Creative conversations. Meaningful outcomes.
Deep, creative conversations are the sparks that ignite transformation. Whether your team is working through a pivotal decision, your board is setting strategy, or your network is coming together for the first time — I’d love to help you design and hold the space.
I facilitate retreats, strategic planning sessions, visioning processes, and collaborative gatherings for organizations, cooperatives, networks, and communities across the Northeast. My style blends structure with spaciousness, strategic thinking with creative practice, and deep listening with a genuine commitment to helping your group actually get something done.
Every facilitation I design is customized.
I don’t run generic workshops off a template — I listen to where your group is, what you’re trying to accomplish, and what’s in the way, and then I design a process that fits.
What I facilitate
Strategic planning retreats
Multi-day or single-day retreats for boards, leadership teams, and staff seeking clarity on direction, priorities, and next steps.
Vision, mission, and values processes
Grounded processes that help organizations articulate what they stand for, where they’re headed, and how they want to work together — in language that actually feels alive.
Collaborative and multi-stakeholder gatherings
Convenings for networks, coalitions, funders, and collaboratives that need to move from conversation to shared commitment.
Community visioning
Participatory processes that bring real voices into planning and decision-making — including large community convenings, steering committee design, and ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Team development and hard conversations
Facilitated space for teams navigating change, conflict, role clarity, or relationship repair.
Creative convenings
Gatherings that integrate art, music, movement, storytelling, and ritual as ways of thinking and deciding together — because we do our best work when we’re not only thinking.
My facilitation style
I prepare deeply. Before any gathering, I spend time understanding your group, your goals, and your context. Design matters — and good facilitation starts long before anyone walks in the room.
I hold structure without rigidity. Your group needs enough container to feel safe and focused, and enough spaciousness for what actually wants to emerge. I design for both.
I don’t avoid hard conversations. When there’s tension or a genuinely difficult decision in the room, I’ll help the group move toward it rather than around it — with care, and with clear process.
I integrate creative practice. I bring visual art, music, movement, storytelling, and ritual into facilitation when they serve the work — not as decoration, but as ways of accessing what talking alone can’t reach.
I stay responsive. However well-designed a process is, the real work happens in the room. I adjust in real time.
Formats
I facilitate in person and online. Engagements range from single-session gatherings to multi-day retreats to ongoing series over several months. I’m happy to work with existing agendas, design from scratch, or step in when a group needs a steady outside hand.
Based in Maine, I work regionally throughout the Northeast and occasionally further afield. Virtual engagements are welcome from anywhere.
Let’s design something together
If you’re planning a retreat, a strategic planning process, or a gathering that matters — I’d love to hear about it. A 30-minute call is the best way to explore whether we’re a good fit.
“Helped us reach our goal of creating a truly informative and engaging day for participants“
The Maine Flower Collective hired Jonah to facilitate our first true gathering as a newly formed Collective. Due to Covid, we had to move our Convergence online and Jonah was an excellent leader in helping us reach our goal of creating a truly informative and engaging day for participants, despite not being able to be in person. Jonah was able to guide our group of volunteers through the process of planning and executing an online conference, and he did it with a wonderful, collaborative energy. We truly enjoyed working with Jonah and would hire him again in the future.
— Sarah Lutte, Maine Flower Collective
“A strong facilitator with the skills to help any collaborative project evolve”
“Jonah is a great contributor in the cooperative ecosystem in the Northeast. His facilitation style brings ease and focus to spaces he holds for group work, particularly in diverse communities, and he is technically adept in many areas of business and organizational development. All around, he is a strong facilitator with the skills to help any collaborative project evolve.”
— Katherine Bessey, Director of Cooperative Business Services, Cooperative Development Institute
Examples of Facilitation Clients
Upper Machias Bay Master Plan: Facilitated a series of public meetings in Machias, ME to support a master plan for the region. 2025-2026, Client: Sunrise County Economic Council
Food System Leadership Convening: Facilitated a day-long convening of food system leaders for visioning and planning. I followed up by developing a report for the day. 2025. Client: Wolfe’s Center for Agriculture and the Environment.
Ending Hunger by 2030: Facilitated a series of working group sessions and a full day convening bringing together diverse stakeholders to develop priorities. 2024. Client: State of Maine Governor’s Office for Policy Innovation and the Future.
See the Consulting Page for Additional Clients, as many of my clients involve facilitation and consulting.