Community
First word, and a seat at the table.
Nothing to install and nothing to keep up with. You hear about a gathering before it is public, and there is a place for you at the next dinner.
Retreats end. Programs graduate you. The Inner Circle is for the ordinary weeks in between, and it is simpler than the name makes it sound.
What it is
Two things. One we have been doing, one we are starting now:
- The list hears first. A retreat, a lodge, a dinner, a cohort: the list gets it before it goes on the public page.
- A seat at the next dinner. Once a month we share a meal at The Haven in Bend and then sit in a talking circle. One man speaks, the rest of us listen without trying to fix him. When it comes to you, you can pass, and nobody thinks anything of it. Reply to the email and we will save you a place.
What is said at the table is meant to stay at the table, and we ask that of every man. It is not legally confidential, and it does not carry the privilege a therapy hour carries.
That is the whole membership. No fee to be on the list, no application, nothing to install.
What it is not
It is not an online forum. It is a list and a table.
It is also not group therapy, and not a substitute for it. There is no treatment plan and no clinical relationship. Tim is in the room as a facilitator and an elder, not as your therapist. If you are already a client of his, he will talk it through with you before you come. If a man is carrying something that needs clinical care, we say so and help him find a therapist. It does not have to be Tim.
The table is also not the right room for an acute crisis. If that is where you are, call or text 988 first, and come when the ground is steadier.
On the calendar
- Surfing the Self. The 4th Annual Men's Coastal Retreat, October 8 to 11, Pacific City.
- Sweat lodge. Saturday, November 14, on land in Central Oregon.
- Dinner and a talking circle. Monthly at The Haven, 1001 SW Disk Dr in Bend.
An eight week cohort is being scheduled. The list will get the dates first.
Everything with a date on it is on the events page.
Who is in it
Men in their thirties through their sixties. Contractors, physicians, pastors, engineers, guys between things. A lot of them have done therapy, and some are still in it. Several have been to a retreat and came back needing somewhere to put it.
What they have in common is not a diagnosis. It is that they got good at handling their lives and lost track of being in them.
Get the first word.
The list hears about a gathering before it goes on the site. Leave your email and you will get the next one.