alumni
request info
DONATE

How can we use pedagogy and healing artistic therapies to address the consequences of trauma?

Emergency Pedagogy: Traumatology II With Bernd Ruf

(Traumatology I is not a prerequisite.)

Bernd Ruf, author of Educating Traumatized Children and founder of an international crisis intervention center in Germany, returns to Wilton July 2-7, 2023 to continue his program of emergency pedagogy. This course will build upon last summer’s overview of trauma and offer further insights into human developmental psychology.

Bernd Ruf is a well-known researcher in anthroposophical emergency and trauma education. His initiative, Emergency Education without Borders, is dedicated to addressing and healing trauma in children and adolescents in war zones and places struck by natural disasters around the world. His work includes countries like China, Indonesia, Japan, Gaza, Kirgizstan, Iraq, Nepal, Lebanon, Kenya, Ecuador, Chile, the Philippines, Columbia, Belgium, France, Germany, Mexico, Ukraine, Turkey. Restoring human biographies lies at the heart of this work. Bernd Ruf’s evening lecture at the residency this summer will feature recent crisis interventions.

register here

Among the topics to be addressed:

  • pre-birth trauma
  • attachment and detachment disturbances
  • sense disturbances
  • trauma and rhythm disturbances
  • heart rate variability
  • sleep research
  • trauma and sleep

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems will offer the background to better understand the unfolding of adolescence: the search for identity and I development. Bernd Ruf will describe pathways for psychological intervention and healing processes. 

In the afternoons, participants will sing with Jason Child, Music Director at the Emerson Waldorf School in North Carolina, before joining their choice of workshop on trauma prevention. Each workshop will consist of five sessions (one per day). The week will culminate with a celebratory sharing of the various workshops.

Bernd Ruf will offer lectures each morning and daily Q and A sessions in the time slot before dinner. Evening events will include a public lecture on Emergency Pedagogy and cultural events. 

Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA), as well as a Certificate from the Emergency Pedagogy Center in Karlsruhe, Germany. Participants can apply these certificates towards a full diploma in international crisis intervention. CfA is offering at least the 4 Modules in Emergency Pedagogy most suitable for educators and art therapists (2022-2025), and may add other Modules if this becomes possible. 

Choice of workshops will include: Clowning, Music Therapy, Painting Therapy, Speech and Drama, Healing Storytelling, Eurythmy, and Animal Therapy. 

Click the image for a printable PDF version of the schedule

Summer 2023 Afternoon Workshops

Workshop description:
Clowns have big emotions, big hearts and great empathy. They mess up, they make mistakes, but they are eternally optimistic. They remind us of what it is to be human. As a practice, clowning affirms relationship and we learn not from what we know but by how much we are connecting to ourselves, to the world and to others. As such, clowning is a social art.

As teachers, parents and therapists we can fortify ourselves tremendously by accessing our inner clown and utilizing a clown’s outlook. In these afternoons together we will take a few small and playful steps to confront fears associated with being seen, not knowing what to do and trusting to stay in authenticity with what is most present. We will also laugh and have fun.

Bio:

Laura Geilen
Laura Geilen studied dance at the Boston Conservatory of Music, started a family and took a degree in Human Development from Leslie University. She completed the Curative Education and Social Therapy course while living in a Camphill community. She has training certificates in childbirth education, Spacial Dynamics, CircusYoga and clowning. She has taught movement education and circus arts in Waldorf schools and therapeutic movement in Camphill for 20 years. She runs a number of circus arts summer programs and leads clowning workshops in many settings as a member of the team of Nose to Nose of North America. In all her work she enjoys bringing people of all ages and abilities a renewed experience of their creativity, authenticity and aliveness through the transformative power of play.

Workshop description:

In this course you will learn how to bring pedagogical speech and drama into your classroom or practice. The class will explore how to use pedagogical drama as a framework for helping students process their experiences, help heal trauma, and grow as free human beings. By gaining a deeper understanding of the twelve senses and how they relate to drama, the class will use the pillars of Creative Speech – sounds of language and imagination – to enliven and transform story, poetry, puppetry, and plays.

