Hello and thank you for making it here to this day and this page. Let’s take a deep breath together and settle in as you explore this website.

I’m a fourth generation Australian of Irish, Scots, English and French heritage. The daughter of Marjorie Keith and Lloyd Irving, I was born in Cammeraygal country on Sydney’s North Shore. I’ve lived in Australia, in England and in the United States and have two adult children whose lifework and passion embrace the circle practice they were introduced to in their formative years. My grandson sat in council for the first time when he was two.

I’ve worked in the fields of dialog and communication for 50 years, first as an advertising copywriter, next as an environmental fundraiser, then as a home-birth midwife’s assistant and, finally, in council in 1999, when it was a regular practice at my daughter's middle school, in the class of my council mentor, Joe Provisor.  As a certified trainer, mentor and consultant with Council in Schools (now Circle Ways) I helped establish programs in five public schools in the LA Unified School District, and introduced council to new audiences -- at the Bioneers Conference, through the Center for Council's programs in organizations, agencies and prisons, via an annual Mother Daughter Council Retreat, and during weekend trainings in the U.S. and in Australia.  I’ve been a member of the Council of Advisors for The Ojai Foundation (now Topa Institute) and its Trainers Mentoring Circle, which shepherds both mentors and those they guide on the path to becoming council trainers in The Ojai Foundation tradition.  At my home in Venice, on Kizh land, I offer explorations of council and all its forms, and a monthly council for veteran practitioners as well as those curious about the practice. During the pandemic, I began offering virtual trainings and “practice” councils. In the past, I’ve offered year-long council adventures. One used the four shields, or aspects, of human nature as a framework for navigating our individual and collective journeys through a seasonal year. The other turned a humane, practical eye to our relationship with the unavoidable transition - our death - and its inevitable, predictable effect on those we love.

I’m grateful to all who work alongside me in these circles and to those who’ve kept the council fire alight for tens of thousands of years. Our modern practice has ancient roots in the human need for community. Despite centuries of violence and genocide, Indigenous peoples have held this pattern so that the alternative to hierarchy, patriarchy, and domination has not been lost. As a sign of gratitude, we continue to honor the roots of council and must work for a just, sustainable, inclusive world. Who are the traditional stewards of the land you live on? Please research how you can make a guest exchange. If you live in Los Angeles County, you can start here.

Fortunate to have quested with Peer Spirit, my practice is informed also by participation in the teachings of the School of Lost Borders, the Animas Valley Institute, Bolad’s Kitchen and The Emergence Network, as well as Sacred Crossings’ death midwifery certification.  I acknowledge being a guest on these unceded Kizh lands, and I pay my respects to its traditional owners and their leaders and elders, past, present and emerging.

With a license to perform marriage ceremonies, I moreover believe that council can and should be an integral part of all life's passages - from blessingways, to b'nai mitzvahs and confirmations, for transitions through school and college, for weddings, illnesses, divorces, life partner and family challenges and, during and after the ultimate transition, as a healthy and inclusive way to embrace grief.  Please contact me for more information on how to bring this practice into your life.