Niels Koldewijn

Trainer/facilitator of group-processes, social entrepreneur, initiator of social and collaborative projects in communities, companies and governments.

Builds international-, intercultural- and inter sectorial bridges, where he combines a mind-driven experience in business and entrepreneurship with the heart-driven approach of connecting with people´s deeper motivations and human qualities.

Works worldwide with project experience in South America (primarily Brazil), Europe, Southern Africa and the Caribbean.Niels is social, hardworking, connector, optimist, changemaker, sees solutions, links and connections easily, good listener and has the ability to connect to many people by creating a friendly environment of trust and confidence.  Extensive experience in Oasis Game, has studied the foundation year in process work and has co-facilitated various Go Deep Games across Europe.

Sergi Barrientos

Facilitator, Trainer, Coach and Student with 20 years experience been involved in projects around Social justice, youth education and community work. My travels and relationships around the world opened my heart and connected me with a huge diversity of cultures and perspectives of life.

I believe in Diversity and participation as a way to create conscious and sustainable communities, and believe that the collective wisdom present in any group is the core competence to solve any dilemma or challenge that may appear on its path.

Due to my curiosity and joy to research and discover new ways on my facilitation training path, I have explored different techniques and tools such as Process Oriented Psychology, Worldwork, Oasis Game, Visual Facilitation, Systemic Facilitation, Coaching, Permaculture, Theatre of the Oppressed, Clowning and Nonviolent Communication.
I’m really passionate about the systemic thinking approach and the experience of the individual as a channel of the group. If I get deeper into this, what really fascinates me is how the quality in our relationships with the outer world and with ourselves transforms when we allow ourselves, as individuals to connect deeply with our inner sense and that brings an awareness of ourselves as being part of something much bigger, part of an
ecosystem bringing us the perfect challenges to keep growing as human beings and groups.
I have been involved in different projects around youth and prevention of violence, Gender, Queer and Trans* Issues and have a lot of experience around this topic, Mental Health, Diversity and Community Building.
As somebody educated in feminist values, it’s important for me to bring gender perspectives to my work and explore how to apply it in diverse forms.
In these last years this is changing to an intersectional perspective that considers many of the different systems that organize us as human beings e.g. race, class or functional diversity. I have to recognize that even all these years, the more time I spend learning, the less I have the feeling of knowing. If instead of denying imperfection and vulnerability, we recognize them, they can even become a tool of force.

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy
Around 2010, concerned about the difficulties experienced in intentional communities and social movements to manage our own tensions and achieve our dreams, I began to really explore deeply and learn about different methods and tools that could support groups to access its own potential and collective wisdom.
My first experience with Process Work was in 2010 and I have been studying it formally since 2011, currently I am a Phase II student of Process Work Diploma in Barcelona. I apply Process Work in my trainings and interventions as a group facilitator, and since 2015 I have been accompanying people in their individual processes. I am in the last stage to achieve my Diploma and am working on my final project about “Men and Violence Dynamics”.

My relation with Elos Philosophy is through my colleague Conchi Piñeiro, who introduced me to experiences of the Oasis Game, since then I have organized and been part of the Oasis Training in Barcelona (2014) and a participant in Oasis training in Prainha Branca (Brasil).

Lily Vassiliou

A Processwork practitioner, trainer, facilitator, and community worker with a background in Social Work, Systems Theory and Group Dynamics, and a passion for the interconnection between personal and social change. I completed university studies in Social Work and doctoral studies in Psychology, and trained in Systems Theory and Group Dynamics, and Processwork. I live in Greece and work locally and internationally. Together with colleagues I brought Processwork to Greece, and co-founded Processwork Greece and Processwork Hub. I am an associate of the Athenian Institute of Anthropos. Among my interests is Worldwork – the application of Processwork to working with groups, organisations and communities – which involves working with power and rank, diversity and communication issues to create sustainable relationships.

I’m acutely aware of the escalating tensions on our planet, and seek ways to be actively involved in working with them.