Bio:

Debra Spitulnik

Debra Spitulnik, M.Ed.

Debra Spitulnik is an adjunct professor of Creative Speech at Antioch University New England, and faculty member for the Center for Anthroposophy. As a core faculty member of Kairos Institute she leads the training in artistic and healing Speech and Drama. Debra has led the development of pedagogical speech and believes that Creative Speech brings healing and nourishment to the soul and empowers the voice. She infuses all her classes with three decades of her unique experiences as a class teacher, subject teacher and speech teacher. She teaches speech, drama, storytelling, and curriculum to teachers nationwide.

Goetheanum Diploma in the arts of Speech and Drama., PerformInternational; M.Ed., Waldorf Education, Antioch University New England; B.S. Elementary and Special Education, Syracuse University.

Course description:

Trauma has in most cases a polarizing effect on a person(s) ability to feel safe in themselves and the world at large. One polarity (but there are many), goes towards a gesture of condensing, that of hardening, where the soul/physical becomes fixed and entrapped. The other polarity goes towards a gesture of dispersing, of loosening, and becoming lost from the world.  

The aim of this workshop is to explore, discover and practice movement inspired therapeutic modalities, with the intent to support the individual whohas experienced trauma in the past, the present and (the future). To provide a supportive protective gesture, so that the individual may find the place or rather the space ‘in-between’ thepolarities encountered.  

The practical skill activities, practices and applications presentenced in this workshop are primarily inspired out of the research and practice of the art of eurythmy/eurythmy therapy, and Curative Education and aspects of anthroposophical informed nursing homecare practices. 

BIO:

 

Over the course of the last 35+ years, Carsten has lived and worked with children, youth, and adults with developmental disabilities in Camphill communities in Scotland, England, and the United States. In true Camphill style, he has tried his hand at almost everything. He has carried responsibilities as a houseparent, workshop leader, teacher, administrator, counselor, and therapist. Carsten holds a Bachelor of Arts in the Art of Eurythmy and holds a diploma in Eurythmy Therapy. Furthermore, holds acertificate of completion of the Anthroposophical Nurse Training (Home healthcare). 

He currently lives at The Camphill School, Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, where his overall responsibility and focus over the past 15 years has been in the medical and therapeutic field. He serves as The Director of Medical and Therapeutic Services, is a licensed EMT. 

Carsten is a faculty member in the Camphill Academy (Curative Education) and adjunct faculty member of Transdisciplinary Healing Education Program Studies, Antioch University. A motto he lives by is that in life we find a true path of learning in the contemplation of the in-between. He is a therapist at heart, where the listening ear is at the core. 

Course description: 

Through artistic exercises in pastel and watercolor, we will create images that arise from the light of the heart. We will paint the mood of this inner soul landscape, using magenta, cobalt violet and violet together with soothing earth tones to kindle the fire of the heart. 

We will begin with chalk pastels and move to watercolor on the last two days, working with soothing blues that offer us a sense of calm and inner protection, culminating with the carmine red. Finally, we will attempt to express the central light of the heart as an image of a future consciousness that is centered in empathy and compassion. 

Somatic exercises that address trauma, sorrows, and fears will be shared as suggested daily practices. 

Materials: Please bring your favorite brush(es), and feel free to bring your own chalk pastels. Please bring along an image (postcard or photo) of something that you love. It can be anything that is beautiful and comforting to you and that you don’t mind sharing with the class.

Bio:

Portrait of Karine Munk Finser

Karine Munk Finser, M.Ed.

Director of Kairos Institute. Director of Transdisciplinary Studies of Healing Education, Antioch University New England. Director of Professional Development at the Center for Anthroposophy, art therapist with diploma from the Medical Section, Goetheanum. Karine is also an active painter.

