Collective Wisdom: The Space Between Us
Reclaiming Intimacy in the Healing Relationship
"The space between us" is where the actual work of healing happens. Not in technique, but in what's allowed to pass between two people. It sets up the panel's core tension: closeness vs. performance, boundary vs. avoidance.
Collective Wisdom is our seasonal rhythm of communal reflection — unscripted panel conversations that create space for inspiration, connection, and collective healing on the topics that matter most right now.
This fall, we turn our attention to intimacy — and to the strange fact that so many of us do this work because of our own complicated relationship to it.
Our culture is largely designed to insulate us from intimacy. And the work of healing — whatever form it takes — is, at its root, the work of restoring intimacy: with our stories, our bodies, our relationships, own passion and purpose. As practitioners, we often struggle with the very thing we’re helping others reclaim. Some of us are drawn to this field precisely because it lets us perform intimacy and vulnerability without actually being intimate or vulnerable ourselves.
There's also a quieter fear running underneath a lot of our training: that being genuinely moved, affected, or impacted by a client is somehow unethical. It isn't. Sleeping with a client, showing up at their house — that's a violation. Letting yourself be human, be touched by the person in front of you — that's often where the real healing lives. This gathering is an invitation to sit with that distinction, together, out loud.
What We'll Explore
Where is the real line between professional boundary and authentic human impact? Where have we confused the two?
What does it look like to be with a client rather than to perform being with them?
How does our own relationship to intimacy shape what we can hold for others?
What in our training, culture, and/or field has taught us that closeness is dangerous?
How can allowing ourselves to be moved by our clients become a source of healing rather than a threat to it?
What does ethical, embodied intimacy actually require of a practitioner?
Panelists
This will be an interdisciplinary panel conversation facilitated by psychotherapist and placemaker, Nicole Greenwald. Stayed tuned as we introduce our panelists!
Container
Collective Wisdom gatherings combine a facilitated, interdisciplinary panel dialogue with small-group reflection and integration.
This is a hybrid workshop. We’ll gather in person in Pioneer Square and virtually via Zoom.
Exchange
$22 General Public
$44 General Public w/ 2 CEUs
Shelterwood members — included in your monthly membership
Authorization
Participation includes 2 continuing education units. These CEUs are authorized and approved by the NASW Washington State Chapter. Our provider #1975-507. Licensed social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors are eligible.
Nicole Greenwald
Psychotherapist, Clinical Supervisor, & Consultant
Nicole (she/her) is a psychotherapist, educator, consultant, gatherer, and artist.
She has 15 years in practice as a psychotherapist and specializes in trauma and abuse, C-PTSD, identity, grief, and soulfulness (creativity/communion/spirit).
Nicole has over 20 years of experience in higher ed and non-profit leadership and provides consulting services for businesses, non-profits, and creatives focused on sustainability, social justice, and cooperative models.
She has long been inspired by and devoted to the beauty of mentorship and collaboration. One expression of that is her work with clinical supervisees and supervision of supervisors.
She is the co-Founder and Executive Director of Shelterwood Collective, a cooperative providing community, mentorship, and business administration support to healing practitioners.
Learn more about Nicole