After a 30+ year history of Centers Gatherings being held around the world, we’ve been growing into a more formal organisation in the last twelve months. An Executive Director has been in role since December 2016 and the Board grew from three members to six in 2017. In the next month you’ll notice a new look to the website as we strengthen our online presence.
The Holistic Centers Network (HCN) provides creative networking opportunities that strengthen communication, connection and collaboration among holistic centers around the world, and hosts the annual Centers Gathering. HCN and Centers Gathering are the primary initiatives of the Breitenbush Eco Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit social benefit organization based in Oregon, USA.
Board of Directors
Peter Moore
President
Peter is Business Director of Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat & Conference Center and former Publisher/Editor of Alternatives Magazine. He came to Breitenbush in 1978 and has been closely involved for forty years. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Living Dharma. Peter provides mediation, facilitation and editing services to a variety of clients.
Werner Brandt
Secretary/Treasurer
Werner has worked with technology for over 30 years, specializing in using online platforms to enhance collaboration and build community networks. He has developed the website, Work That Reconnects Network and Deep Times Journal based on the teachings of Joanna Macy. He is a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects and has participated in trainings with Animas Valley Institute and the Compassionate Listening Project. His website is http://dharmaseeds.org/
Betsy Toll
Betsy is the vision-holder and founder of Living Earth, volunteering as program director, project coordinator, and retreat facilitator. She worked for a decade in Oregon environmental non-profits and served on the boards of the Environmental Federation of Oregon and EarthShare Oregon. A freelance writer and editor, Betsy counts Ram Dass and Joanna Macy as treasured inspirations, and also honors Catherine Ingram, Joan Halifax, Frank Ostaseski, and many other teachers. Betsy retired from the Board in April 2017 due to other commitments and family responsibilities having supported us with great dedication over several years.
Rachel Davey
Rachel has worked for 25 years in a variety of educational contexts in Canada and internationally. From 2009-2017 she was Executive Director of The Haven, a centre for transformative learning on Gabriola Island, British Columbia. Having lived and worked in seven different countries around the world during her career, she is passionate about fostering and creating unity in diversity and working with organizations like the HCN whose mission is to strengthen connection and collaboration.
Carol Donahoe
Carol has worked in the retreat center business for over 20 years, originally as a consultant, for three years as the Director of a Women’s Spirituality Center, and for the past 11 years at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies where she currently holds the position of Program Director. Her passion is creating programs that have the ability to transform people’s lives, and her experience has shown her the capacity holistic centers have to create those opportunities. She is a natural networker and connector who enjoys bringing others together to see what greater gifts can emerge out of the connections. She spent a great deal of her life travelling the world, living in several locations in the U.S. as well as Japan, Germany and France. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Ralph White
Ralph White is the co-founder of the New York Open Center, the city’s leading venue for holistic learning for the last 33 years. He currently directs the Art of Dying and Esoteric Quest conferences. He is the author of the memoir, The Jeweled Highway: On the Quest for a Life of Meaning, and edited Lapis Magazine for six years. He is a world traveler, speaker, writer, sometime radio host, and organizer of multiple events to do with consciousness, spirituality, ecology and social change over the last four decades. He was present at the first Gathering of Holistic Centers over thirty years ago and has attended them faithfully ever since. He lives in New York City.
Sean Feng
Sean Feng is one of the few pioneers in the early 1990’s to have traveled along the path of personal growth that was unheard of in China until many years later. He went to The Haven to study with the founders, Jock and Ben, and other teachers there and earned it’s diploma in counselling. Sean returned to China in 2000 and helped found Haiwen Institute, the Haven affiliated teaching center. He supervises their Diploma in Counseling and there are now over five thousand graduates from Haven core programs in China. In 2015 Sean hosted the first HCN Gathering in Beijing. In 2017 he joined the Beijing based Bene Wellness Institute as it’s Director of Education and liaison of International Relations and actively strengthens our connections with the holistic impulse in China.
Christine Lines
Christine is Executive Director of the Holistic Centers Network and Network Weaver of the Findhorn Foundation. She worked in Travel and Tourism for over ten years enjoying the outer adventure, before focusing on the inner journey. A writer and traveller at heart, Christine has a passion for conscious communication, holistic learning, and collaboration in the global community. She first heard about the Gathering in 2010 when she was the Retreats Manager of the Byron Yoga Centre in Australia. Surprised to discover there was no website she has been dedicated to the development of the HCN ever since. The Findhorn Foundation and Community has been her home for seven years and she often travels in her dual role.
Joanne (Jo) Station says
I am so happy to read of this. Thank you all for the important work you are doing for us and for the World.