Nadine Ferris France

While living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a good friend introduced me to The Work. On first hearing about it, I did not connect with the concept of the Work at all—the idea that you could identify and question stressful thoughts—I could not see why. That changed, when I found myself faced with the reality of the end of my marriage after a relationship of 15 years. Over the next year and a half as the crippling beliefs arose, I worked my thoughts ‘he shouldn’t have done it’, ‘I can’t survive without him’, ‘my children will be scarred for life’, ‘he broke a sacred trust’, ‘I’m a failure’. As the world I knew literally fell apart, the ground inside of myself me became more solid—I experienced compassion, love, and most of all gratitude in the place of bitterness, anger, and resentment. Over the years, I have continued to question my thoughts in all areas of my life—it has supported me to feel peaceful and to connect with myself and with many others around the world. It has also supported me to be a much better mother to my two children. In my experience it’s not what you say, or even what you do that influences those around you, it is who you are.

I have lived and worked with communities in Africa and Asia on HIV and AIDS for over 20 years. As I battled with my own self-stigma—shame, guilt, negative thoughts related to my divorce, I realized in a powerful moment that The Work could be an innovative and effective programme that could support people living with HIV to deal with their self-stigma. I have since worked with a team of people to develop a programme in Zimbabwe to do just that.

I love to Work with anyone who is willing to question a stressful thought in any part of the world. I have Worked with children and young people, with people who are experiencing relationship break-ups, parents, people living with HIV and many others. I have also been privileged to see the power of The Work in children—they have so much to teach us about being open minded!

I give workshops and am available for private sessions either in person or by phone/skype.

Two of my favourite quotes—my mantra I could say:

The world is what you believe it to be: it changes as you change. —Byron Katie
Be the Change you want to see in the world. —Mahatma Gandhi