Hearth | An Emergent Salon Series
We live in a time that feels increasingly disconnected, drained, fragmented, and digital. We are the most connected generation in human history and one of the loneliest. Community has become something we scroll toward rather than build. Connection and communal care has been outsourced.
How do we remain human? How do we tend to and nurture our need to connect, be in community, and create/inspire together?
At Shelterwood Collective, we orient around a different premise: community is our medicine. It isn’t a metaphor, or a catchy phrase. It’s an operating truth for us. And one that we desire more community and collaboration around in our neighborhood and city.
Healing was never meant to happen in isolation. Our nervous systems regulate in relationship to other nervous systems. Grief moves when it's witnessed. Joy multiplies when it's shared. The wellness culture we've inherited tells us to heal ourselves, alone, with the right practice or the right purchase. But, our bodies and spirits know (even unconsciously) that health is relational and medicine is something we make with each other.
Hearth is where we practice that on purpose. It's a monthly return to something ancient — the fire that people have always gathered around to think out loud together, wonder, disagree/challenge, hold complexity, and share wisdom/resources. This is a conversation with room in it.
Our inaugural gathering opens with the question underneath all of it: what does it actually mean that community is our medicine?
Lynda Lopez and Nicole Greenwald will open this series in dialogue with each other, then open the floor — pulling the threads of the conversation out into the room, where everyone gathered gets to add their own.
All are welcome. We’d love to have you join us.
Container
Join us in person at the Apothecary for a relaxed, intentional, cafe-style gathering. Come with a question, an idea, a story, or simply your curiosity and presence.
The Hearth is an emergent salon series. We’ll be gathering on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 6:00-8:30pm. Some months we’ll have a multi-voice conversation on a topic/theme; others will feature an author sharing about their book/article; others a creative expanding our imaginations. We’re excited to see what emerges. And we welcome your ideas and collaboration!
Doors open at 6. A drink ticket is included with your registration. Additional refreshments, wine, and bites are available for purchase. The conversation runs from 6:30-7:30, followed by an open forum with Q&A until 8. Come curious, come open, come as you are.
Please reserve your spot so we can prepare the space for you. Seating is limited, so we recommend arriving early to settle in and start connecting.
Accessibility
The Apothecary is located on the ground level. The entrance requires one step up, but a ramp is available. The restroom is also accessible by one step and is not ADA accessible. Please let us know in your RSVP if you have any accessibility requirements so we can do our best to accommodate you.
Exchange
Our sliding scale exchange allows us to hold this space while allowing you to opt in to what’s most sustainable for you:
$11 — Access point (covers refreshment)
$22 — True cost (covers the container: space, hospitality, and a stipend for our speaker)
$33 — Pay it forward (helps hold space for someone else)
$0 — No one will be turned away for lack of funds
Lynda Lopez
Director of Collective Development at Shelterwood Collective
I am a hopeless advocate for pursuing purpose, and an eternal optimist for the human spirit and our shared humanity. I'm a strategic facilitator and community builder at heart. Cultivating spaces for meaningful connection and shared imagination is a core passion of mine.
At Shelterwood Collective, I grow mission-aligned strategy, programming, and partnerships. I also coach and facilitate strategy for purpose-led companies and leaders through Lynda Lopez and Co.
There's something special that happens when curious, thoughtful, passionate people gather in one room. I'm looking forward to being in it with you, come curious, come open, come ready to imagine together!
Nicole Greenwald
Therapist & Founder
I’m an endlessly curious, creative spirit. I am a therapist who often shows up as a gatherer, weaver, and ritual tender.
I am the founder of Shelterwood Collective, a community of support and collaboration for healing practitioners, and the Apothecary, a neighborhood hub for offerings rooted in community as medicine.
I feel strongly that our need for human connection is enduring. I’m honored to be a part of this gathering. There is something so simple yet so rare about coming together for intentional conversation and honest exploration. It’s a form of communion and community care. I am so looking forward to being with you all.