Our Team
“We are a Team of skilled associates with diverse backgrounds and specialisations, with a shared passion for cultivating more connective, creative, and collaborative group cultures.”
Madelanne Rust-D’Eye, MA, RSME/T
director – Programmes & Facilitation
Madelanne is a facilitator, experiential educator, and body-based psychotherapist. She delights in creating body-informed programming to support collaboration in group cultures. She provides organisational and leadership consulting for agile and effective teams, and has a Master’s degree in Somatic Counselling Psychology from Naropa University (Colorado, USA), with specialisations in Dance/Movement Therapy and Body Psychotherapy. She believes passionately in the transformational potential that body- and movement-based group paradigms hold for global culture. She developed and teaches Body-Informed Leadership. www.BodyIntelligence.ca
James Wood, MA, CED
director – community engagement
James is a Community Development specialist and a gifted partnership-builder, engaging in international & multi-cultural settings with governments, charities, businesses and community groups since 1998. He leads strength-based, holistic action planning processes to support common-ground solutions to local, regional, and global challenges. James holds an Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Sustainability and Public Policy and a Bachelor's Degree in Social Anthropology & Community Economic Development (CED) from Simon Fraser University. James believes that collaboration and co-mentorship are powerful keys to creating healthy local & global cultures, and to support this transformation, he facilitates HealthyMasculine.com circles (for all genders) inviting a reciprocal relationship with the feminine: www.JamesWood.ca
Inez Aponte
Associate — Facilitation & Program Design
Inez Aponte is a facilitator, educator and consultant in the Human Scale Development Approach, working with individuals and communities seeking to improve their quality of life in balance with the Earth’s ecology. With a background in art and performance, she focuses on the interplay between language, storytelling and behaviour change to help groups align with their values to cultivate their ‘radical collective imagination’ – a capacity she believes is vital for the creation of a socially and ecologically just world. She has worked with a wide range of international audiences, including refugees, business leaders, community organisers and students from institutions such as Schumacher College, the Centre for Alternative Technology, London School of Economics and Lille Institute of Political Studies.
She is an accredited Trainer for the Transition Network and a fellow of The Schumacher Institute. www.GrowingGoodLives.org
Deborah Benham, PhD
associate – Curriculum Design & Facilitation
Debs engages the vibrant meeting place between whole systems design, organisational governance and group culture. During her 6-year term as Managing Director for the Newbold Trust sustainability centre she introduced sociocratic governance systems, social permaculture, and nature-connection practices — giving her first-hand experience of transforming a complex organisation’s governance and group culture. She holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham in sustainable tourism, with a specialisation in stakeholder engagement and collaboration. Deborah is a Sociocracy trainer, a community building practitioner, Gaia Education lead facilitator, and is currently part of the core team at Transition Network, leading on organisational culture and practices of change. Deb specialises in supporting transformative change and regeneration in eco-social organisations and community based projects, using a living systems framework and co-design approaches.
Reuben (Root) Cuthbertson, MA
associate – Curriculum Design
Root designs experiential opportunities for learning by creating strong containers for the graceful facilitation of group energy. He holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Education, and certificates in Sustainable Curriculum Design, Participatory Facilitation, and Ecopsychology. He has co-led short courses on regenerative cultures and cultural mentoring for Schumacher College, Findhorn College the ALT program in Thailand, and is a certified trainer in Gaia Education eco-social design. With his wife Deborah Benham, he has delivered trainings on Sociocracy, Designing for Peace, Positive Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship, and Culture Repair. He is part of several teams offering weekend programs introducing 8 Shields, and the 8 Shields Institute online courses: “Introduction to Regenerative Community Building,” and "Pathways to Village Building." With Jon Young and Deborah, he is co-authoring a new book on regenerative community design. He is currently the Training Coordinator for Transition Network, accompanying an international community of practice to articulate and offer learning opportunities and skillshares for facilitating community engagement. He delights in assisting groups trying to present complex information so that anyone can understand. Practically, this can look like governing documents, policies & bylaws, operations manuals, organisational handbooks, orientation guides, or training materials. With his ear to the ground, Root’s guiding question is: “What is most needed here now?”