Creative Encounters

Moving our Creative Encounters office to the beautiful high desert location of Joshua Tree, California, is one of the best decisions we have ever made. We find the air clean and the boundless views inspiring. The quiet and peace of the desert provides the opportunity for renewal and reflection and has greatly supported the growth and development of our work with others – all of which caused us to think that others might also find this to be true.

So we have begun offering Executive Retreats here in the gateway to Joshua Tree National Park, one of the most unique wilderness areas in the world. We have chosen, for our retreat location, the luxury bed and breakfast inn, Sacred Sands. The inn’s Great Room is perfect for retreat meetings, and their two guest rooms, the epitome in comfort and beauty. Sacred Sands will arrange additional nearby lodging to accommodate all retreat participants.

We are now offering three one-day Facilitator Training workshops for those interested in learning how to incorporate Creative Encounters’ experiential learning methods in working developmentally with groups. We delivered several workshops in 2006 and 2007, and if there is interest, will offer them again in 2008.

All workshops are limited to a minimum group size of 8, maximum of 12, and are highly interactive, experiential workshops in which participants will learn through facilitated discussion, skill practice, demonstrations, assessments, and the opportunity to give and gain feedback from each other. Our three levels of training described below can be done separately or integrated into a multi-day workshop.

Introduction to Experiential Learning Facilitation
Participants learn the experiential learning model, basic set up, facilitation and debriefing of experiential activities, and have an opportunity to practice facilitating short activities.

Advanced Experiential Learning Facilitation
Provides the opportunity to learn and practice a wide range of process tools for managing individual and group dynamics, as wells as enhancing engagement, meaningful reflection and sharing.

Designing Experiential Learning Programs
Participants learn and practice the art of activity selection, sequencing and framing as means for reaching specific objectives.

Creative Encounters has been doing organizational development, team building and leadership training, primarily in Egypt, since 2000 (click here for more details of our work in the MENA region). In 2006, we were offered the exciting opportunity to partner with the Institute of International Education in Cairo, in the delivery of their National Student Leadership Program. Pyramid and Maze We have conducted two-day team building retreats for each of 3 semesters of this program and will continue to be a part of this ongoing project. We have also provided Training of Trainer programs for Egyptian facilitators in order to help support the sustainability of these IIE programs in Egypt.

We are very happy with this new collaborative effort with IIE, which has also resulted in the opportunity to do more organizational development with Egyptian and multi-national corporations in the MENA region.