.

2022/23 Programme Retreat Guest Host

(PLEASE NOTE THE RETREAT HOST FOR THE 2023/24 PROGRAMME IS TO BE CONFIRMED SHORTLY.)

Christine Heath

Chris is a licensed marriage and family therapist in both Hawaii and Minnesota. She has been a student, trainer and program developer of The Three Principles for over 30 years. She is a worldwide consultant and educator for business professionals, social services and health care agencies, as well as providing supervision for graduate students of social work and marriage and family therapy.

2022/23 Programme Guest Speakers

(PLEASE NOTE THE GUEST SPEAKERS FOR THE 2023/24 PROGRAMME ARE TO BE CONFIRMED SHORTLY.)

Chip & Jan Chipman

Chip and Jan had the honor of being mentored by Sydney Banks from 1975 until 2009. From 1994 to 2004 they conducted retreats with him in Europe and North America. His guidance during these events about sharing in as deep and simple a manner as possible, guides their work to this day. Over the years, Chip and Jan have created and conducted extensive programs in corporate, not for profit, educational, community and correctional settings, including a state prison, county jails and residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. They currently share their understanding though speaking engagements, retreats and webinars worldwide. From their base on Salt Spring Island, they offer one on one Skype sessions as well as retreats for individuals, couples, and groups. The books and recordings of Sydney Banks are fundamental to all their work, helping countless people find happiness and understanding after being touched by those original materials. Chip is President of the Three Principles Foundation, and in 2008, co-founded the Three Principles School on Salt Spring Island, dedicated to sharing the simplicity and purity of the Three Principles, “As discovered and taught by Sydney Banks”.

Judy Sedgeman

Judy has been a Three Principles practitioner and educator for more than 35 years. With the Principles as a foundation, she has worked with individual clients, groups, business leadership teams, government agencies and executives. She was on the faculty of the Medical School of West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, for 13 years, offering an array of services and teaching courses grounded in The Principles in the School of Public Health.

Beto Contreras

Beto is a teacher and community organizer at The Insight Alliance, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, OR. He’s also an activist with over 20 years of lived experience in the criminal justice system. Having spent the majority of his youth incarcerated, Beto is passionate about breaking the school to prison pipeline and creating support systems to help people to escape the cycle of recidivism. His unique experience and expertise has brought an important perspective to The Insight Alliance that resonates with the diverse communities the organization serves.

Cost

The cost of the programme is £5,500 +VAT.

Scholarships

Limited full and part scholarships are available.

Click here for more info and to apply for a scholarship.

Dates

The times for the retreats and group sessions have all been set so that they are timezone friendly for the US, Canada, UK and Europe.

1st retreat

6, 7, 8, October 2023- 3pm - 7:30pm UK

Mini Retreat with Guest Speaker

30 November 2023 - 7pm - 9pm UK

1 December 2023 - 7pm - 8pm UK

2nd Retreat

2, 3, 4 February 2024 - 3pm - 7:30pm UK

3rd Retreat

17, 18, 19 May 2024 - 3pm - 7:30pm UK

Virtual Graduation Session

Sunday 9 June 2024 - 3pm - 8:00pm UK

Continued Development Listening Sessions & Alumni Webinars

Listening Sessions: 11 July & 8 August 2024 - 6pm - 7pm UK

Alumni Group Webinars: 5 September & 3 October 2024 - 6pm - 7pm UK

Group sessions - 6pm - 7:30pm UK

Session 1: 19 October 2023

Session 2: 2 November 2023

Session 3: 16 November 2023

Session 4: 14 December 2023

Session 5: 11 January 2024

Session 6: 15 February 2024

Session 7: 29 February 2024

Session 8: 14 March 2024

Session 9: 28 March 2024

Session 10: 11 April 2024

Session 11: 25 April 2024

Register for the 2023/24 Foundations of Impact Programme

Have a general question about the programme?

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