Are you truly committed to
liberating potential and possibilities?
The Earth Converse Coaching Journey is how organisations can nurture their internal coaching capacity.
It is for those change makers, intraprenuers and conscious leaders who see developing others as essential – not just for their organisation, but for the planet.
Coaching is one of the most powerful leadership practices of our time – a way to bring forth new ideas, expand awareness, and catalyse change. But when coaching is guided by nature as our source, mentor, and stakeholder, it becomes even more potent, regenerative, and transformative.
The journey has been designed, delivered and proven. And is ready for you to bring into your organisation:
🌿 It can be tailored to the context of your organisation
🌿 It can be co-delivered by or with Earth Converse
🌿 It is a role-model for what regenerative coaching is and feels like
🌿 It will enhance the credibility and impact of coaching within your organisation
🌿 It helps coaches and the organisation be clear about the path to accreditation.
If you would like to discuss bringing the Coaching Journey into your organisation,
please reach out here:
What Makes The Journey SpecialThe Earth Converse Coaching Journey is not just a coaching programme or internal training. It is a profound experience co-created with the human and the more-than-human world and as such is an example of regenerative leadership.
It is special in that it is:
For your organisation and beyond – Coaching to liberate potential within yourself, your organisation, and beyond.
Lived and alive – Coaching isn’t learned from books. Nature isn’t experienced through theory. This journey is fully experiential.
Immersive and expansive – A one-week residential retreat in a nature-rich environment, with 1:1 mentoring, group learning, and solo work before and after to sustain transformation.
Holistic – A holistic experience integrating self-care, nature, rest, nourishment, meditation, and movement.
Relational – A small, intimate group setting, where learning is heartfelt and deeply connected to each other and the world.
Blended learning – A fusion of virtual and in-person experiences to reflect the global, interconnected nature of our work.
ICF-aligned – Offering 124 contact hours to support those seeking International Coaching Federation (ICF) accreditation.
More than – More than coaching training. More than a leadership retreat. More than a personal or professional development course. More than what we believe we are capable of—individually and collectively.
Journey ElementsThe journey comprising 124 contact hours over a 6 month period, involves a weaving of the following elements:
- Solo work: The design is such that before, during and after the retreat, there is self-study to deepen self-awareness and mission as a coach. These include nature-based practices, reflection and contemplation, journaling, reading, podcasts, coaching perspective assignments and practice (asynchronous, 60 hours – and it your personal responsibility to track and validate these hours if you intend to seek accreditation.)
- Retreat: A 7 night holistic immersive in-person in-nature experiential learning experience focused on self-care, exploring consciousness and competencies, practicing coaching and gaining collective momentum. (45 hours including observed coaching sessions)
- 1:1 mentor coaching: Supervision where the ‘coach gets coached’ on their coaching. To deepen reflection and embed learning as a professional (5 one-hour sessions virtually or in person)
- Group supervision: Collective supervision where the coaches reflect on their coaching practice and share learning. So supported and challenged by each other and a PCC Accredited lead facilitator (3 x 2 hour webinars).
- Coaching perspectives: Exploring the range of coaching perspectives to enhance your knowledge base. And to reaffirm that coaching education is only the beginning: other knowledge and proficiencies will be needed to become a successful coach (4 x 2 hour webinars)
- Ongoing support: As you can start the journey whenever you want, you can receive support via email on an ongoing as-need basis.
The ApproachThis is a whole-system, mindful and nature-based approach, drawing on ancient wisdom and evidence based scientific practices weaved into blended learning.
To use the tree as a metaphor, the journey will be where:
The roots are the fundamentals, exploring the axiom, ‘who we are is how we coach’. This will be about self-exploration, and will extend to exploring key mindsets, heartsets and skills including setting the environment (context, contracting, coaching ethics and standards), mindsets (consciousness and responsibility). As well as the fundamentals of curiosity and listening.
