Testimonials
"I highly recommend Alyson Ewald as a facilitator for your group, organization, or community.
Alyson not only brings a well-honed set of facilitation skills - deep active listening, creating an inclusive environment, and clear communication - but above that, brings her enormous capacity for empathy and creativity to meet the unique needs of your group.”
Teri Page
Author, "Family Homesteading", VT
"Everyone in our group LOVED Alyson. We deeply appreciated what she brought to us, particularly the Restorative Circle and the exercises where we used physical movement to share our thoughts and opinions. Alyson supported us to move away from conflict and toward reconciliation. Everyone feels more trusting and confident now. We're so grateful!”
David Edleson
Camp Destiny, VT
"Alyson's calm, organized manner had a very reassuring effect. And her forthright, optimistic stance helped us get through a difficult discussion with a sense of clear progress.”
Bill Smith
Belfast Cohousing, ME
"Working with Alyson has been incredibly easeful and helpful. The difference that a skillful facilitator makes is profound and essential to any group process.”
Mike Patterson
Bear Creek Community Land Trust, MO
"Alyson has invested a lot of thought and practice into how to engage in different types of communications that are successful in both process and outcome, including difficult conversations where emotions threaten to derail any meaningful movement forward. More importantly, she uses her approaches and awareness in her personal life, and assists others to find their best path forward in both simple and complex situations.”
Dorothy Goertz
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, MO
"Alyson brought so many facilitation tools and years of experience to our community process. Allowing Alyson to step in and steer for a few critical meetings was incredibly fruitful and allowed us all to be fully present with each other. She navigated deftly between facilitating and at times consulting based on years of her own experience forming communities. I felt so grateful for her expertise in both realms when we hit conflict and when we had breakthroughs. I would definitely recommend working with her to any group in the process of building community.”
Julia Jack-Scott
Bear Creek Community Land Trust, MO
"Alyson struck the right balance between "stepping forward" -- offering her wisdom and experiences -- and "stepping back" -- allowing us to deepen our connections and commitments with each other. In my long years it is a rare facilitator who can so seamlessly move between those stances. I so appreciated Alyson's time and guidance. It was a rich experience.”
Christopher Shanky
Rocky Hill Cohousing, MA
"I’m inspired and satisfied that we have approachable action items and decisions made. Alyson makes daunting community process seem doable. And in a way that all voices are invited AND keeps us on track to get things done.”
Regina Bambrick-Rust
Bear Creek Community Land Trust, MO
"Alyson's facilitation was fabulous. Everyone is feeling so positive about the way she conducted the sessions on conflict, and there is a new openness to addressing it. I am so grateful!"
Helen Kolff
Port Townsend EcoVillage, WA
"Alyson's use of language is wonderful and she summarizes what she hears beautifully. This helped members of our group find the words to express difficult things in a way that others could hear.”
Abby Gilchrist
Belfast Cohousing, ME
"Alyson is dedicated to helping others learn about themselves and their community. She is committed to fostering peace and understanding, and her outgoing personality and wide travel experience give her the capacity to work with people from different ethnicities and backgrounds.”
Giovanni Ciarlo
Gaia Education, NY, and Huehuecoyotl, Mexico
"Alyson is such a warm and compassionate facilitator. Sharing in groups is often difficult for me, but she creates a safe space where I am more comfortable sharing. This class pushed my edge of being vulnerable with others in group settings but also in my personal life. I've become better at sharing my needs and thoughts with my partner, which has been incredibly beneficial. We're able to more effectively communicate with each other, which leads to more positive interactions - and the negative ones get discussed in a compassionate way and are handled in a timely manner..”
Jen Young
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, MO