THE HUMAN JOURNEY® Conductor Training

Learn to “conduct” others on THE HUMAN JOURNEY® and help them make meaning and connect more deeply. We ship you the beautiful, limited-edition physical Conductor’s Kits.

A resource by THE HUMAN JOURNEY®

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the isolation of families from each other have created a crisis for those who are living in fear or grief.

You can help them with an innovative tool in use by professionals but also intended for volunteers with experience in facilitating or helping groups, such as teachers, consultants, and others who can hold space for others.

You can help relieve the suffering around you, promoting a sense of belonging and meaning in life's crises, even across the physical distances.

The name THE HUMAN JOURNEY® sounds cool, but what is it for?

When you learn to conduct THE HUMAN JOURNEY® experience, you can help groups, families, and individuals make meaning in the face of life challenges and play their way toward a deeper belonging.

YOU CAN CONDUCT THIS EXPERIENCE ONLINE as well as in person.

THE HUMAN JOURNEY® helps families—and families of choice—co-construct their story when they are facing the challenge of their lives, definitely an approaching or recent loss, but THJ® is also relevant to a return from rehab, major news, or a big decision ahead.

Practitioners and volunteers will find THJ® a particularly relevant tool for working with people:

  • in peer support groups;
  • in palliative care or with life-altering illnesses; or
  • who are returning to the family or community after a time away.

Other applications include work with families who are dealing with:

  • eating disorders
  • incarceration
  • a return from military service
  • addiction
  • a need for change of care plan
  • an alteration of mental status.

THE HUMAN JOURNEY® Conductor's Kit and a comprehensive Conductor's Guidebook are part of the whole package.

A game, are you serious?

We are. The game structure makes it safe for those who might be scared off by the idea of anything that looks like therapy, counseling, or even a family meeting to join in.

The ground rules are part of what makes THE HUMAN JOURNEY® experience sing. Here is what trained THJ® Conductors identify as the experience’s strengths:

“Participants can identify the level of openness, vulnerability, and sharing that feel right to them.”

“THJ invites curiosity very naturally. That can be hard to generate!”

“The guidelines, the wording of the cards, etc. ‘hold’ participants as we move through this journey.”

In the end, what looks like a game ends up being what one Conductor has called “more of an experience.”

And the game itself is now packaged in a beautiful tin box—smaller than a bread box, and lovelier. You get the deluxe Conductor’s Kit as part of your registration. (THE HUMAN JOURNEY® Tote Bag is sold separately.)

You will receive full instructions for conducting THE HUMAN JOURNEY® online, using telehealth media and Zoom, in addition to the physical Kit, shipped right to your home or office.

How THE HUMAN JOURNEY® Live Online Training Works

1. You will select the training dates that work for you. Start at our website: https://www-the-human-journey.com .

There are eight hours of live webinars. We also schedule trainings for organizations on days convenient for them.

2. Then, ahead of time*, we’ll ship you the beautiful tin-boxed THE HUMAN JOURNEY®Conductor’s Kit and send you the download link for the Conductor’s Guidebook so you have a sense of the way to take folks. You'll unpack a deluxely produced, limited-edition board game.

3. You'll meet in a limited group online for a live, interactive training with THJ® Founder & CEO Sara K. Schneider. You'll learn how to lead the Journey using this tool that is board game, conversation tool, and living instrument to help families commit to the future, themselves, and each other--all in one.

4. And there's a bonus: You'll get a private Professional Refinement session with Dr. Schneider a month out, after you've gotten experience using THE HUMAN JOURNEY® in your professional setting.

The live online training includes an opportunity for practice online with a few friends or together with family members in the week between sessions, allowing participants to get live coaching on their experience conducting the first portion of the experience.

This feature is exclusive to the live webinar format.

We’re so glad that those outside Chicago can at last train and be fully equipped to conduct THE HUMAN JOURNEY® at a very reasonable cost. Please join us and let your colleagues know.

Registration is limited for each training to maintain a meaningful interactive training experience.

We recommend ordering tickets well in advance because you'll particularly enjoy exploring your Conductor’s Kit (shipped) and the Conductor’s Guidebook (sent as download link) prior to the start of training. Both are sent out two weeks in advance of the training date. Conductor’s Kits will also be shipped on a rolling basis with incoming registrations.

Who conducts THE HUMAN JOURNEY®?

  • Therapists in private practice
  • Chaplains.
  • Art therapists
  • Hospice social workers
  • Geriatric care managers
  • Medical social workers
  • Volunteers with skills in group facilitation.

What do professionals have to say about THE HUMAN JOURNEY®?

“The opening up, the sharing, the evolution, it's built into the game ... A powerful immersion experience that can really open up lines of communication and lead to better communication.” -- Hospice social worker

“A worthwhile training for anyone helping groups bond & self-cultivate--not just licensed therapists.” --Matthew J. Smith MA, LCPC

“THE HUMAN JOURNEY® trains participants in a structure that can be used with families or small groups, to help members relate to their own and to one another's histories in new ways. I developed new perspectives on my own life experiences even as I considered new ways of working with clients. The take-home Conductor's Kit materials are thoughtful, beautifully constructed, and in-depth.” --Libby Bachhuber, LCSW, therapist

“THE HUMAN JOURNEY® opens the doors of the heart for others.” -- Medical social worker

“It leads to a conversation ... there’s always a resolution.” --Hospice administrator

“THE HUMAN JOURNEY® is our way of helping them, at one of the most difficult times of their life, to learn some coping skills and maybe some communication and listening skills, and become better for it as they pass through that tunnel. And, once they get to the other side of the tunnel, our hope is that they will be closer together. If they were close before, they’ll be even closer now.” -- Volunteer

Questions? Give us a call at 312.593.2345.

Our Inspiration

THE HUMAN JOURNEY® is like a set of nesting dolls of journeys, one inside the other. One tiny doll at the core perhaps had to do with meeting Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as a child and finding that her model spoke to me, enough so that my first theatre work was structured around her original five stages of grief. The “doll” that encased that one had to do with the shape my professional life has taken, as I have designed how groups interact in my work as a theatre director and organizational consultant and learning director and studied the life of groups in my work in anthropological fieldwork. (Everything I’ve done has had to do with group dynamics and I have sometimes called myself an artist whose medium is groups.) Those two “dolls” rested inside another that represented hard personal experience. In 2012, I had three major losses within a short period of time. It was from trying to create a healing experience for hospice families and others becoming engaged with mortality, impermanence, and the call to belong that THE HUMAN JOURNEY® was born.

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