The trunk is relationship, for coaching is in the relationship. We therefore explore the facets of relationship with self, others and the world including presence, holding space, understanding transactions, spotting and liberating patterns, expanding clear communication abilities and the difference between empathy and compassion.
The branches expand and deepen skill and mindsets. They include powerful questioning, storytelling and mirroring, metaphors and mystery, goal setting and feedback, change and transitions, monitoring and accountability and nature-based coaching.
The leaves are the unlimited perspectives and tools we can draw on and weave through as coaches, acknowledging we add to them on our life long journey as a coach. These can include but not be limited to, adult learning, emotional and cultural intelligence, ecopsychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, positive psychology, transactional analysis, constellations, mindfulness, team development theory, poetry, rites of passage…
To continue with the tree metaphor, we help prepare the ground in the solo work prior to the retreat, attend fully to the whole tree in the residential, and keep nurturing and pruning through the mentoring and collective input sessions. In blended learning terms, we bring a mix of instructor led discussions, whiteboard, storytelling, interactive methods, peer to peer, case studies, practical/hands on coaching, demonstrations, media, video, web-based and most of all, the natural wild world with all its surprises.
A way we will be exploring the competencies in our immersive experience will be through the lens of the Four Shields. An eco-psychological way and adult learning tool to understand our human nature in relationship with the world.
For example, some of the experiential elements to bring the competencies alive as mapped out against the Shields will be:
North:
Key models such as GROW and the 4 Shields, purpose and process steps, feedback and gratitude
West:
shadow work, nature as a mirror, life scripts, boundary setting, soulcraft
East
vision and visualisation techniques, future self meditation, silence and stillness
South
somatic awareness, innocence walks, embodied practice, intuition
Facilitator Lead
The journey is led by Earth Converse founder, Penelope Mavor. A courageous and skilled coach who will role model the coaching journey for you in her belief in potential and wholeness, growth mindset and curiosity. A gifted space holder, facilitator and wise guide she will inspire you to take self-leadership to be that coach in service of people and planet.
Penelope holds ICF’s PCC Accreditation. And has over 25 years international experience in sustainability and leadership, 15 years of which has involved leadership coaching and delivering coaching training, from the United Nations to Nissan.
Amongst her qualifications and experience, she holds 3 Masters including an MBA in International Business (Italy) and a Masters of Business and Corporate Coaching (Italy) and is a Vipassana meditator.
She co-delivered the Lane4/Middlesex Open Coaching Programme, trained hundreds of leaders as coaches with Impact International, has trained and co-guided with the rites of passage organisation School of Lost Borders and is a facilitator of Trust Circles for global business leaders and entrepreneurs with The Argonauts.
She is happy to co-deliver with internal facilitators, as a further way to build internal capacity within the organisation.
OutlineEach Journey runs for 6 months depending on the organisation and group’s needs, based on the following outline.
The schedule is designed to offer you both certainty and flexibility. And takes the following shape:
Retreat: 7 night retreat typically based on 2pm check in and 11am checkout (confirmed retreat by retreat basis)
Group perspectives webinars: It is designed that there will be 4 x 2 hour sessions over the 6 months.
Group Supervision: It is designed that there will be 3 x 2 hour sessions over the 6 months.
1:1 mentoring: There will be 5 x 1 hour sessions scheduled in agreement with individual participants over the 6 months.
Other Important MattersAccreditation: With 124 contact hours this journey is designed to satisfy Level 1 of the International Coaching Federation standards for coaching eduction. This will be important for those who wish to apply for the likes of the ICF Gold Standard Individual Accreditation (Associated Certified Coach) in the future via a Portfolio Path. The ultimate responsibility for a successful application lies with each individual, but at the time of completion of your Coaching Journey, each person will be given detailed information to support your application. In particular you will want to make sure you can validate your own asynchronous (self study) contact hours such as reading, writing, research, journaling, practice coaching and other activities.
As part of the ICF Accreditation process for the programme, there are some policies to help you feel it is fair and just.
