Navigators: Wayfinding in Times of Upheaval

We are inviting you to join New Constellations as a Navigator – a leader and inspirer who can help our community chart new courses towards futures of human and planetary flourishing. 

You will be one of 15 exceptional people embarking on this journey.  Your combined experience, vision and agency can move mountains. 

This journey will be designed to help you: 

• Examine your own habits and pathways and, whatever stage you are at in your life and career, set a clearer course towards the transformation needed
• Deepen your understanding of the moment we are living through and the nature of the polycrisis we face; offer models through which to see and understand it
• Deepen your appreciation of the inter-relatedness of different systems, and what that means for effective action
• Heighten your ability to move beyond dystopian narratives and to develop your own bold dreams for a thriving future
• Equip you with tools to connect with your embodied intelligence as well your rational intellect
• Extend your ability to let go of old patterns and habits and explore the future from a place of open curiosity
• Process some of the grief and heaviness that comes with honest reflection and realisation of the nature of our times
• Experience practices which may help you to embody and act as a conduit for the courage and hope needed to bring more beautiful futures about
• Strengthen your resilience to embrace uncertainty and act effectively within it
• Share with, learn from and be enriched by a group of exceptional individuals who are different from you

Navigators are people who:

• Share our belief that a brighter future is possible and are working towards it
• Are exceptional leaders within their field
• Feel a deep disquiet with the status-quo and are rethinking and re-examining the systems and structures we live and operate within
• Are excited to engage with New Constellations and willing to go on a journey of discovery with us  – challenging and stretching us along the way 
• Are diverse – from across different sectors, industries, disciplines and lived experience
• Are open to new and unusual approaches and see the value in working with head, heart and gut
• Have the agency and will to champion what comes out of the journey so that it can lead into the implementation of new ideas and approaches

• The gift of the Wayfinding Journey; taking you on a beautiful, soulful and unique experience with others who will stretch, humble and inspire you
• Create a confidential space in which you can act and speak freely
• Acknowledge you on our website and in our newsletter as being a New Constellations Navigator (or opt out if you prefer privacy)
• Be available to support you before, during and immediately after the journey to help you harvest the greatest possible transformative potential for yourself and your work from the journey
• Be open to all feedback and learnings
• Welcome you into the New Constellations community – a constellation of radical thinkers, makers and doers – and open our network to you

In the spirit of reciprocity, we are asking anyone who accepts our invitation to commit to gifting something to New Constellations in return. Something that will help us dream boldly, be increasingly courageous and stay true to the course we have set ourselves.  You have already given us that through your work and thinking so we would just ask the following commitment of you:

• Attend the full journey from the morning of the 25th September to the afternoon of the 28th September, making arrangements to be fully present for the duration
• Pre-Journey: 1 x 45 minute call to help you prepare for the journey and to help us tailor it to you
• Post Journey: 1 x 45 minute follow-up call to understand how you are feeling having come through the process, to see what we can do to support you going forward and to ask for your constructive feedback on the journey 
• Cover your travel costs to and from the retreat

The journey will run over 4 days and 3 nights from 25th – 28th September 2023.

The journey will combine individual, partner and group work, reflective and embodied practices, storytelling, sound, and learning from and in nature. We intend to hold space for big and tough questions, to which we won’t always have answers and to which there will be very different opinions and perspectives in the group. Powerful emotions may arise, which we welcome, and we will support participants closely throughout. If you are not ready to be in a space which may include challenge and uncertainty, this may not be for you.

The journey will be held at 42 Acres, Holt Road, Witham Friary, Frome, BA11 5HL – a beautiful venue in nature. Precise timings and logistics will be shared in the lead up to the journey.

This retreat is designed to be a nourishing, challenging and invigorating personal and relational journey, in service of the places, communities and natural world we love, and our collective future. We hope you will leave feeling rejuvenated, emboldened, resourced and ready to make an even greater difference in the world.

This journey will be designed and held by a team of experienced and committed individuals from a varied range of backgrounds.

