The Art of Creating Workshops for Women

Sometimes you encounter that rare book that you know has arisen from a lifetime of thought, care, and personal experience. This is one of those! As a workshop leader for more than thirty-five years, I know that Marlene Schiwy’s advice rings true. Even if you’re just contemplating running a workshop, this guide is for you! —Eric Maisel, Brave New Mind and 60+ books

Practical, thoughtful, and soulful—Marlene weaves all three dimensions in this beautiful book. With open-handed generosity she speaks with the wise voice of Athena, mentoring us in imagining every step of the workshop creation process—from dreaming to crystallizing, planning, preparing, and leaping into facilitating spaces for others. —Safron Rossi, PhD, professor and author, The Kore Goddess

Marlene Schiwy’s book informs and provides sage, specific counsel on how to create workshops for women to promote personal growth through shared insight and support. In addition, her practical roadmap for workshops gestates community and overcomes the isolation so many women feel from their own generative souls. Out of this private and communal work, a rejuvenation of insight, courage, and determination may well rise for many. —James Hollis, PhD, Jungian Analyst, educator, and author of many books

I wish this book had been around when I began facilitating women’s groups in the 1980s! It covers everything from first ideas, creating content and planning to managing feedback, boundaries, and burnout—with warmth, authenticity, and passion. Packed with practical templates for workshops of any length, Marlene Schiwy’s book is an indispensable guide for facilitators of soulful groups. Nothing is missing. —Gerry O’Sullivan, O’Sullivan Solutions, author, The Mediator’s Toolkit

With wisdom and generosity, and in her clear and elegant voice, Marlene Schiwy offers would-be workshop leaders a vision of the workshop itself as a work of art, a created thing—imagined, designed, assembled, curated, and finally lived into. She offers resources both practical and spiritual, along with invitations to adapt her exercises and templates for the greater aim of creating more soulful spaces for women. Intimate and empowering, this handbook is an invaluable gift to future guides. —Sheri Reynolds, author, The Rapture of Canaan (an Oprah’s Book Club Selection & New York Times bestseller) and The Tender Grave

The Art of Creating Workshops for Women is an essential book for anyone who is thinking about creating workshops for women or is new to doing them, while also a useful reference for experienced workshop creators and presenters. Schiwy’s approach is steeped in feminist ideas, including a need to reclaim the power and importance of women’s creativity and voices, a need that is particularly resonant today when women’s rights are under attack and women’s commitments to nurturing, care, and service are so often labeled as weak. —Marlene G. Fine, PhD, Professor Emerita, Simmons University, and co-author, Let’s Talk Race

Marlene Schiwy, a seasoned workshop leader, offers a practical guide for what she terms “hand-crafted workshops” for women. She blends a nuts-and-bolts approach to every step of the workshop process with her personal, soulful approach. —Fern L. Johnson, PhD Professor Emerita of English and Senior Research Scholar, Clark University, and co-author, Let’s Talk Race

I’ve had the privilege of participating in Marlene’s workshops, and they have been precious. The depth, authenticity, and care she brings to the gatherings she leads is rare. For her to distill the wisdom of four decades of transformative work and share it so generously is a gift to all who wish to create spaces that nurture depth and imagination. —Daniela Sieff, author, Understanding and Healing Emotional Trauma

Marlene Schiwy has been facilitating workshops and retreats for women internationally for almost four decades. After completing her doctorate in literature at the University of London, she spent a decade teaching at City University in New York, where she also completed a year-long Gestalt training course in group process. Marlene was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia’s Writing Centre where, among many other offerings, she taught Body Soul Writing, the first university course in Canada to combine writing and movement. After completing a three-year Body Soul Rhythms Leadership Training Program with Marion Woodman, Marlene did extensive postgraduate study at ISAP (the International School for Analytical Psychology) in Zurich. The author of A Voice of Her Own: Women and the Journal Writing Journey and Simple Days: A Journal on What Really Matters, Marlene lives in Vancouver, Canada.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.