Work with me

I’m still discovering where this work wants to take me. This part of the creative process is evolving (and honestly, a bit foggy for me). I was encouraged to make a website that describes me and what I care about. There’s no map where to go from here; just the compass of Deep Ecology in my heart and a commitment to creating spaces where people can reconnect with what matters. What I do know is that I love to support and collaborate with others, so if you have any seeds of collaboration you’d like to water together, please get in contact.

My work has taken many forms: Facilitating Deep Ecology workshops, speaking with creative and corporate communities, supporting environmental campaigns, convening conversations, and creating spaces for reflection, connection, and integrated action.

I’d love to continue exploring what becomes possible through collaboration.

Perhaps you’re looking for a facilitator for a gathering, a speaker for your organisation, someone to help shape a workshop or conversation, a collaborator on an environmental project, or simply someone to bring a different perspective into a room.

Perhaps you have something else in mind entirely.

If you have a seed of collaboration you’d like to explore, I’d love to hear from you.

Below are some of the ways we can work together. These are not fixed offerings. They are some of the places this work has taken me so far.

If something here sparks an idea, please get in touch.

“Erika Aligno was the best guide I have ever experienced.”

— Wally Glickman, Professor Emeritus of Physics

“Erika, thank you for holding the work with such wisdom, care, and generosity. There was a quality in yesterday’s gathering—a tenderness in the room, and a sense that something old and something new were meeting one another.””

— Founder & Managing Partner, InfraRE Partners, New Jersey, USA

Some of the ways we can work together

Deep Ecology Workshops

NATURE-BASED EXPERIENTIAL PROCESSES
Facilitating Deep Ecology workshops, including the Work That Reconnects, and other experiential and embodied practices for reconnecting with yourself, each other, and the living world.
Facilitation & Group Process

GROUP WORK / COMMUNITY BUILDING
Creating and holding spaces for meaningful conversation, reflection, imagination, and collective inquiry.
Talks & Panel Discussions

COMMUNITY EVENTS & CORPORATE SPACES
Sharing perspectives on Deep Ecology, ecological belonging, activism, and our relationship with the more-than-human world - from community gatherings to creative and corporate spaces.
Festivals & Events

WORKSHOP OFFERINGS
Bringing ritual,, reflection and participatory practices into festivals, gatherings, and events. Creating moments for people to pause, reconnect, and remember their place within the larger living world.
Environmental Activism

COMMUNITY CARE
Collaborating with environmental organisations, campaigns, and communities seeking new ways to engage people with the living Earth.
Creative Collaboration

CO-CREATED COLLABORATIONS
Working with people, organisations and communities to imagine what might be possible when different skills, perspectives and networks come together.

"Erika I am feeling gratitude for your remarkable Facilitator style that held the group so beautifully and moved us through. So many people were saying the same to me about how they appreciated how you went about holding the space."

—Laurie Seeman, Founding Director, Lead Artist / Educator, Strawtown Art & Garden Studio, New York, USA
"I've been to several Deep Ecology workshops with John and Erika on the NSW Central Coast in Australia. Each experience has helped me to connect with the natural world in a way I thought I had lost since childhood. That is I've refound basic connection as a life withinm a supportive ecosystem. This is beyond the physics of time and space, and touching on being a real and powerful part of life as it is. Very valuable."

—Julian, Workshop Participant
"I just loved the whole evening. It was a true gift and I really really appreciate your holding and loving energy."

—Professor Bronwen Morgan, UNSW Law School
"Erika is a beautiful soul - attended the Deep Ecology session at Narara with John, Erika and Hector - was an amazing 2 days - I look forward to catching up with you guys again soon at one of your sessions."

—Andrew, Workshop Participant
"...thanks for such beautiful facilitation over the weekend. I honour the dimension in which you are focusing your energy, and excited to see what it provides."

—Joel, Coach, Clarity by Design
"I'd like to express my heartfelt admiration and gratitude for your teaching. Your expertise, clear explanations, and genuine care for your students have greatly enriched my learning experience and deepened my passion for the subject. Thank you for all the dedication and effort you put into our education."

—UNSW Student, IEST7500 Environmental Technologies, University of NSW
"Thank you John, Erika, Tema and Jim for leading me deep into my heart via the hands, tears, laughter and silence of my fellow earthlings. With your words, the light in your eyes, the notes given generously on your breath, the care in your showing up to lead this waterholing you have reminded me that I am part of a filthy rich biome. It is all more precarious, intimate, unfathomable and extravagant than I dared to remember. Thank you for reminding me."

—Anna, Workshop Participant
"The Deep Ecology workshop hosted by John Seed and Tema Milstein, with support from Erika Aligno, initially brought me into contact with mostly complete strangers, mixed with a few new acquaintances. However, after a short two days, I left with the type of friends that neither time nor distance can alienate. Though I arrived with a heart hardened by the suffering of the planet and its beings, I left with a hope-filled sense of purpose and a means for bearing the pain that comes with the struggle from caring deeply. I highly encourage this workshop for all--the ambivalent, the curious, as well as the deep empaths."

—Gwendolyn Inocencio, Ph.D., Department of English, Texas A&M University
"I wanted to thank you again for all of your teaching contributions to IEST7500 over the term. Your leadership and capacity to effectively manage students online was outstanding."

—Dr Colin Salter, Convenor, IEST7500 Environmental Technologies, University of NSW
"Thank you very much for your Shambala Warrior work, initiative and hospitality in hosting us last night. Also your kindness."

—Ann, Workshop Participant, The Farm Cottage