Internal aspects of our human experience are slowly recognized as pivotal vehicles for confronting the multifaceted crises humanity is facing and for fostering meaningful change. This workshop experientially explores the significance of inner dimensions—our mindsets, which include individual and collective beliefs, values, worldviews, as well as associated inner (cognitive, emotional, and relational) qualities and capacities—for bringing about transformative change.

Participants will have an opportunity to engage in individual and group experiential exercises designed to address and strengthen their connection with themselves, with each other, and with Earth. The exercises will be introduced and contextualized in conceptual frameworks and presented as potential tools to adapt to a range of educational contexts.

There has been a recent surge in interest and publishing in the area of inner dimensions in relation to the slow advances we are making in sustainability. InnerDevelopmentgoals.org is one such example which is tied to the UN SDGs. While more and more material is available, addressing inner dimensions is a vulnerable and unfamiliar space for many. This workshop gives time to learn the concepts but also to enter this space of trust and curiosity in a safe, joyful, and exploratory way.

AASHE hosts a free community of practice to facilitate discussions around how to cultivate Inner Development Goals skills and qualities (e.g. self awareness, sense-making, humility, communication, courage) within ourselves and others. Participants are encouraged to also join this free space to engage in these conversations before and after the workshop.

Key Details

Registration Fees* 

* To check if your organization is a current AASHE member, please search the AASHE Membership Directory.

A limited number of scholarships are available to individuals who need financial assistance to participate. Please apply two weeks before the program begins (e.g., 4/24/2025) to be considered for a scholarship for this workshop.

Registration Policies:

• Registration deadline is Thursday, May 8, 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Payment is accepted in the form of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards.
  If you need to pay by check or ACH, please contact us at least 5 weeks prior to the event start date. Registration using these forms of payment must be received 4 weeks prior to the event start date and full payment must be received by AASHE within 2 weeks of event start date.
• Cancellation Policy: A 20% processing fee applies to any cancellation prior to April 28, 2025. No refunds will be given after April 28, 2025.
• No substitutions are allowed.
• Registered participants will receive access to the recording after the live event.
• Review all Terms & Conditions.

Register today

Facilitators

Andrea Frank, Associate Professor, SUNY New Paltz
Andrea Frank is an Associate Professor and head of the Photography Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a co-coordinator of the SUNY New Paltz Sustainability Learning Community Faculty Fellows Program, core collaborator of Eddy at New Paltz, and a Climate Interactive Ambassador. Before joining SUNY New Paltz, she was a lecturer of Photography and Related Media at MIT, Cambridge, MA. She holds Diplom and Staatsexamen degrees from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany, and an MFA from Parsons The New School for Social Research in New York City, where she also attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. As part of her artistic research, she embraces collaborative embodied experimental processes as creative tool toward an emergent regenerative culture. In her studio practice, she explores complexity and collective resonances through photography and related media. She holds creative collaborative workshops and think tanks and exhibits her art work internationally. Recent publications include: LOSSY: Toward a Sensory Ecology, published by Aracne Editrice, Italy (2020); Beloved Child: The War Book published by Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (2020); as well as the wide format accordion artist book SEED (2023). www.andreafrank.net

Anna Lewis, Research Associate | Sustainable Development, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Switzerland
Anna Lena Lewis holds a degree in Educational Sciences from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, a teacher’s degree, and a trainer degree for adult education with a specialization in environmental education. She is a research associate and a lecturer in sustainable development programs in the Sustainable Development Programs at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She is a project team member developing a master’s program on Transformations for Sustainability starting in fall 2024 at the University of Bern. Furthermore, she is part of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) team of the University of Bern, which provides platforms for discussion, consultation, workshops, and networking and advises lecturers on how to integrate sustainability into their courses.

Any questions about the workshop?
Please contact Daita Serghi, education@aashe.org