When I studied the classics, the Roman god Janus fascinated me. He was depicted looking forward and backward at the same time. He was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and ending. Janus comes into our culture as the source of the name for the month of January. As The Haven begins celebrating its 25th anniversary at Gabriola, we stand in the gateway between past and future. The 25th anniversary year is a moment of passage. My hope is that it is not a door or a gate between past and future, but a transition way that brings the best of the past into the present as a gift to the future.

The Haven’s past is dominated by Ben Wong and Jock McKeen. These men touched the lives of thousands of people. Not only are Ben and Jock the moving force behind the creation of The Haven, but they were also pivotal influences in my personal development, unlocking and unloosing unexperienced feelings that were seeping out of me in counterproductive ways. I am among the countless numbers who honour these men who touched our lives and enabled transformation and/or healing. As I work now at the administrative centre of The Haven I am aware of the energy of this place. I feel it in my body.

Part of the gift Ben and Jock made to the present is the thoughtful and care-filled training of a new generation of course leaders who now animate this work. Today we enjoy the benefit of skilled and experienced faculty members who give of their time and insight imparting the magic of The Haven to an ever-expanding circle of participants who continue to come in increasing numbers.

In human years, twenty-five is just the beginning of young adulthood. My daughter Nikki is twenty-one and I am conscious of the arduous journey through the teen years into the early adult phase. By analogy, The Haven at twenty-five is just pushing through into its maturity. It has made a sometimes-bumpy transition from Ben and Jock’s private business to a business owned by a charity. For a few years it struggled to make ends meet.

The Haven, if I may change the metaphor, has weathered the storm and sails into the present confident and seaworthy. Everyone has pulled together to guide it into open water. Its sails are set to run with the wind on a favorable tide. The Haven is financially sound, has a strong faculty and a dedicated group of staff who nurture and maintain the property. Our Board too is maturing, understanding how they navigate the transition to The Haven that is still emerging.

Taking responsibility for ourselves is a value of The Haven. The best way to predict the future is to invent it (Alan Kay). Living organisms that are not growing are dying. In the last days before Ben and Jock passed their interest in PD Seminars to The Haven Foundation there was considerable upheaval and turmoil. Many of our alumni were confused about the future of The Haven. What became evident is that The Haven was alive and kicking, has a strong foundation and a program content that is especially valuable to those who experience it.

The Foundation Board has provided effective leadership. The turmoil receded, and the inherent strength in the organization enabled vitality to reemerge. The Haven took the future into its own hands, engaged new senior management, and initiated bold new strategies to capitalize on its structural strengths.

After careful due-diligence, management advised the Board that we could profitably integrate PD Seminars into the Haven Foundation without incurring the feared crippling tax consequences. The Secretary Treasurer utilized the best tax minds available and concluded that our circumstances are such that we will not have any negative tax consequences from merging the Haven Institute and the Haven Foundation. The Board has agreed to this step, and early in 2008 we will effect this merger.

The positive consequences for The Haven will be dramatic and immediate. We plan to have the Institute give the Foundation the property and facilities that are used for our educational activities. Immediately the Foundation will be in a position of using money that has been donated over the years to upgrade and improve the Gabriola site. Canadian tax law prohibited the charity from using its money to aid a profitable business. The educational organization that we know as The Haven Institute for Professional Development which is registered with British Columbia’s Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA), will also soon after come under the aegis of the Foundation. This will enable the Foundation to fully utilize its status as a charity to fundraise for all the educational activity that the institute currently undertakes.

When the Foundation was created it soon discovered that it could not put donations to educational ventures that it did not own. Since all of the educational activity came under PD Seminars, the Foundation could only use donations for bursaries. It could not fund upkeep of the property or much needed maintenance. Research and development of new core programs was outside of its scope. Once it has ownership of the educational institute the Foundation will be able to directly fund the process of development of new proprietary courses.

The new structure will enable us to begin to develop a new core stream, complementary to our present offerings. Where we presently excel at deepening self-understanding and effective loving relationships, not everyone can devote the extended time to participate. We know there is widespread interest in discovering the meaning of living within personal experience. Our core work has centered learning in the body, and has enabled participants to experience ways of clearing obstacles to living authentically. I would dearly love to see us open a stream that presents that content in more accessible blocks and expands it. Emphasizing the value of loving, I want to see us offer participants the opportunity to open themselves to spiritual awareness that is grounded in deep ecology. Experiencing energy that leads to greater health and well being needs to run through the second core as well. And because we are in a time when the Earth is in a state of crisis from human-caused environmental degradation, it is important to the survival of humanity to learn to be in the world in a more conscious and integrated way that does not continue the destructive practices that have precipitated the crisis.

The Haven is ideally positioned to continue to offer leading edge experiential learning. As we enter the twenty-fifth year of innovative, growth-oriented education, I can feel the life force surging through it. What we offer to our participants comes out of our history, our values and our way of seeing. Opening new opportunities to full and effective living is our reason for being, and we are doing it very well.

John Shields is The Haven’s Executive Director. His connection with The Haven goes back to its earliest days when he began his own personal work at a Come Alive with Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen. Before taking up his post at The Haven he was President and CEO of the BC Government and Service Employees Union for 14 years.

John Shields, Executive Director