Karine Munk Finser was born on the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark, and later lived in Belgium, France, Switzerland and England before finding her home in the United States. Karine is an art therapist with a diploma from the Medical Section, Goetheanum. She ran the Center for Anthroposophy’s Renewal Courses for 21 years while being employed as a faculty member at Antioch University New England. In 2014, she began the Transdisciplinary Studies in Healing Education program (TSHE)

Course description: 

We will explore improvisation in melody, harmony, rhythm and the voice as a pathway to freeing trapped trauma in the three soul-forces of thinking, feeling and willing.

With simple, easily playable, beautifully sounding instruments, we seek expression of different soul states, moods, and emotions, to bring about inner

movement, release and harmonization. With the most intimate instrument, our voice, we finally allow the vibrations of sound to stream through and out of the body.

Bio:

Monica Talaya Armstutz

Monica Talaya

Monica Talaya completed the Dorion School of Anthroposophical Music Therapy (AMT) in 2005, after her training as a Certified Music Practitioner. Since then, she has worked as an AMT with different populations, age groups and in varied settings, most consistently in the Camphill Communities. She also teaches the lyre to children (from 5 years old onward) and adults in groups and individually.

Monica has given presentations about AMT and has lead courses and workshops for early childhood teachers and parents of young children about the importance of the ‘mood of the fifth’, providing an in-depth experience and understanding of the different stages of a child’s musical development and needs. She wishes to inspire parents for and teaches the singing of lullabies.
Earlier in her life she trained to be a kindergarten- and later a special education teacher and raised her own five children.

Course description: 

We live in an age of nonstop storytelling. Streaming media, social media, text threads, and now chat GBT deliver more content than our imaginations can comprehend. This is not only overwhelming—it makes us question how we got here, where we are going, and what is the point. When we take the time to breathe, to be still, and to sit in quiet contemplation, our answers to these questions tend to arrive at the same place: everything we do, we do for each other.  What we want and what we have always wanted … is community.  

Time and time again, we remember that community is the antidote for all that ails us. In this workshop, we will take time to connect to the moment, to the place, and to each other and allow the emergent narrative to guide us.  Stories are what connect us to everything—it is our mycelium, and over the course of this week, we will learn to see our web of narrative like a matrix. We then use ritual and rites to tease out the stories that bring us closer, make us more resilient, and help us spread a restored sense of wonder. 

Bio:

David McCain

David Sewell McCann has been working with narrative his entire life. He’s been a fresco painter, a filmmaker, a class teacher, an author, he wrote and told all the stories for Sparkle Stories, and through it all, storytelling has proven to be the most enduring and clarifying form of connection. It works when nothing else can, and it is teachable. He teaches the Twelve Tools for Telling and Attending to children and adults at How to Story. 

Course description: 

Curative agriculture-the healing capacities of the animal/human relationship:
In this course you will begin to understand the healing capacities of the animal/human relationship. We will observe and work with a variety of farm animals and explore how the group soul of the animal relates to the temperament and needs of the children. 
 
All people, especially those who have experienced trauma, benefit from forming safe trusting relationships with animals while they increase confidence, self worth, and a sense of purpose. 
 
We will engage in simple and practical ways to incorporate meaningful work surrounding animal care. We will focus on the rhythm of nature as a healing force and the life of the animal in the context of the cycle of the seasons. Discussions will include how to integrate animals as healers in the realms of thinking, feeling and willing life.  We will focus on the healing effects of biodynamic agriculture and the senses, particularly, the sense of well being, touch, balance, and self movement. We will also consider how domestic pets and wild animals can positively influence the healing process of the traumatized child. We will visit the therapeutic animals on Earth and Sky Farm Community and Temple Wilton Community Farm (both locations are within 2 miles from High Mowing and transportation will be coordinated) 
 
Participants should come dressed appropriately for the weather and farm conditions.
 
