 The spiral symbolizes new possibilities, emerging growth, creatity, and renewed life. |
Testimonials: Contracted Services“David is truly an extraordinary educator. I found his ability to be completely present and honest with the youth he works with to be utterly remarkable. He earns high respect and admiration from both the youth and his co-workers for his ability to be real and vulnerable, while holding a space for others to do the same. It is a rare gift he has for getting even the coolest of the cool guys to just be real. David’s musical talents and abilities with ritual and rite of passage brought a beautiful element to our program. It seems our youth are starved for this kind of space to be created which allows them to honor spirit and connection to self in a non-threatening way. David has a beautiful gift for this work and it seems he is meant to be doing exactly this.” “In our residential programs for youth, so much depends on the strength and qualities of the lead facilitators: authenticity, heartfulness, clarity, artistic and improvisational ability. Our work also calls for a keen understanding of how to lead multi-cultural, cross-generational learning events: cultural sensitivity, masterful communication skills, transparency, flexibility and decisiveness. David has all this and more; I am so glad he is a member of our lead-facilitation team.” “David Hatfield is a masculinity worker extraordinaire. His visits to New Zealand in 2004 and 2006 have left a trail of inspiration, satisfaction and respect behind him that still resonates years later. I was privileged to work with him when he became a key facilitator in the Essentially Men 2004 and 2006 Pathways to Manhood program in New Zealand - a five day Rites of Passage wilderness-based experience for male youth and mentors. He was central to the designing, execution and evaluation of the program and his involvement left a valuable legacy to the work. We found him extremely competent and reliable in designing learning experiences and structures to meet the needs of a group, and able to work within the goals and culture of the institution he was working within. He is a very responsive, teacher and facilitator, with a fine temperament, clear thinking and articulation, humor and flexibility, creativity and ease of presence that engenders respect and trust. His skill in the creative arts, singing and music adds greatly to his capacity to create inspiring learning environments. He has a long experience in working with boys to support them to create a bridge to becoming fine young men. He showed himself time and again to be able to take a group of youth into meaningful enquiry and enable them to create with their own voice a response to the pressures and binds of male conditioning. He is able to skillfully draw out the leadership within a group of youth and enable them to bring forward their own unique spirit and contribution. His ability to understand their situation as males and his reflection and theorizing about masculinity in general makes him a rare and valuable resource in the current climate of concern of our young men. He has developed frameworks and ways of thinking and working that have proved to be extremely relevant to young men. A man of extraordinary capacity, he makes an impression and leaves a legacy wherever he goes and I recommend him to you if you have the opportunity to work with him.” "I have been a school principal for over 20 years and I can honestly say David is one of the best facilitators I have encountered in my career. His expertise at facilitating groups and individuals through difficult and meaningful issues is exceptional. He is an incredible man and a fantastic resource for schools, organizations, and communities. His work with us has ranged from sessions with high risk young men ages 16-21, to co-gender student groups, to staff development and our most recent professional development session with staff and students from all over Vancouver Island. David has an ability to put people at ease and to have them dig deep and discuss issues in an a open and honest way. He develops at atmosphere of trust and caring. This was evident in his recent work with the recent professional development day where we challenged traditional paradigms and methodologies in education. David's facilitation of our student panel was undoubtedly one of the most profound experiences most of us in the room had ever experienced. David Hatfield is an adventurer in life who is not afraid to go beyond the bounds of conventional theory and practice. His research into the rights of passage for men and women and his overall philosophy of humanity is exciting and refreshing. I would highly recommend that anyone wanting to go outside the box and to challenge your assumptions of the world and mankind should consider David as a great resource." "Let me start by saying that David is one of the most powerful and effective social change educators I have ever had the pleasure to meet. His skills as a facilitator, mentor, leader, and role model are stellar. He is a master of group process and able to create the most incredible environments for learning and risk-taking. David holds a powerful and varied skill set that includes assertiveness and peace-building skills, rights-of-passage ceremonies as well as improvised vocal music. His cutting-edge specialty is working with men and boys on issues of vulnerability and gender. The power of his work, however, lies in ability to walk his talk and integrate the pieces of his teachings into his day-to-day life. David is an original, in the truest sense of the word. He is a truth-speaker who possesses rock-solid integrity. At Anima Leadership, we have been so impressed by who he and what he does, that we offered him Associate status on our permanent team." |