Enneagram for the People
Donation protected
I need your support to become a trained and certified Enneagram Accredited Professional.
If you already know you want to support me, feel free to donate and skip this very detailed explanation I’m about to lay out. If you want to know all the details, read on. I appreciate your support either way.
Hi! My name is Micky ScottBey Jones - the justice doula - and just like a birth doula (think: coach) helps people bring new life into the world, I provide informational, emotional, spiritual and physical support to people bringing more love, justice and shalom into the world. That work takes lots of different forms from facilitating pilgrimages to helping thousands of people have dinner for healing or bridging (The People’s Supper) to exploring ways we might accompany one another in movement space to bring about healing in the midst of social change (Movement Chaplaincy). My primary work home is Faith Matters Network - and we are doing awesome things in the world, but real talk, we are a small organization and while we make it work, things like continuing education dollars are a future goal, not a present reality. So, I'm funding this on my own.
I NEED YOUR HELP.
I will get to that, but first, let me unpack a few things.
I am obsessed with figuring out how we infuse our movement communities, faith communities (and yes faith rooted movement communities) with healing and resilience. We cannot burn ourselves up on the altar of “justice” in order to build the world we wish to see.
On a bad day, all I want is for us to just be able to live. No more suicides by activists who are burned out. No more disposability politics and trashed relationships. On a good day, I can look up enough to see that we can build movements so full of love, so pleasurable, so joyful that the revolution is irresistible and we are twerking our way to a new world together. I believe the way we get to freedom is as important as getting there. We cannot recreate the systems of oppression and still get free. Nope. Not gonna work.
This is spiritual work, this social change that so many of us long for. It is also many other things - Strategy. Planning. Networking. Power. And I really believe in deep, personal transformation that will accompany and lead to deep social transformation. There are many tools that we can use to do our own spiritual, emotional and relational work. It’s good to have a lot of different choices, ideas, pathways and teachings. We are in an exciting time where wisdom, teachings and practices are being rediscovered, challenged, created and reborn. We need EVERYTHING we can to press on and press through. We each have medicine to offer.
ENTER THE ENNEAGRAM
The Enneagram of personality is not just a cool way of finding out your personality type - if you’re stubborn or a neat freak or a free spirit. In some circles, and sadly, by some teachers, it has been reduced to that.
I know the Enneagram of personality as a spiritual tool of transformation and understanding. Through the Enneagram, we can understand that we already have everything we need...we just need to re-discover it.
It in many ways, has helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life by realizing I am not alone (there are others like me), I am not beyond hope (my actions are not the sum of who I am) and I have a particular way of being in the world that holds challenges AND gifts (and I can learn to love and harness these gifts and challenges). I have also personally experienced the shame, shock, unraveling, unskilled engagement and learning in real time that comes with a desire to “be the change you want to see in the world”. Enneagram has been a part of the journey of holding myself with compassion on my journey of activism and helped me to have that same compassion for others on their own journey.
I believe the Enneagram can help us build resilience, understand and pursue healing and deepen our empathy and compassion for ourselves and each other. We need ways of sustaining activists, organizers, engaged citizens, artists and spiritual leaders who are committed to deep, social change toward justice. I really, truly believe in the Enneagram as a tool for more sustainable activism and leadership and for personal and social transformation.
The Enneagram has largely been seen as a tool for personal spiritual transformation. In the United States it has been largely accessible to particular groups, Christians, white people, those who can afford a spiritual director or a therapist who is trained in the Enneagram. Most of the teachers, trainers, experts and authors are white and most of them men. It is often taught without any acknowledgement of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality - any of the ways in which the identities we hold and that are imposed on us may impact how Enneagram is being presented or understood. As I've gone deeper study of the Enneagram, I believe it is to be experienced in community, understood communally and individually - spiritual understanding and practice FOR THE PEOPLE. For the good of the people.
I have wondered, and maybe you have too, if none of the teachers look like me, and none of them seem to address how the Enneagram might intersect with someone like me, perhaps it isn't really for me. Yet, what I know from personal experience, that it IS for me. So I decided I would become what I was waiting for.
WHO ARE THE BLACK and/or POC (People of Color) ENNEAGRAM TEACHERS? WHERE ARE THEY?