Bio:
Michaelann Murphy
Michaelann Murphy is a biodynamic farmer, Waldorf educator, and founder of Earth and Sky Farm Community. She holds a masters degree in Waldorf Education, and her teaching certification encompasses early childhood through high school. She is an experienced educator, having taught nursery, kindergarten, and grades children in a number of Waldorf and private schools. She is the prior director of several early childhood centers and farm based education programs. In addition to teaching, Michaelann has served in Waldorf schools as pedagogical chair, a member of governance groups, and as an early education mentor. Michaelann has long held educational circles and studies for the benefit of adults in community, through movement, parent education, therapeutic agricultural activities, and teacher enrichment. As a trained and experienced biodynamic farmer, she is passionate about creating and guiding programs for the healing of the earth and the therapeutic effects of agriculture and nature in both children’s and adult’s lives.
Tuition Information

Kairos Institute

Healing in a World of Need

KAIROS LINKS

2025-26 Courses for the General Public

Sunday 9/14 at 1:30 – 3:30 PM EST

Fee: $50

Orland Bishop

Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland’s work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa.

Tuesdays, September 30, October 7 & 28 at 7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

  • Cosmic and Earthly, Chapters 1 & 2; 9/30
  • Blood and Nerve, Chapters 5 & 6; 10/7
  • Point and Periphery, Chapters 3 & 4; 10/28

Fee: $150 for 3 sessions

Note: These sessions are studios, not lectures

Patricia Gans, MD

Patricia Gans, MD, graduated from UC Davis with the highest honors and the department's special honors for research in cell biology. She then graduated with honors from UC San Francisco School of Medicine and continued her residency in the Bay Area, where she trained in Anthroposophic medicine in Switzerland. During a sabbatical, Dr Gans completed Psychosynthesis Counseling Certification, including courses in guided imagery. She then co-created The Pleiades Center, an Anthroposophic Medical Clinic in Sebastopol, CA, which also offers therapeutic eurythmy, speech, music, and rhythmical massage.
Dr Gans worked full-time for one year as a Waldorf Preschool assistant and later as a kindergarten assistant giving her invaluable experience with the Waldorf approach to early childhood education and development. She completed the Waldorf Teacher Training Foundation year. She acted as an ASL interpreter for Deaf teachers in the Waldorf teacher training, Nurturing Arts training, and participating in the first Kolisko conference. She worked as a School Doctor for Summerfield Waldorf School and, more recently, Waldorf School of the Roaring Fork in Carbondale, CO. She taught Anthroposophic medicine courses for the Center for Renewal of Education teacher training and has given many lectures for various faculty, charter schools and parent education groups.
Dr Gans has a special interest in children with special needs, especially deafness. She is fluent in American Sign Language. She is a founder and board member of the Trillium Deaf Program and has been involved with many initiatives attempting to bring Waldorf pedagogical ideology to the Deaf community and access Waldorf education, pedagogy, and biodynamic farming for Deaf children.
Dr Gans also has the American Board of Integrated and Holistic Medicine (ABIHM) and Advanced Wilderness Expedition Provider (AWEP) Certifications. She enjoyed practicing Wilderness emergency medicine as needed while sailing remote islands of the South Pacific for ten years and as a remote Lighthouse Keeper in Alaska. She is now located high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and continues to offer anthroposophic medicine consultations.

Tuesdays, November 4, 11, & 18 at 7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $150 for 3 sessions

Course Description:

Through rich archetypal pictures, stories can show us how to deal with fear and trauma, take care of one another, and heal one another.

In this workshop, Gleice da Silva will share her experience of restoring balance through writing and telling healing stories to those in need of care of the soul.

Gleice da Silva

Gleice is a curative educator with a passion for travel, stories, people, dance, and anthroposophy. She lived and taught at The Camphill School (Beaver Run) in Pennsylvania for 12 years and now lives and works at Camphill Communities California as a resident coworker, a member of the Camphill Academy core faculty, as well as a lecturer and advocate for healing stories.She has a BA in Biology from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, a diploma in Curative Education through the Camphill Academy, and an M.Ed. in Healing Education from Antioch University New England.