I yearn to be part of a collective awareness that can ride this wave of escalation, stay with its intensity and make space for the complexity involved, so that the inherent diversity is seen, appreciated and deepened until it guides us to an underlying common ground – a feeling atmosphere from where a collective wisdom and a momentary sense of community can emerge. I yearn and love being out in nature, through which I experience the mystery of life.

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy:
In Processwork I found a paradigm that views process, i.e., what is happening, as the Teacher; a paradigm that values all experiences and finds treasures hidden in the most troublesome of them. I began studying Processwork in 1991 and completed my official training in 1997. I continue to learn about following the process in each activity I’m involved in. I am currently a member of the faculty of the training programs of Processwork Hub in Athens, Greece, Processwork Spain, in Barcelona, Spain and the Process Work Institute in Portland, USA. I use the Processwork paradigm to make sense and discover the wisdom of the underlying processes in my personal life, and in my professional life while training people, doing supervision, facilitating, doing team-building or helping people in their personal development.

Ilaria Magagna

After the Theatre and Art degree, she has worked like a Cultural Project Manager and Organizer with many theatral organizations. She wrote and win Apulia Regional project about citizen participation and activism and founded the organization Comunitazione which work in participatory processes and in community training .

Since few years she study and approach different tools and methodologies of facilitation and community building (Oasis Game, Process Work, Creative Resolutions of conflict, Visual facilitation, non formal education and others) and she work like a facilitator, trainer and consultant of groups and organizations. She is studying in the Processwork Italian School. She is part of the team that create and project Go deep Game, a game that explore the dynamics of the groups and communities.

Mara Verduin

Being an applied anthropologist by education i love to help people to get to the core of the  matter,  to  connect  in  a  genuine  way  and  to  get  individuals  and  groups  ready  for action  independently  and  collectively.  I’m  experienced  in  inclusive  and  interactive processes, cultural change, community building and communication as a trainer, facilitator and host.

I work both independently as a freelance facilitator & as part of the Elos Foundation on projects that spark collective action within communities to strengthen relationships, that believe in the power of diversity and build a future we all dream of. Go Deep is the realisation of one of my own dreams: to find ways to deal with group and relation dynamics in a light way.

Organization – Elos Foundation:

Elos in Portuguese means ‘links’ and stands for the power of transformative relationships constructed in the work we do locally and internationally. Elos is registrered in Holland and Elos´ mission is “to offer innovative solutions for building the best of all worlds in a collective, pleasant way, using methodologies based on the Elos Philosophy and supporting the realization of socially impactful projects locally and globally.”

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy:

“Being part of the Elos Foundation, i’ve been organising, facilitating and training in oasis games since 2011. Since 2014 i’ve been studying deep democracy & nowadays super happy to be a process work student in the Italian school. It’s an amazing journey!

Pat Black

Pat is co-founder and Director of Diversity Matters, Edinburgh, Scotland. She has more than 40 years experience of working in health and social care sectors as well as in a range of community building initiatives.
Pat has been a founder member number of innovative social care organisations including and has been a director in many of those organisations. One current project funded by the Scottish government allows her to lead a diverse team of people with different life experiences in an innovative and exciting project creating new ways for people experiencing marginalisation to engage in community.

She is interested in finding new ways to listen to the experiences of people and hear new voices and works with graphic artists, musicians, theatre professionals, story tellers, animators and other artists to share project learnings and ideas.

Experience of Process Work
As a Processwork Diplomate studying process work since 1997 and qualifying in 2007 Pat has had roles in different process work schools including Director of Studies in the UK (2007-2015) and has worked with groups and individuals as a processworker in many settings.
She is passionate about sharing the skills and tools of process work with people who are new to the ideas and finding ways for people who experience marginalisation, for any reason, to learn and use those tools in whatever situation they find themselves.

