Listen to me read this post... Here we are, five years after my blog post on how to hold space went viral, and we’ve just launched the global Centre for Holding Space. It’s exciting and gratifying and also a little nerve-wracking. I couldn’t have imagined this even as...
When the space you hold is too safe
by Heather Plett | Sep 12, 2019 | Brave Space, Facilitation, Holding Space for Others, Safe Space
Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a retreat with a circle of beautiful women in one of the most beautiful locations I’ve ever worked. The retreat centre was so beautiful and luxurious, in fact, that it wouldn’t have surprised me to see Oprah emerge from a room...
The Wounded Parent: Raising kids while we do our own healing work
by Heather Plett | Aug 6, 2019 | Family, Holding Space for Others, Holding Space for Yourself
Our vacation didn’t start well. We’d barely arrived at our AirBnB apartment when my daughter and I got into an argument. Only one of us could have a bedroom to herself for the week we were there. My daughter had done the research on where to stay in Chicago and had...
When shame-brain meets the mistake monster
by Heather Plett | May 8, 2018 | Brave Space, Holding Space for Others, Safe Space, Shame
I cut off someone in traffic recently. It was completely my fault. I wasn’t paying enough attention and drifted into the other lane when mine was suddenly blocked off for construction. The moment I realized what I’d done, though, shame-brain quickly tried to find...
How to Hold Space for Children
by Heather Plett | Jul 21, 2017 | Family, Holding Space for Others
I swore I’d never write a parenting blog. Parenting feels like a lifelong experiment where the variables, subjects, and researchers keep changing so that there’s never any way to prove your hypotheses. Just when you’ve figured out that “Action A applied to Subject B...
Holding space for the unspeakable
by Heather Plett | Mar 16, 2016 | Complexity, Facilitation, Grief, Holding Space for Others
In May of 2017, I stood in front of a large group of therapists, school counsellors, and youth workers in Broward County, Florida, teaching a full day workshop on how to hold space for grief and trauma. The next day, I taught many of the same people in two smaller...
Sometimes holding space feels like doing nothing
by Heather Plett | Sep 15, 2015 | Grief, Holding Space for Others
Sometimes the hardest thing about holding space is it can feel and look a lot like doing nothing. When we’re holding space well, we’re keeping our ego out of it, not controlling the outcome, not giving unsolicited advice, and not taking people’s power away. That can...
What it means to “hold space” for people, plus eight tips on how to do it well
by Heather Plett | Mar 11, 2015 | Family, Grief, Holding Space for Others
When my mom was dying, my siblings and I gathered to be with her in her final days. None of us knew anything about supporting someone in her transition out of this life into the next, but we were pretty sure we wanted to keep her at home, so we did. While we supported...
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