Restoring the heart of the circle.
Who we are
Gathering Power was founded in 2021 as a home for a community of practitioners committed to a world of belonging, connection and abundance for all life. Our work invites sustained engagement in the realignment of world views, practices, and knowledges and is grounded in the values of love, trust, respect, and forgiveness. Our projects and initiatives support learning opportunities and community-building experiences rooted in Indigenous and ecological principles.
Our founders
This organization grows from the work of Harold and Phil Gatensby who were instrumental to the introduction of Circles in the justice system in their efforts to transform the relationship between the justice system and their own Tlingit community.
As formerly incarcerated residential school survivors, Phil and Harold have spent their lives working to return power to communities and dismantle the carceral system. Over 40 years, they have done extensive work in indigenous and multi-racial communities and in multiple sectors in Canada, the US, and Europe. Gathering Power has been the name of Phil’s work to support people to create a better, healthier life for themselves, their families, and their communities since the 1980s.
Photo of Harold Gatensby. His Tlingit name is Black Raven.
Our projects
Currently, Gathering Power supports projects, initiatives, partnerships, practitioners, community-builders, and leaders from across sectors and around the world.
Our people
Gathering Power’s work is grounded in our commitment to relationship and through the practice of invitation. We partner with communities, organizations, and institutions and our work has been generously supported by a number of donors and organizations.
Circles process and…
Restorative Justice
Harold and Phil Gatensby began to use circles in the context of restorative justice in the 80s. Since then, circles have been used within the field of restorative justice to address harm in communities by engaging people in processes of accountability.
Systems Change
Grassroots communities all over the world have grappled with the impact of colonization, capitalism, patriarchy, and neoliberalism without respite. The arduous intergenerational task of resisting, and subverting systems has been a project for humanity for thousands of years. In the end, over time, institutions do change.
Community
Circles make it possible for these types of relational structures to transform, to open to change, to shift collectively ideas of what it means to be a person, of how one loves, and how one treats those who are beloved along with those who are, well, not so loved.
Race/ism
Circle process is a millennial practice of governance. It is millennial. Our ideas of race and the system of racism at most date back to 500 years. So there are two orientations around the relationship between race/ism and circle practice, that in my opinion, are misguided. The first, is that circle can fix racism.
What people are saying
I feel so grateful to be in and learn in the community that all at Restore Circles are initiating and inviting. The teachings that were offered give me so much to learn from, reflect on, and integrate into my own relational practices. I am in awe every time I am in circle with Restore Circles community.”
Institutions/organizations/groups that say we're all connected and everyone belongs but without truly honoring and having reverence for what connects us. What's missing is the heart, putting ideas of belonging and connection into real practice and honoring them.”
I'm not sure I can articulate the learnings just yet...The power of being in a field of such generosity, freedom, love and care is fundamentally transformative and influences everything. It has created transformational learnings at the most foundational level.”