Gemma Mortensen connects people, ideas and possibilities to meet the challenges of our times. An award winning social entrepreneur, she has a track record of making big ideas happen, and draws on her experience in media, international politics, civic participation and technology to stretch established thinking. Holder of our vision and strategy at New Constellations, Gemma is also co-founder and Chair of More In Common and sits on the global advisory boards of Yale University’s International Leadership Centre. She was previously Chief Global Officer at Change.org and CEO of Crisis Action (which won the MacArthur Award and Skoll Award for its innovative systems model) and co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on systems leadership. She lives on Dartmoor which she loves exploring with her young family.

Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir is an award winning entrepreneur, and practitioner in how to bring about transformative change. She has worked in areas ranging from post-conflict reconstruction and development with the UN, to film making and the arts, to various roles in the private sector. A firm believer that change starts from within, she is passionate about finding balance between the creative and rational, intuitive and analytical in a world in flux. She designed and directed a university program based on these ideas, wrote and co-directed the documentary film ‘InnSæi – the Power of Intuition’ shown worldwide on Netflix and is currently writing a book in English on the topic. She is the managing director of Iceland‘s Centre for Sustainability, a managing partner at the Nordic Circular Hotspot, a Nordic Ignite Angel Ambassador, a board member of Eyrir Invest and the Advisory Council member at the International Leadership Centre at Yale. Hrund has received awards for her sustainability leadership in Iceland, is a Yale World Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Cultural Leader. Hrund spends her time with her family between Iceland and Germany and loves activities outdoors.

Iris Andrews weaves strategy, creativity and the sacred to build hope and action for a better world. Her work draws on over 15 years as a campaigner, cultural strategist and facilitator working on major global challenges (mainly the climate crisis) with diverse international NGOs and businesses, high profile artists and influencers, and grassroots groups. Directing New Constellations’ creative strategy and shaping and holding our journeys, Iris creates spaces and stories that engage heads, hearts and bodies to grapple with the big questions of our time. She previously worked with organisations from Greenpeace and Purpose to Participant Media and Virgin, and helped incubate and launch the European Climate Foundation, The Elders, and Meat Free Monday with the McCartney family. Iris is also an experienced yoga teacher and nature connection facilitator.

Jo Barratt works with sound, pushing the boundaries of how it can be used to create spaces for reflection and social change. Jo conceives, directs and produces our audio research and experiments at New Constellations, including our audio encounters and how we weave audio into journeys and experiences. He is the co-founder of Farmerama Radio and a creative producer whose work includes radio, podcasts, audio content and sound design for exhibitions. He also has a background in working with governments and organisations using technology, education and advocacy to promote open data, open knowledge, data literacy and open science.

Lily Piachaud builds meaningful and creative connections between people to unlock positive change. She focuses on the practical, developing systems and processes rooted in care and trust that create the conditions for new possibilities to emerge. At New Constellations Lily runs day-to-day operations, tends to our community, and explores new forms of organisation and governance, drawing on her background in partnerships, operations and campaigns in the international development sector. Lily previously oversaw and managed partnerships at the international NGO Girl Effect working alongside governments, NGOs and civil society organisations across the globe. Before that she was a core part of the small team that established and ran the Jo Cox Foundation, and a Campaigns and Research Assistant at Crisis Action.

Yasmin El Dabi connects people with themselves, others and their purpose in the world. As an executive coach and facilitator with 20+ years’ experience, she is passionate about creating the conditions for people to learn, grow and evolve. She works with individual leaders, facilitates CEO peer learning groups, helps executive teams work better together and facilitates leadership development workshops. She works internationally and with a wide variety of businesses and sectors. Recent and current clients include: The Atlantic Institute, OnPurpose, Sanergy, Viamo and Change.org. Yasmin is a life-long learner. When not working with leaders or leadership teams, you will find her attending courses or reading books on systems thinking, neuroscience and personal and systems transformation. She is half German, half Sudanese and lives in York with her teenage daughter.