Tending the Hearth: A Nature-based Program for Caregivers, Leaders and Stewards
Are you someone who takes care of others in your work and/or life? Perhaps you hold spaces for others, work with kids/youth, are a parent or guardian, a helping professional, a teacher/mentor or leader? We have designed these sessions to tend to the ones who tend to others!
Join other space holders in this program series facilitated by counsellors Vanya Laporte, RCC and Zoë Eakle, RTC.
There is often an overwhelming amount of pressure and information about what it means to care for others. In these unique, therapeutic programs our counsellors, Vanya and Zoë will offer folks a community space to be held with compassion and inspiration. Their aim is to empower participants to trust in themselves as well as the natural world, with a focus on bonding and belonging. Participants will be invited to engage in core practices that have been supportive to Vanya and Zoë’s own healing paths as space holders.
This group program could be for you if you are longing to deepen your connection to the natural world within a supportive group and to learn and practise more meaningful, life-sustaining ways of being one who cares and tends to others.
In these 1-day programs we will explore the following themes and practises:
Therapeutic Games, Activities and Crafting
Somatic Attunement & Regulation
Ritual and Ceremony
Plant Wisdom
Seasonal Awareness
Belonging and Reciprocity
Cultural Contexts
The Art of Questioning
Sharing and Listening in Circle
You can sign up for 1 or multiple group sessions (October 2025 - April 2026 *10% discount if you sign-up for all 5). Each workshop we will invite fun games, somatic practices, nature based activities, time around the fire to share our stories, and an opportunity to get in touch with plant allies, to find what is emerging both inside and outside ourselves! Seasonal teas & treats will be provided each session.
This series is designed with a through-line & an experiential arc, as you journey through this potent time of the year. We will tap into our deep remembrance of the seasonal gifts that are inherent within our bodies and by extension our lives as caregivers and/or stewards.
If you choose to do just one session however, each session is a complete workshop within itself.
"Deeply grateful for this program. As an educator and parent, I've felt an enrichment of my soul and a playfulness emerge in my parenting style. This program has really supported me as I weather the highs and lows of parenting in these wild times. Staying a while to be grounded, to notice, to embrace other's ways of being. To learn from each other has been a gift that I wouldn't have received in any other way in my day-to-day existence. A profound and unique experience, to be inspired for all my days to come!! With deep gratitude to the most thoughtful leaders of this gathering."
- Previous Tending the Heart Participant
Workshop Details:
Fee per session: $160 +gst *10% discount if you sign-up for all 5 sessions
*You may request a receipt to get reimbursed by health insurance for counselling with a Registered Clinical Counsellor
Dates: 10:30am - 4pm. October 19, 2025; November 16, 2025; February 8, 2026; March 15, 2026 and April 12, 2026.
Location: Cedar Song, 119 Ross Durrance Rd, Victoria BC V9E 2A3
Questions? contact vanya.laporte@gmail.com