Exploring Karma: Obligation, Fulfillment & Sacrifice
Understanding Destiny Through the Lens of Rudolf Steiner

Tuesday & Wednesday December 9 & 10 at 7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $150 for 2 sessions

Course Description:

How can we work with and distinguish between what Rudolf Steiner called karmic obligation, karmic fulfillment and karmic sacrifice?  How can these insights help us understand our personal destiny and tasks in life?

These two sessions will be a continuation of previous karma studies through Kairos, yet new participants are also warmly welcome!

Torin Finser

Torin M Finser, PhD, has served Waldorf education for over four decades, as class teacher and faculty chair at the Berkshire Waldorf School, director of teacher education at Antioch University, General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society and a founder of the Center for Anthroposophy. His innovative efforts led to many new programs, including most recently Building Bridges and Waldorf Leadership Development.

He is the author of 15 books, the most recent: Listening to our Teachers - Advocacy through Research (2024). Some of his other books have been translated into Portugese, Mandarin, Korean, Arabic, Spanish, and next year School as a Journey will appear in Greek. Torin and Karine are now enjoying nine grandchildren.

Every Wednesday from 10/8 through 11/19 at 7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $400 for 7 sessions

Patrick Stolfo, M.A.

Portrait Photo of Patrick Stolfo

Patrick has taught and mentored in numerous Waldorf schools and adult education centers across North America since 1981. As a long time faculty member at Hawthorne Valley School in New York, he has taught in grades 5 through 12, primarily in the sculptural arts and the History of Art and Architecture. He has filled various school leadership positions, including high school faculty chair. Since 2004 Patrick has been a co-director and instructor at the Alkion Center for Waldorf Teacher Education at Hawthorne Valley. As a freelance sculptor and graphic artist, his artwork has been commissioned and/or shown in NY, MA, CA, England, and Sweden.

CfA teaching: Waldorf high school teacher education (sculpture, high school arts and art history seminars, mentoring).

Saturday, January 10, Saturday, January 17, Sunday, January 24, and Saturday, January 31, all 3:00-6:00 PM EST

Fee: $450

In this introductory drawing/painting course, students will work with the basic concepts of visual thinking that are at the foundation of any two-dimensional art form. Graphic design principles such as polarity, metamorphosis and unity will be studied in various mediums and techniques. Color, value, and form will lead students into the dynamic relationship between intellect and intuition as the two together generate images of personal resonance and conscious visual display.

We begin Saturday, January 10, at 3:00-6:00 PM EST, with a welcome and an introduction of Charles Andrade, who will give you your first Foundation in Light, Darkness, and Color course. This course has four classes

Classes will be recorded and available for 14 days.

Charles Andrade

Charles Andrade

Charles paints in the colorist style that he evolved from his initial training in England at Tobias School of Art & Therapy. His paintings can be found in private collections in North America, Europe, and New Zealand. Charles owns and operates Lazure Custom Wall Designs, a mural and decorative painting business specializing in Lazure, a unique European glazing finish that creates healing inner environments. Charles teaches fine art classes and offers Lazure and painting workshops worldwide.

REGISTER FOR COLORWORKS
REGISTER FOR ALL OTHER COURSES ABOVE
HOUSING & MEALS INFO & REGISTRATION

Summer Residency

Wilton, New Hampshire
July 6, evening to July 11, noon

This is a training intensive for experienced teachers, school leaders, and those in the healing professions. We hope to support all those looking to supplement their teacher training with medical and psychological support in healing education. This is an advanced course.

1:30 – 3:30 PM EST
Fee: $50.00

 

7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Children from Violent Homes, 9/23
Children Suffering from Sexual Abuse, 10/14

Fee: $150 for 2 sessions

with Patricia Gans, MD

7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Cosmic and Earthly, Chapters 1 & 2; 9/30
Blood and Nerve, Chapters 5 & 6; 10/7
Point and Periphery, Chapters 3 & 4; 10/28

Fee: $150 for 3 sessions

Note: These sessions are studios, not lectures.

with Gleice da Silva

7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $150 for 3 sessions

with Torin Finser

7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $150 for 2 sessions

with Patrick Stolfo

7:30 – 9:30 PM EST

Fee: $400 for 7 sessions

REGISTER NOW!
HOUSING & MEALS INFO & REGISTRATION

All Online Seminars Spring 2025, and Summer Residency 2025

(These courses are included in the Training in Art Therapy program.)