Every so often, this question or some variation of it pops up on my social media feeds. I’ve asked it myself. And I have found a few...been told about others...introduced to and had conversations with some. Met others pursuing training or education. It’s happening. We are coming up. But we need more. We need variety. We need community. We need training. We need support. We need to see people who look like us teaching, coaching, mentoring, writing.
I am becoming an Accredited Professional (AP) Enneagram Teacher/Trainer.
I will then teach others the Enneagram for personal and social transformation.
I will teach the Enneagram of personality with an intersectional, justice focused lens.
I will be a transformative voice in the Enneagram and adjacent communities.
What school and why?
I am in school with Dr. Deborah Ooten at the School of Conscious Living (Conscious Living Center). Dr. Ooten teaches all of the streams of Enneagram, with a particular focus on the Narrative Tradition. I chose this program to learn from a woman, in a non-religious, yet spiritually inclusive environment. Dr. Ooten is well connected and respected in the world of Enneagram. She has students of all different ages, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, genders, socio-economic status, etc. As someone who lives and works across many lines of difference, it was important for me to step outside of the Christian Enneagram bubble and study from a larger perspective. You can learn more about the school at http://www.goconscious.com/home/school_of_conscious_living.html.
Why accreditation?
Many people who speak and teach the Enneagram are not certified or accredited. They may make this choice for many reasons. As a birth doula for over a decade and a former birth doula trainer, I am familiar with the “to certify or not certify” debates. I personally, have always been a fan of certification. I want the accountability for myself - a community of practitioners who will hold me accountable to a set of standards. I want the recognition of a standardized level of basic training and education and continuing education. I want to connect with others who are innovating, creating and engaging tradition and history. I want to share the power and recognition of my training and lineage of teachers to those I teach and train. In a world that does not often offer respect and authority to a Black woman, I want to be clear that I hold a level of knowledge and proficiency that when combined with my wisdom and personal insight is unparalleled. Accreditation and certification isn’t for everyone, but it is for me.
At the end of this program I will be certified by Dr. Ooten in the Narrative Tradition and Accredited by IEA as an Accredited Professional.
What are you going to do?
The possibilities are endless, really. I will teach, train, facilitate, write, speak and create using the Enneagram in conjunction with the other healing and contemplative wisdom and modalities I already use. I already talk about the Enneagram a lot, teach informally, usually one-on-one, help people find their type and encourage people to explore themselves and their spiritual path through the Enneagram. The path of accreditation includes teaching on the Enneagram, so you won’t have to wait until I complete my program in order to interact with my teaching . That's going to start in 2019.
For those of you hoping I was going to roll out some big program, book or training for other people...this is just the beginning...have to build the foundation to build what is to come, right? In the words of Taylor Dayne, "Don't rush me, I've made that mistake before. Ah-ah-ah-ah".
You get it.
When will you be fully trained and accredited?
By Fall/Winter 2020 I will be fully accredited. Let’s have a party, okay?
There will be dancing. Wobble, baby.
Now that I've laid it all out, will you help me answer the question of where are the Black/POC Enneagram Teachers?
Here I am. Help me do it. We are building the future we want to see.
Here’s the breakdown of the $4,000 we are raising together:
School of Conscious Living - Enneagram Emersion through the Conscious Living Center - Remainder of the sessions: 1350*
International Enneagram Association Professional Membership Fee: 160
IEA Accreditation Fee: 150
Coaching Supervision with Dr. Deborah Ooten: (4 sessions) 620
Lodging in Oakland during the IEA Conference: 895
Flight to Oakland (IEA Conference): 480
Flight to Cincinnati for Panel day: 250
$3,905 Total for training and full accreditation as an Accredited Enneagram Professional . I’ve rounded up to $4,000 to accomodate for some of the crowdfunding fees.
And I’ve already put at least $1,000 into my own Enneagram education including:
Session 1 & 2 of Enneagram Emersion I
Visiting the Gravity Center with Christopher & Philena Heuertz
An entire library of Enneagram Books & materials (I have a LOT of Enneagram books)
Registration fees for the 2019 IEA Conference in Oakland (volunteer rate)
IEA Membership
*I have a generous scholarship from Dr. Ooten & The School of Conscious Living. Without that, the cost would be substantially higher for this quality of education and materials.
