True North:

Leading from Within

Everything can begin with you. You are the foundation of any change that will happen in your society.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The purpose of learning at Springhouse is cultural renewal. Cultural renewal happens when we learn how to live our lives fully and create the conditions for others to do the same.

Springhouse supports adults in their development by providing opportunities to develop a deeper connection with themselves and offering support as they practice bringing more vitality to their community. When adults have a strong sense of self and a willingness to continue to know themselves wholly, they live and lead from a sense of security that comes from within. This program is for adults who seek to discover their deeper call and offer their gifts in community and for adults who know their calling and want to strengthen their capacity and connection in serving their community.

It takes consistent practice, a community of support, and mentorship to follow the call amidst the many challenges we face in our world today.

“Visions, dreams, and ideologies of what a culture could look and feel like have been offered in books I’ve eaten up and short-term retreats I’ve participated in; Springhouse is the living, breathing possibilities of creating cultural change in practice. The Springhouse community is, at the individual level and collective level, designing and experiencing cultural change.”

Anna K.

True North Program

True North is an 8-month low-residency program for adults who want to practice fostering vitality in their communities, starting with themselves. True North is informed by Sourced Design and Sourced Education and supports adults as they learn how to creatively and courageously lead from within. Participating in this program requires a deep dedication to personal growth, as well as a commitment to practice creating the conditions for thriving in community. This program takes place online and on the Springhouse campus.

Primary Program Components:

Find more detailed descriptions for each component below. Out-of-town participants, please see our travel document for Springhouse Visitors.

Schedule a chat with True North facilitator, Carolyn Reilly

In-Person Intensives 

The purpose of these intensives, held at Springhouse in the fall and spring, is to bring participants together in-person to begin and end the year in a meaningful way. Participants will be invited to ground themselves in the power of Life through practices like meditation, dance, and singing; have courageous conversations about themselves, our current cultural challenges, and their cultural work; and build a vital container for learning for the coming year.

Mentoring

In one-to-one mentoring sessions, participants will work closely with one of the program facilitators, both of whom are experienced mentors and have either led or facilitated this program in its various forms in the past. Participants will be asked courageous questions, and the mentor will serve as a mirror, allowing each participant to know themselves more fully and access new perspectives.

Course Work

Courses will include various methods of learning including the creative arts, community dialogue, book discussions, delivery of new information, and more. Each trimester ends with a Reflection on Learning, during which each participant has space to creatively integrate their learnings from the course.

Independent Project

Participants will complete a comprehensive independent project to reflect how they have integrated their learning throughout the program. Through the project, they will apply what they have learned in their lives and communities. They will study the context of their communities and place and develop a plan to foster vitality through Sourced Design.

“The most recent embodied lesson I have gained through my time working with Springhouse and the Sourced Design principles is around what it means to be committed, to practice, and to surrender. For me, these work in a cycle. It has been an invigorating and terrifying process to build the awareness, courage, skills, and strength needed to do this and to consciously make the choice to live a more vital life.”

Heather K.

Is This Program For You?

To determine whether or not this program might be for you, please consider these questions:

  • Do you want to know yourself more deeply?

  • Do you long for a clearer sense of purpose and direction in life?

  • Would you like to learn skills for navigating vulnerability, transformation, complexity, and the unknown?

  • Are you willing to be honest with yourself and others?

  • Are you called to practice fostering vitality in your community?

  • Are you ready to be part of a community with a long-term vision to live in a world where all life thrives and a mission to fundamentally transform the purpose and practice of education?

If you answered yes to all these questions, review the next steps below.

You have gifts.

The world needs your gifts.

You must deliver them.

The world may not know it is starving,

but the hungry know,

and they will find you

when you discover your cargo

and start to give it away.

Greg Kimura

Next Steps

This program has rolling admissions with the application and letter of intent by September 13th. If you are interested in taking the next steps, please complete this short form and submit a letter of intent that responds to the following questions:

What calls you to this program at this time in your life?

Describe a time when you surrendered to a power greater than yourself.

Do you have any spiritual or personal development practices? If so, what are they?

What questions do you have about yourself and your life right now?

What troubles you? What are you struggling with right now?

What are your dreams or the visions you hold for your life?

What are the current challenges in your community? What are ways you foster vitality in your community and/or through your work?

Please email your letters of intent to Carolyn Reilly. Once she receives your application and letter, she will contact you to schedule an interview.

Tuition

There are set tuition rates for the True North program, and we remain committed to ensuring that no one is turned away due to a lack of funds (learn more about our economic approach).

We have three tuition rates for this program:

  1. Pay-It-Forward Rate: $5,000 (Default payment schedule is $625/mo for 8 months, October – May)

  2. Sustaining Rate: $3,500 (Default payment schedule is $437.50/mo for 8 months, October – May)

  3. Supported Rate: We remain committed to accessibility, and no one is turned away due to a lack of funds. If you cannot afford either of the rates above, please review our Supported Rate Packet and prepare for a tuition meeting with Chris.

True North

Program Facilitators

Carolyn Reilly (she/her)

Development Director

Carolyn is a courageous lifelong learner, wife, and mother of four who has worked in the nonprofit arena for over two decades. Her work has spanned church communications and worship design, teaching step aerobics and pilates at the YMCA, as well as community organizing to protect the natural environment. Carolyn also has experience in co-creating an intergenerational family farm focused on regenerative practices and connecting people to nourishing, whole food. On staff at Springhouse since August 2019, she serves full-time, showing up wholeheartedly in the growth and development of the organization. Carolyn has a huge heart for community, specifically in connecting and empowering people to cultivate wholeness and deepen their relationships - with themselves, each other, the earth, and the divine.

Jenny Finn (she/her)

Executive Director

Jenny Finn has designed structures that foster vitality in people, communities, and organizations for nearly 30 years. She holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education and is a co-founder of Springhouse. Jenny Finn’s research, mentoring, and teaching invites people to strengthen the relationships they have with themselves in order to serve the world with greater clarity, courage, compassion, and creativity. Her work has taken many forms, including non-profit leadership, trauma and hospice care, chaplaincy, clinical private practice, community-building through the expressive arts, and education. Jenny lives on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband, Andy, and their furry friends, and she is the mother of Andrew and Lizzie. She loves riding the Peloton bike, running, taking a dip in the river, watching a good British mystery, and spending time with family and friends.