Welcome to Shen Online

Toby Macklin, Editor

Welcome to this ‘taster’ edition of the new online Shen. The Haven has published Shen in printed form for many years; by moving now to online distribution we intend to reach a wider audience and at the same time reduce financial and environmental costs.

Another advantage of the online format is that we can include audio and video files. In this edition you can listen to The Haven’s founders, Ben Wong and Jock McKeen, talking about how they first met and how they began to work together with groups; and you can read an article by Gwen Ewan on how groups have remained central in The Haven’s work. There is also a poem by Ellery Littleton, which suggests the essence of what many people discover in courses here.

The first full online issue of Shen will appear mid-January 2008 and will focus on The Haven’s 25th anniversary. We are starting the year with an honouring of Ben and Jock on January 1. More details of this in our latest News Update.

Why Groups?
Gwen Ewan

I am sometimes asked “Why does The Haven do group work?” The skills and approaches that participants learn in our courses are invaluable in countless one-to-one interactions. And the skills that interns learn in our Diploma and Certificate programs are immensely useful in work with other people in one-on-one settings as well as in group situations. But our primary learning environment is the group, and there are some very good reasons for this.

[read more]

Absolutely Dazzling
Ellery Littleton

This poem, which I wrote last March as one in a year-long series of poems I completed in 2006-7, turned out to be quite a surprise to me. When I completed the poem, I felt that it was quite humble, colloquial, and rather sentimental, although I liked it and decided to keep it - there was something about its directness and unvarnished honesty that appealed to me.

I have since found, after sharing it with a number of people over the last few months, that it invariably evokes quite a strong, positive response, which surprised me. I think I inadvertently touched something held deep within the hearts of people – the desire to be seen, appreciated and loved for who we are – particularly who we are at our best. 

I offer this poem as a personal affirmation to everyone who reads it, and to the extended Haven family, of which I am very happy to be a member. And as to the sentimentality of the poem, I can say that one of the many things I learned from Bennet Wong is that sentimentality, honestly and feelingly expressed, is a valid, even loving quality.

To all of you, I would say, even though I don't know you personally, I do know that at your best, you are absolutely dazzling.  Trust me on this, even if you don't trust yourself.

[read the poem]