Daniela di Nora

Alexandra Vassiliou

Alexandra Vassiliou is a Processworker, conflict resolution facilitator, trainer, and community worker. She studied Agricultural Engineering (specializing in Agricultural Economy) at the Agricultural University of Athens, and was trained in Systems Theory and its Application in the Human Sciences at the Athenian Institute of Anthropos. She later trained in Processwork (Diploma in Process Work) at the Process Work Institute, Oregon, USA, and completed graduate studies in Social Psychology (Ph.D. in Social Psychology) at the Union Institute, Ohio, USA. She lives in Greece, and works locally and internationally. She is a founding member of the Processwork Hub in Athens and collaborates with public and private organizations, NGOs, schools and universities.

In her work as a facilitator, trainer and group supervisor, she supports groups in their team building, communication and conflict resolution skills. She is interested in human experiences, as expressed through the body, dreams and relationships and the connections between personal and social/political change.

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy:
Alexandra has been involved with Processwork since 1990. In this approach she found the necessary tools and a deeper understanding of human experiences internally, as we all as in relationships and in the world. She has taught Processwork in Greece and internationally since 1996, facilitating seminars that are addressed to professionals (therapists, social workers, school teachers, health professionals, etc). She is also a faculty member for training programs in Processwork in Greece, Slovakia and Spain.

André Vizinho

I am a facilitator, trainer, researcher and project coordinator and I work with an Action-Research approach, coordinating projects and developing research in the Faculty of Sciences of the Lisbon University in the CE3C research centre. I am interested in creating and managing sustainable landscapes and also in improving the community social, economic and governance relations that can support and maintain healthy communities and resilient landscapes.

As a participatory-action-researcher I am also interested in experimenting the GoDeep Game in different contexts to evaluate its performance and continuously improve it and adapt it to support community development, cohesion and empowerment.

In the past, always working in teams, I have developed tailor-made participatory methods for different contexts, namely for the planning of adaptation to climate change at several levels such as inter-municipal, municipal or farm level. I work using participatory action research since 2012 and before that I have worked 9 years in rural local development, experimenting and developing new methods and approaches for community building, namely to create a sustainable village. In between, I am and have been a frequent conference spokesperson, a professional trainer, facilitator and project coordinator, leading and/or supporting innovation for sustainability.

Experience with Processwork and Elos Philosophy
I have joined the GoDeep game facilitation team only in 2018. My experience in GoDeep facilitation is complemented with my experience in facilitating, implementing and training on different methods and approaches such as ABCD – Asset Based Community Development, Transition Towns trainer, Participatory-Action-Research, Permaculture Design, Open Space Technology, Dragon Dreaming, Deep Ecology and the Work that Reconnects, Scenario Workshop, World Café, Fish Bowl, Sociocracy 3.0 and more.

Raúl Rodríguez

I have been working in the social field for 20 years with different organizations: companies, associations and cooperatives. From 2005 to 2012 I was involved in a cooperative project (Lares S.coop) where I became familiar with the social and solidary-based economy, which at present has become a part of many aspects of my life.

I am currently working as a trainer and social consultant from the process work approach in different dimensions: personal, group and community.

I like to learn, create and experiment with innovative methodologies and I love being a companion of personal and collective wisdom. If I delve deeper into why I do what I do, I find that all people and all communities can be more than they think they can be.

Experience with Elos Philosophy

I am a facilitator of Oasis, I became familiar with this methodology in 2008 in Mexico and from that moment I felt in love with it. I trained at the Oasis Training in Barcelona and Brazil, at Prainha Branca. I am part of the GSA Madrid group, boosting and promoting the Elos philosophy in Spain. I have facilitated the following Oasis: San Nicasio Oasis, Vallekas Oasis and Moviliza Lozoya (an adaptation of the Oasis from a Multigenerational perspective). Along with other colleagues from GSA Madrid, we won the Fellowship “for a long and full life” organized by Impact Hub Madrid.

Experience in Process Work

I began to walk this path in 2014, looking for answers to personal conflicts, and I also found a way to work with people, groups and communities. I am currently studying the Diploma at the Process Work Institute of Barcelona, Phase II. I am putting process work into practice through individual, relational and group guidance. I have also co-facilitated several trainings from this approach: the seminar on leadership in Madrid in 2015 and another one on deep democracy in 2017 with Leticia Mendoza. I also co-facilitated in 2017 the meeting “The world and me”, organized by the Human Conflict Transformation Center.

