Holding Space Training
What does it mean to bring compassionate presence to a heartbreaking situation? How can we hold space more skillfully, listen more deeply, and love more courageously when facing loss?
Our Fall 2025 Holding Space Training supports participants to strengthen their capacity to hold space, both in their personal and professional lives.
All are welcome.
Description
Holding Space Training
Wednesdays
November 5, 12, 19 & December 3
12-2pm EST
In her book, “Holding Space ~ On Loving, Dying, and Letting Go,” Amy Wright Glenn defines holding space as the capacity to bring compassionate presence to what is. The Holding Space Training is open to all and specifically designed for those in caretaking professions working with families, individuals, and communities facing grief.
It is more apparent than ever that the skill set central to holding space benefits everyone, not only doulas and mental health professionals. Being more adept at listening, being more comfortable with the uncomfortable, and being present to the heartbreak of grief supports the continued emergence of compassionate presence in our world. Our study is centered upon deep inquiry and committed practice.
In our study, we consider:
*What does it mean to hold space?
*How can we strengthen our capacity to show up with compassion, especially when we are called to be present to grief?
*What specific skills strengthen our patience and capacity to listen?
*How do we hold space for our own failures, faults, and grief?
*How can we apply lessons drawn from holding space to our family lives, personal relationships, work/vocation, and connection to the mystery of life?
Join Amy Wright Glenn this fall for a transformative 12-hour training featuring 8-hours of live, online study (recorded for all participants) and 4 hours of holding space practice (the timing determined by participants).
We will draw upon the work of Alan Wolfelt, the founder of the Center for Loss and Life Transitions and combine it with the insights drawn from Amy’s work with birth & death presented in her book Holding Space.
Participants will practice key Holding Space skills and strengthen their capacity to show up to what it is with courage and compassion.
*Presented live via Zoom. Recorded for all participants.
Two books are required reading for this training. Participants are welcome to read both books prior to our first gathering.
- Holding Space ~ On Loving, Dying and Letting Go by Amy Wright Glenn
- Counseling Skills for Companioning the Mourner ~ The Fundamentals of Effective Grief Counseling by Alan D. Wolfelt
“Sorrow is an inseparable dimension of our human experience.
We suffer after a loss because we are human.
And in our suffering, we are transformed.”
―