If you already know you want to support me, feel free to donate and skip this very detailed explanation I’m about to lay out. If you want to know all the details, read on. I appreciate your support either way.
Hi! My name is Micky ScottBey Jones - the justice doula - and just like a birth doula (think: coach) helps people bring new life into the world, I provide informational, emotional, spiritual and physical support to people bringing more love, justice and shalom into the world. That work takes lots of different forms from facilitating pilgrimages to helping thousands of people have dinner for healing or bridging (The People’s Supper) to exploring ways we might accompany one another in movement space to bring about healing in the midst of social change (Movement Chaplaincy). My primary work home is Faith Matters Network - and we are doing awesome things in the world, but real talk, we are a small organization and while we make it work, things like continuing education dollars are a future goal, not a present reality. So, I'm funding this on my own.
I NEED YOUR HELP.
I will get to that, but first, let me unpack a few things.
I am obsessed with figuring out how we infuse our movement communities, faith communities (and yes faith rooted movement communities) with healing and resilience. We cannot burn ourselves up on the altar of “justice” in order to build the world we wish to see.
On a bad day, all I want is for us to just be able to live. No more suicides by activists who are burned out. No more disposability politics and trashed relationships. On a good day, I can look up enough to see that we can build movements so full of love, so pleasurable, so joyful that the revolution is irresistible and we are twerking our way to a new world together. I believe the way we get to freedom is as important as getting there. We cannot recreate the systems of oppression and still get free. Nope. Not gonna work.
This is spiritual work, this social change that so many of us long for. It is also many other things - Strategy. Planning. Networking. Power. And I really believe in deep, personal transformation that will accompany and lead to deep social transformation. There are many tools that we can use to do our own spiritual, emotional and relational work. It’s good to have a lot of different choices, ideas, pathways and teachings. We are in an exciting time where wisdom, teachings and practices are being rediscovered, challenged, created and reborn. We need EVERYTHING we can to press on and press through. We each have medicine to offer.
ENTER THE ENNEAGRAM
The Enneagram of personality is not just a cool way of finding out your personality type - if you’re stubborn or a neat freak or a free spirit. In some circles, and sadly, by some teachers, it has been reduced to that.
I know the Enneagram of personality as a spiritual tool of transformation and understanding. Through the Enneagram, we can understand that we already have everything we need...we just need to re-discover it.
It in many ways, has helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life by realizing I am not alone (there are others like me), I am not beyond hope (my actions are not the sum of who I am) and I have a particular way of being in the world that holds challenges AND gifts (and I can learn to love and harness these gifts and challenges). I have also personally experienced the shame, shock, unraveling, unskilled engagement and learning in real time that comes with a desire to “be the change you want to see in the world”. Enneagram has been a part of the journey of holding myself with compassion on my journey of activism and helped me to have that same compassion for others on their own journey.
I believe the Enneagram can help us build resilience, understand and pursue healing and deepen our empathy and compassion for ourselves and each other. We need ways of sustaining activists, organizers, engaged citizens, artists and spiritual leaders who are committed to deep, social change toward justice. I really, truly believe in the Enneagram as a tool for more sustainable activism and leadership and for personal and social transformation.
The Enneagram has largely been seen as a tool for personal spiritual transformation. In the United States it has been largely accessible to particular groups, Christians, white people, those who can afford a spiritual director or a therapist who is trained in the Enneagram. Most of the teachers, trainers, experts and authors are white and most of them men. It is often taught without any acknowledgement of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality - any of the ways in which the identities we hold and that are imposed on us may impact how Enneagram is being presented or understood. As I've gone deeper study of the Enneagram, I believe it is to be experienced in community, understood communally and individually - spiritual understanding and practice FOR THE PEOPLE. For the good of the people.
I have wondered, and maybe you have too, if none of the teachers look like me, and none of them seem to address how the Enneagram might intersect with someone like me, perhaps it isn't really for me. Yet, what I know from personal experience, that it IS for me. So I decided I would become what I was waiting for.
WHO ARE THE BLACK and/or POC (People of Color) ENNEAGRAM TEACHERS? WHERE ARE THEY?