Since Godeep started, I have been part of the Altekio S.coop team, putting into practice the ELOS philosophy and the process work methodology, and a facilitator member of GoDeep Grottaglie and Godeep Lozoya.

Giulio Ferretto

Degree in history of theater, actor, clown, musician, folk dancer, drama teacher for children and adults, start to apply his knowledge and skills at the facilitation’s field since the 2012. He is one of the founders of Comunitazione, with this organization partecipates in differents projects in Italy and Europe with different tools and methodologies of facilitation and community building (Oasis Game, Process Work, Creative Resolutions of conflict, Visual facilitations, Go Deep Game, non formal education and others). He work as facilitator of groups, meetings and as trainers in the facilitation’s field. He is part of the team that create and project Go deep Game, a game that explore the dynamics of the groups and communities.

Lena Aslanidou

A Processworker, trainer, conflict resolution facilitator and community worker. I completed my Social Work studies at the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences and I was trained in Systems Theory, Family Therapy and Group Dynamics at the Athenian Institute of Anthropos. I was later trained in Processwork (Diploma in Process Work and Master’s in Processwork) at the Process Work Institute, Oregon, USA. I live in Athens and work in Greece and internationally. Together with colleagues I co-founded the Processwork Hub and Processwork Greece. I have a private practice and I collaborate with public and private organizations offering training in communication and conflict resolution skills.

I was always interested in the connection between the inner and the outer, and I believe that inner work and relationship work, as well as the connection with the spiritual aspects of life that connect us to a deeper love, joy and openness are the basis for social change and institutional change.

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy:
I have been involved with Processwork since 1990 when I started my training. In Processwork I found a cohesive approach which was connecting 3 very significant areas of my life and studies, the inner / psychological, the political and the spiritual human experience. Processwork connected in one paradigm what was before separate and even conflicting and gave me the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to understand and work with individuals and groups. Since 1997 I am teaching processwork to professionals as well as individuals that are interested in personal growth. I am a faculty member for the training programs in Greece and Slovakia and an adjunct faculty in the training program in Spain.

Filipe Moreira

Social entrepreneur, academic action-researcher, teacher and trainer in Sustainability. Filipe has a 15 year experience working in the social and solidarity economy, namely as founder and member of Biovilla, Coopérnico, Ecolution and Conexão Lusófona; a 8-year experience in academic research at the University of Lisbon, specifically in EU FP7 and H2020 projects such as BASE and SIRCLE and a 10 year experience as a trainer and teacher in topics that range from Permaculture to Ecological Economics, Impact Assessment and Alternative Monetary Systems. He is currently finishing his PhD in Policies for Sustainable Development and works with the Go Deep in two project: Go Deep in Education and GoToDiverse.

Conchi Piñeiro

A trainer, a postdoctoral researcher and a facilitator, with integral sustainability as the core goal and passion for different methods and approaches. Founder and an employee of Altekio, a collective experience of entrepreneurship within social and solidarity economy framework, that helps me to catalyse entrepreneurship and collective leadership in different projects. My role in Altekio is project coordinator, as a result of years of experience in coordinating projects.

I have been part of different social and community movements for more than 20 years. ​My experience of living and working in different countries (UK, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Morocco, etc.) connects me with my search for diversity. 

As a researcher, current member of the Laboratory of Socioecosystems (UAM), I have published more than 30 articles, conference papers, book chapters, etc. and teach in several Master programmes.

Experience with Process Work and Elos Philosophy: 

“My relationship with Elos Philosophy starts in Oaxaca (Mexico) where I cofacilitated Warriors Without Weapons Programme with some Elos Institute members and a local team of facilitators. Since then, I have been applying and deepening in the Oasis Game and other applications in experiences like Oasis Copenhague (2009), Oasis Training in London (2012), Oasis Training Barcelona (2014), Oasis Lozoya (2016), etc. I participated as a warrior in WWW 2014 in Brazil.