Sundays from 1:30-3:30 or 4:00 EST
Wednesday evenings 7:30-9:30 EST

Welcome to the Kairos Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 Program. This year, we invite you to embark on a transformative journey of learning and self-discovery through our carefully curated sessions, featuring renowned speakers and experts in anthroposophy, medicine, art therapy, and social arts. Whether you are a seasoned practitioner or new to these fields, our program offers a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding, engage in meaningful conversations, and cultivate your personal and professional growth. Join us as we explore the intersections of healing, education, and human development in today’s ever-evolving landscape. If interested, please write to Kairos Director by clicking the “INQUIRE” button, and submitting the contact form.

For questions and more info on our programs, contact Karine today!

Karine Munk Finser
Director

INQUIRE
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name(Required)

Attention Spring Residency 2025 Attendees

See the seminar schedule and housing and meals registration below.

RESIDENCY SCHEDULE
HOUSING & MEALS INFO & REGISTRATION

Emergency Pedagogy without Borders:

Our Kairos Team is in the planning stages for an intervention in Texas from October7-13 to serve the July 4th flood victims.

Please help us make it happen, and donate to Kairos Crisis Interventions using our secure online form.

DONATE TO KAIROS

Leadership and Faculty

An international faculty of experts contributes to making Kairos a vibrant learning community. It is a soul school where all are welcomed into a living process dedicated to healing. Through careful training in the artistic process, we aim to nurture empathy and compassion, enabling human beings to become medicine for one another.

Read Faculty Bios

Karine Munk Finser
Director

Kairos Emergency Pedagogy without Borders Team USA in Action

Our Kairos Team, USA, was founded in the summer of 2024. In October, we all met in Asheville under the direction of Bernd Ruf and Alicia D’Urso for our first crisis intervention. We felt called to respond to the wreckage and chaos from the severe storm and flooding that hit North Carolina. Our intervention was successful, thanks to the strong leadership who guided us to become a strong and focused team and to the vast experience of the pedagogues and therapists who formed the sixteen-person team. In addition, we had strong support on the ground from our local coordinator and others who helped us: Sola, School of Living Arts gave us housing and much more, Asheville Waldorf School provided a daily site for students and community members, and we ventured to Shanonoa and Black Mountain where met community members at the Peri Social House. Some of us visited the LatinX community. We returned home grateful for all we had learned and deeply moved by all the human encounters we had experienced—a huge thank you to Bernd Ruf and Alicia D’Urso.

February 8-13, 2025:
Second Crisis intervention under the direction and guidance of Bernd Ruf, Alicia D’Urso, and Renaldo Nascimento Team Kairos will join Team California, who is leading this Los Angeles crisis intervention. We will offer our support to children in the community who are suffering from devastating loss, grief, and trauma after the destructive fires. Natalia Picasso from Team Kairos will submit a report after we return home. We hope to align our two Teams under Team USA for this critical crisis intervention.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS
READ TEAM REPORT

Our Mission Statement:

The Kairos Institute at the Center for Anthroposophy provides training in Art Therapies and Emergency Pedagogy, aimed at addressing global suffering and trauma. Through a combination of artistic therapies, such as drawing and painting, and specialized modules in crisis intervention, students develop resilience and skills to support healing in themselves and others. The Institute partners with iARTe, an international association dedicated to promoting and ensuring the quality of anthroposophic arts therapies, and offers pathways for professional development for those in the healing professions.

Kairos is dedicated to:

  • Addressing the suffering in the world
  • Deepening our understanding of the consequences of trauma
  • Developing skills and capacities needed to strengthen the resilience and wholeness in human encounters

Our students feel called to healing work and Kairos offers the necessary pathways through transformative artistic processes.