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

If 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-centered, 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 if feels like to become a source of safety for others.

A Unique Equine-Facilitated 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:

How you show up under pressure
How safety (or lack thereof) is communicated nonverbally
The role of patience, discipline, and attunement
The subtle dynamics of trust and leadership

You will feel, in real time, what happens when your presence feels safe - or when it doesn't.

This is the inaugural equine-assisted Cultivating Safe Spaces collaboration between Adonica Sweet and Leann Manuel. We are opening 50 spaces for this first offering and will evaluate future dates based on impact and demand.

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 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 live. 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.

Recognize the signals

Identify when safety is breaking down in real time - before it escalates

Navigate difficult conversations

Facilitate with steadiness and language that keeps the door open.

Stay grounded under pressure

Regulate your own nervous system so you can hold space even in the hardest moments

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

Youth & Community Workers

Counsellors

Social 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 a 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 practice

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.