Hold Spaces Where Safety Is Felt - Not Just Promised
A unique experience for professionals working in community, education, and support roles where psychological safety is essential.
Register NowIf you work with people experiencing systemic barriers, you already know:
Safety is not a policy. Inclusion is not a checklist. Belonging cannot be forced.It must be cultivated.
This immersive experience offers a grounded, heart-centred, and practical approach to building emotional safety in the spaces you lead: classrooms, counselling and coaching sessions, community circles, and organizations.
Professional Development That Strengthens How You Show Up
This is a call to courageous leadership.
Rooted in Indigenous Knowledge and supported by neuroscience, the Cultivating Safe Spaces (CSS) Framework, developed by Elaine Alec of Naqsmist Storytellers Inc., provides a transformative model for:
- Emotional safety
- Cultural humility
- Relational leadership
- Resilience and belonging
You won't just discuss safe spaces.
You will experience what it feels like to become a source of safety for others.
✦ A Unique Equine-Assisted Experience
Adonica Sweet, Master Certified Coach, and Leann Manuel, CHA Master Instructor - both Certified Cultivating Safe Spaces Facilitators - are teaming up to offer this unique equine-assisted experience that moves participants from theory to embodied, relational learning.
Horses are powerful teachers of presence and congruence. They respond to nervous system regulation, authenticity, and intention - not titles or authority.
Horses offer immediate, non-verbal feedback about regulation and relational presence - feedback that is difficult to ignore and impossible to fake.
Through guided ground-based interaction, you will gain insight into:
You will feel, in real time, what happens when your presence feels safe - or when it doesn't.
What You Will Learn & Practice
You'll leave with the CSS Framework language, tools, and embodied awareness you can apply immediately.
The Four Conditions
- Understanding Self
- Love-Based Practice
- Patience
- Discipline
The Four Protocols
- Well-being
- Inclusion
- Freedom
- Validation
The Four Decision-Making Perspectives
- Tradition
- Relationship
- Innovation
- Action
The framework aligns with International Coaching Federation (ICF) core competencies and expands your capacity to lead in ways that are trauma-informed, culturally aware, and ethically grounded.
Why This Matters
In complex community settings, safety is not assumed - it is experienced.
When it breaks down, the impact is personal.
Unexamined bias. Unregulated nervous systems. Unclear leadership. Unspoken harm.
These don’t just disrupt programs - they impact lives. When safety is not experienced, the consequences are carried by real people, not programs.
You’re already doing this work. This experience gives you sharper tools to do it with more confidence.
Most professionals are never explicitly taught how safety is experienced in their presence.
Recognise the signals
Identify when safety is breaking down in real time - before it escalates.
Stay grounded under pressure
Regulate your own nervous system so you can hold space even in the hardest moments.
Navigate difficult conversations
Facilitate with steadiness and language that keeps the door open.
Set boundaries that protect connection
Create clarity without escalating conflict or losing relational trust.
Lead with cultural humility and integrity
Build the kind of trust that deepens belonging - in every room you enter.
Who This Is For
- Educators
- Social Workers
- Counsellors
- Youth & Community Workers
- Nonprofit & Frontline Professionals
- Coaches
This experience is best suited for reflective practitioners who are willing to examine how their presence impacts others.
If you want surface-level PD, this may not be for you. If you are ready to examine how safety is experienced in your presence - you belong here.
Meet Your Facilitators
Adonica Sweet
Master Certified Coach (MCC) · Certified CSS Facilitator
Adonica turns conflict into connection and unlocks brilliance through inclusive practices, supervision, and coach development. A global facilitator, she blends neuroscience, trauma-informed practice, and the Being Profile® to transform leadership from the inside out.
As a Certified Cultivating Safe Spaces Facilitator, Being Profile® Accredited Practitioner, CINERGY® Certified Conflict Management Coach, and Certified Executive Coach, she brings depth, rigour, and relational integrity to every space she leads.
"When people feel safe to be seen and heard, brilliance is unleashed."
Leann Manuel
CHA Master Instructor · Certified CSS Facilitator
Leann is a lifelong horsewoman, nationally decorated competitive rider, and CHA Master Instructor who was, in many ways, raised by horses. Alongside her work as an advocate and social worker, she brings grounding, creativity, and presence that can anchor an entire herd - earning her the nickname "Boss Mare."
Her work bridges equine wisdom and human resilience.
"A horse's natural way of being supports our innate needs for freedom, safety, and belonging. They respond best when we leave pretense behind and return to authenticity."
Your Investment
$280
+ GST
- Full-day immersive training with experts in their field
- Equine-assisted experiential learning
- Lunch and refreshments
This offering is intentionally priced for accessibility for community professionals paying out of pocket.
Comparable trainings of this depth often range from $400–$900.
Payment plans available upon request.
Participation is intentionally limited to preserve the depth and integrity of the experience. If this speaks to you, consider being part of the first cohort to experience this collaboration.
What Participants Say
I liked the storytelling, the self-reflection, and the sharing between participants. I love Adonica’s tone of voice, your smile, and your energy. The whole session felt engaging and meaningful.Cultivating Safe Spaces Participant, 2025
The content offered familiar ideas in a new way, and it really resonated. It propels me forward.Cultivating Safe Spaces Participant, 2025
Adonica’s energy, as always, was great - I like it, I love it. The concept was excellent and helped me see improved and new points of view. The content is rich and meaningful, and I appreciate the way you brought it to us. With such powerful information, the space you create for reflection is really valuable.Cultivating Safe Spaces Participant, 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
Text or call:
Adonica: 250-490-5590
Leann: 250-689-1648
Join Us on April 11
Saturday, April 11, 2026 · 10am – 4pm · 5621 Sawmill Rd., Oliver, BC
If this aligns with the work you are doing in the world, we would be honoured to have you join us.
Spaces are limited to 50 - reserve yours before they’re gone.
Register Now