My first contact with Process Work is through group facilitation in 2001 and years after learning at different workshops. I have been studing formally Process Work since 2011, currently being Phase II student of Process Work Diploma at Barcelona. I apply it in my trainings and interventions as a group facilitator, and I have been since 2015 accompanying people in their individual processes.”

Andrew Smith

A facilitator, teacher, psychotherapist and serial social entrepreneur, with a passion and track record in transformational change in communities, organisations and participative democracy, inclusion and diversity. After many years working to develop new initiatives in social care I co-founded Diversity Matters with my partner Pat Black. This work is about inclusion and deep democracy, finding ways to welcome all the different life experiences, perspectives and gifts we have between us. I am also a fervent lover of long distance cycling, camping and wild places, song-writing and singing in the shower.

Organisation (Diversity Matters)
Diversity Matters has been working for a more inclusive Scotland since 2001 and has won four different national and international award for its work, including innovation, life long learning, changing work place practice. The long term aim is that communities work for everyone. Lack of inclusion has a huge impact. We not only deny everyone access to the gifts, talents and contributions of those we exclude but we also create a poverty of relationship too. In order to work on this problem we develop projects, ideas and initiatives. These include ‘the Everyone-Together Project’ which helps to shape citizen control and involvement in social care and health fields and or work with theatre and other arts to bring awareness to the unheralded gifts, contributions and dreams of all citizens. We always work teams and draw membership from people with widely diverse backgrounds because this brings the most strength, creativity and fun to the projects we are engaged in.

Experience with Processwork and Elos Philosophy
I has been studying Processwork formally since 2001 and I am a core faculty member in the UK and Spanish schools of Processwork. My enthusiasm is in ecological and systemic thinking and in the relationship between the inner experience and intuition of the facilitator and how the local field or context helps shape and brings forth different roles and perspectives. In the 1990’s concerned about the isolation and loneliness experienced by some people I was supporting to leave institutional care, I trained and was enthused by the Asset Based Community Development approach (ABCD).  I was excited and heartened to discover the Elos philiosphy which takes very similar core principles but applies them in incredibly practical ways that give positive feedback to communities about their ability to act and awareness of their talents. It is a truly deep pleasure to be part of the Go Deep project team and to contribute to what has emerged through this creative collaboration.

Emiliano Bon

Emiliano has been working with groups for almost 20 years in different fields and with different people. He is an expert in applying and managing different kinds of projects, especially EU projects for youth mobility and international volunteering experiences. He is the coordinator of Xena Centro scambi e dinamiche interculturali, a cultural association based in Padova (Italy) that works in the intercultural field both at local and international level, fostering the meeting among different cultures and promoting intercultural learning.

The experience in Go Deep! was for him an incredible opportunity to go more inside Process Work and Oasis Game and to see the possibility to use them together to create positive change in local community, changing the world game after game.

The ability to discover talents and beauty all around you is a wonderful gift that Go deep! gave to him. His favorite line is the Feeling’s one because it is one of the most important field to work in and at the same time one of the biggest edge inside people and inside communities.

Melania Bigi

After the Architect degree, has studied different tools and methodologies of facilitation, with a special focus in community building: part of the organization Comunitazione since 2014, works as facilitator, trainer and consultant since 2011. She particularly aims to train groups for a better communication and cooperation, unfolding the power of each element of the system. She’s one of the authors of the book ‘Facilitiamoci – Prendersi cura di gruppi e comunità’, a book to spread facilitation in Italy. She is also a visual facilitator and loves to support the process through visual tools.

Founder of the Processwork School in Italy (www.artedelprocesso.com) is a phase 1 student: she loves to apply the Processwork fundamentals and to mix them with other methodologies.

She uses Elos philosophy and Oasis Game as bases of participatory processes since 2013 and participated to Warriors Without Weapons in Brazil in 2015: with Comunitazione has facilitated many processes around Italy.