Jan Fowler

I was born and grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand in the days when children rode bikes freely and played outdoors for long hours unsupervised. The freedom and joy which allowed my brothers and I to play creatively in the bush and water has allowed me to continue to appreciate and love New Zealand life and its ease of access to the natural world. I went to boarding school as a teenager which was possibly my first insight into the importance of group development – though not realised as such at the time!. It was not a particularly positive experience and I withdrew somewhat from the world - and became an acute observer of life.

My training and practice as a teacher gave me my first profound encounter with the value of respect for and attention to the individual. I worked with a senior teacher who questioned, challenged and acknowledged every step of my journey. This approach to life was new to me and “woke me up” to myself and my actions as an 18 / 19 year old. In hindsight it was the moment when I came to understand how the image of human being I carried directly impacted on how others could receive what I brought – I began to love my work with children but more noticeably, I began to love the challenges, the questioning and the inner research of working with colleagues and groups in the organisations.

I married early and so began many years of moving around New Zealand and eventually the world. Over a period of 13 years I had five children who are all fine young adults active in the world now. I have a gorgeous grandson with another soon to arrive. Our travels also opened the door first to many spiritual streams and eventually to anthroposophy in 1979 to me and finally I found a place to carry my questions as well as to bring them into practice through my work and life.

I trained and qualified in Teaching and Adult Learning and in Therapy,(Arnold Mindell’s Process oriented Psychology with Arnold Mindell, Max Schubach; Rogers, Gestalt) with further studies in Advanced Facilitation, Group Dynamics, Train the Trainer, Biographical Counseling, (Centre for Social Development), Leadership and Organizational Development

My personal experience with stakeholder consultation, inter cultural relationships and support, and school development shaped my ability to work in organisation development. I work in all these fields creating the conditions for effective dialogue and conflict resolution with an emphasis on processes and people/relationship development.

My consulting work focuses on developing capacity to work with conflict, change management and leadership, community consultation, facilitation of interface conversations within an organisation, individual and group coaching, and integrating personal development with that of the organisation.

I first met Albrecht Hemming and Elaine Beadle in the mid 1980’s when establishing a school. Their approach to organisation development was exciting to me and highlighted the importance of supporting the development of the people while also establishing sound form and structure. It answered a question I did not know was there – how to marry the needs of the individual with the needs of the organisation – this remains of great interest and importance to me. MIRA carried an approach which I experienced as valuing healthy relationships and enabling people to be true to themselves and I saw this inter dependence is critical to the long term success of organisations. I continued to work independently, raise a family and study while maintaining a close relationship with MIRA. In 2005 I joined MIRA and became one of three MIRA members in Australia.

I love my work, am grateful for my MIRA colleagues and am inspired to bring good work and build positive relationships in the communities I live and work in.