Week 33: Louise Belisle

I arrived at Haven-by-the-Sea in September 1983, having left my home in Ottawa to immerse myself in an intense one year residential experience (including some intense cooking in the kitchen on occasions!) Having already attended a few workshops with Ben & Jock I wanted to continue learning from them and training with them. There was quite an amazing alchemy between them and I knew I needed the ‘gold’ of their teaching. The year of training turned into many rich years of being on faculty and being part of the amazing Haven community. Ultimately the work was about living more consciously and that is a life long practice, one that I keep bringing to the work of being a clinical counsellor in end-of-life care for the last 10 years.

Perhaps I was preparing for that work when leading workshops at Haven because Wayne Dodge recently reminded me that when I took participants on a particular visualization I used to invite them to go down to their ‘death’ rather than their depth (due to a slight lingering French accent). I celebrate and honour Ben & Jock’s vision and their commitment to the vision.