Complaint/Grievance: We invite feedback and see it as an opportunity to enhance our learning and service. If you have a particular complaint or grievance, please raise it with us directly, even if you prefer to do it by email at info@earthconverse.com as a first step.
Equality: We believe in equality and diversity. Within the confines of the nature-based retreat, we will make every effort to accommodate special requirements including for disabilities, that we have been notified of and discussed in advance.
Attendance: If you have an emergency or become ill and are not able to attend all or part of a session, you will need to notify us at info@earthconverse.com.
If you miss any of the total live training hours, you may be given the option to work with the facilitator to cover the missed material at an additional cost.
In the event of partial completion of a programme, you can request a partial-completion certificate stating the hours that you completed. Though no refund will be given.
Cancellations and Refunds: For your peace of mind, we offer a 14 days full-refund cancellation period after enrolment. If you have to cancel after the registration closing date, you will be refunded 25%.
(If, in the unfortunate event we have to cancel, you will be fully refunded. And if for some reason we have to change venue or chef, the change will be of comparable standard and of no price change to you).
Personal risk: We will make every effort to keep you emotionally and physically safe. Ultimately you will be responsible for your own personal safety and risk-taking.
Testimonials“This 6 month coaching journey has been transformational. Seeped in the ethos of Earth Converse, Penelope is authentically invested in helping us recognise and develop our individual skills, gifts and strengths. With her years of experience as a leadership coach behind her, she is an inspiring, informative and generous facilitator. The retreat part of this course was above and beyond what I had envisioned. And after every one to one session I felt more positive, confident and capable of delivering my own form of coaching. I also looked forward to the group sessions. We were all so different in personality, background and experience but all on the same journey and I felt supported the entire way. I joined this course to develop my coaching, mentoring and facilitating skills for my new initiative, and I have not been disappointed. I can highly recommend this truly unique Earth Converse Coaching Journey!”
Paula Dickens, Founder, Sage Seas
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The 6-month Earth Converse Coaching Journey has really been a journey that has showed me so many new paths to walk on!
It all started with a 7-day retreat that really had blown my mind! It was a treat in all senses, and for all senses! Every day was a combination of self-care, touching hands-on coaching content and putting them into practice. The nature-based exercises made me dive deeper into who I am as a person and revealed who I could be as a coach. The food we got served definitely deserves an extra mention, as it was absolutely delicious as well!
The journey obviously didn’t finish after the retreat!
The 1:1 sessions brought me each time more clarity and showed me the path how to move forward on my personal coaching journey.
The “Coaching Perspective” sessions expanded our toolbox with so many amazing useful & very practical tools that not only come in handy to reach out to as a coach, but also in daily life.
The Group Supervision sessions made us aware, observe and reflect even deeper on how we are doing as a coach, through very practical models that we learned by doing in those sessions.
Last but definitely not least, Penny with her warm, ever supporting and playful personality makes all the difference! She creates this safe & open environment, where you have all the space you need to be able to learn and grow! Such an inspiring & loving person!
I signed up because I had this idea of working with humanitarians and challenging them in outdoor settings, not really knowing if I would want to be a coach, or what that actually even meant. The Earth Converse Coaching Journey brought me so much clarity on how to develop this idea and how to be able to work with people on a much deeper level!
I’m beyond grateful for what this journey has brought me!
The new paths that have been revealed are endless!
Sofie Knapen, Founder, Adventures Alchemy
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How to capture what felt so truly different and special about this 6-month training. An unexpected freshness and vitality, crisp language, real depth of knowing and understanding – these are some of the qualities Penny Mavor brings to this Earth Converse programme. Plus, tremendous generosity sharing her learning, experience and wisdom, and commitment to guiding participants in their coaching journey, wherever they each might be at. She offers rigour and she brings in fun. The week-long intensive in particular offered an opportunity to sink deep into exploration and learning, feeling supported, held and challenged. Oh yes, there were surprises and challenges. The best learning – thank you.
Andrea Dechamps, Director of Patient & Family Support, St Wilfrid’s Hospice