Every so often, this question or some variation of it pops up on my social media feeds. I’ve asked it myself. And I have found a few...been told about others...introduced to and had conversations with some. Met others pursuing training or education. It’s happening. We are coming up. But we need more. We need variety. We need community. We need training. We need support. We need to see people who look like us teaching, coaching, mentoring, writing.
I am becoming an Accredited Professional (AP) Enneagram Teacher/Trainer.
I will then teach others the Enneagram for personal and social transformation.
I will teach the Enneagram of personality with an intersectional, justice focused lens.
I will be a transformative voice in the Enneagram and adjacent communities.
What school and why?
I am in school with Dr. Deborah Ooten at the School of Conscious Living (Conscious Living Center). Dr. Ooten teaches all of the streams of Enneagram, with a particular focus on the Narrative Tradition. I chose this program to learn from a woman, in a non-religious, yet spiritually inclusive environment. Dr. Ooten is well connected and respected in the world of Enneagram. She has students of all different ages, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, genders, socio-economic status, etc. As someone who lives and works across many lines of difference, it was important for me to step outside of the Christian Enneagram bubble and study from a larger perspective. You can learn more about the school at http://www.goconscious.com/home/school_of_conscious_living.html.
Why accreditation?
Many people who speak and teach the Enneagram are not certified or accredited. They may make this choice for many reasons. As a birth doula for over a decade and a former birth doula trainer, I am familiar with the “to certify or not certify” debates. I personally, have always been a fan of certification. I want the accountability for myself - a community of practitioners who will hold me accountable to a set of standards. I want the recognition of a standardized level of basic training and education and continuing education. I want to connect with others who are innovating, creating and engaging tradition and history. I want to share the power and recognition of my training and lineage of teachers to those I teach and train. In a world that does not often offer respect and authority to a Black woman, I want to be clear that I hold a level of knowledge and proficiency that when combined with my wisdom and personal insight is unparalleled. Accreditation and certification isn’t for everyone, but it is for me.
At the end of this program I will be certified by Dr. Ooten in the Narrative Tradition and Accredited by IEA as an Accredited Professional.
What are you going to do?
The possibilities are endless, really. I will teach, train, facilitate, write, speak and create using the Enneagram in conjunction with the other healing and contemplative wisdom and modalities I already use. I already talk about the Enneagram a lot, teach informally, usually one-on-one, help people find their type and encourage people to explore themselves and their spiritual path through the Enneagram. The path of accreditation includes teaching on the Enneagram, so you won’t have to wait until I complete my program in order to interact with my teaching . That's going to start in 2019.
For those of you hoping I was going to roll out some big program, book or training for other people...this is just the beginning...have to build the foundation to build what is to come, right? In the words of Taylor Dayne, "Don't rush me, I've made that mistake before. Ah-ah-ah-ah".
You get it.
When will you be fully trained and accredited?
By Fall/Winter 2020 I will be fully accredited. Let’s have a party, okay?
There will be dancing. Wobble, baby.
Now that I've laid it all out, will you help me answer the question of where are the Black/POC Enneagram Teachers?
Here I am. Help me do it. We are building the future we want to see.
Here’s the breakdown of the $4,000 we are raising together:
School of Conscious Living - Enneagram Emersion through the Conscious Living Center - Remainder of the sessions: 1350*
International Enneagram Association Professional Membership Fee: 160
IEA Accreditation Fee: 150
Coaching Supervision with Dr. Deborah Ooten: (4 sessions) 620
Lodging in Oakland during the IEA Conference: 895
Flight to Oakland (IEA Conference): 480
Flight to Cincinnati for Panel day: 250
$3,905 Total for training and full accreditation as an Accredited Enneagram Professional . I’ve rounded up to $4,000 to accomodate for some of the crowdfunding fees.
And I’ve already put at least $1,000 into my own Enneagram education including:
Session 1 & 2 of Enneagram Emersion I
Visiting the Gravity Center with Christopher & Philena Heuertz
An entire library of Enneagram Books & materials (I have a LOT of Enneagram books)
Registration fees for the 2019 IEA Conference in Oakland (volunteer rate)
IEA Membership
*I have a generous scholarship from Dr. Ooten & The School of Conscious Living. Without that, the cost would be substantially higher for this quality of education and materials.
Organizer
Micky ScottBey Jones
Organizer
Spring Hill, TN