Becoming A Permanent Resident At Anam Cara

 

We invite interest from those who would like to live full-time at Anam Cara. Becoming a resident means you get to enjoy the rich gifts of a life lived close to the land, along with the support that comes from community living. You get to become a part of a network of groups that are pioneering these kind of ventures as a response to the global collapse of Modernity we are witnessing.

 

Anyone seeking residency needs to complete the four Anam Cara Experience Weeks as a prerequisite. This gives you a chance to see whether our lifestyle suits you, and also ensures that all residents have gone through a process of learning certain inter-relating skills by the time they become full residents. This is important because creating community in the modern world is hard! We all come with different agendas and perspectives as well as differing woundings and traumas. When these woundings intersect without skilful holding, heaven can very quickly become hell! 

 

If you have arrived with us via work exchange and decide that you are interested in residency, you would still need to book in for the Experience Weeks at some point in your stay. We also require you to complete our Conscious Relating Retreat. If your long-term guest-ship and temporary residency applications are successful, all of these undertakings can be spread out throughout both of these periods to diffuse the costs.

 

There are three stages to residency, and in order to begin the residency process, you will need to have stayed with us for a 12 week period - either as an Anam Cara Experience Week guest, a volunteer, or a combination of both. At the end of this period, you will be invited to speak with each existing resident individually, followed by what we call First Attunement.

 

Stage 1 - Long-term Guest

First Attunement is a process of discussion and meditation by residents, to determine if we are all a good fit for each other to go forward with the residency process. 

 

We acknowledge that this can be a stressful and potentially hurtful process for those seeking residency, as it is hard to feel scrutinised by others. We want to express that this attunement should be both ways (i.e. you also assessing us for suitability), and that we fully value and respect the journey of guests and potential members, no matter what the outcome of the attunements. 

 

As I'm sure you can appreciate it is very important in order to maintain the integrity of the homestead that we are careful with this process and take our time to feel into the sense of rightness for all parties. There may be wonderful people whom we like very much, but perhaps the timing is not quite right, or we are already at capacity for residents, for example. 

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If after the First Attunement you are accepted into the residency program, you will then become a long-term guest of Anam Cara. This period lasts for 8 weeks. During this time you will continue to follow the Anam Cara rhythm, but will be given more responsibility and potentially your own areas of the homestead to focalise (i.e. lead). You will also be asked to join the homestead weekly planning meeting on a Friday morning after the sharing circle. At this stage it is possible to drop one of the Anam Cara work days in order to work outside of the homestead. This is optional, but may be necessary for some to continue funding their stay with us. Long- term guests may also choose this option if they feel they need an extra day off to manage their health and wellbeing or study commitments. Ideally, this day off would be a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. 

 

Stage 2 - Temporary Resident

There is then a Second Attunement in order to move into temporary resident status at Anam Cara. At this stage of successful application you will continue to build on your areas of responsibility, and are also now invited to take part in the resident's sharing circle each Monday evening. The temporary residency period lasts for 12 weeks. In the final month you will attend our fortnightly business meetings where community matters and decisions are made using sociocracy and Eldering.

 

Stage 3 - Full-Time Resident

At the end of this stage there will be a Third Attunement to make a decision about full-time residency. As a fully fledged resident we invite you to consider Anam Cara as your home. You will be given decision-making authority, along with the other residents, on the running of the homestead and the acceptance of new residents. We also welcome a co-creation for all aspects of homestead life including new ventures you wish to bring in and improving current homestead policy and practice.

 

During each stage of the residency process there is a decreasing weekly cost for you to stay at the homestead, as you gradually take on more responsibility. For more information visit our residency prices page.

 

Decision-Making Processes

If you come to to a residency attunement and do not gain acceptance, we offer follow-up care and support. We also offer full transparency so that you know the reasons and feelings behind why your application was not accepted at that time, and there is a protocol in place to process and mediate on any issues that you feel were unfair in the decision.

 

It is possible that you can continue to live on the homestead in other capacities and revisit residency again at a later date.  We understand that the further you go through the process, the more invested you become in residency, and we are very sensitive to not leading people on about this. If you are successful in your First Attunement, there is every chance that you will go on to become a full resident, but we cannot guarantee this outcome.

 

We use somewhat of a sociocratic process to make decisions about residency applications. We view democracy as a dictatorship of the 51%, which means that some people are still effectively being forced to do things that are not in alignment with their core truth. This is anathema to our way of being in healthy tribe. Sociocracy is far more nuanced and communal in its decision-making processes than democracy, looking for consensus rather than 'majority voting'. However, sociocracy has its limitations, and has the potential to allow one person to 'play games' (consciously or unconsciously) and cause suffering for others to a greater or lesser degree - a kind of tyranny of the 1%. That is why sociocracy at Anam Cara is overseen by eldership. For those interested in learning more about eldering, please find further information here.

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Qualities that we look for in prospective permanent residents:

• Open hearts

• Open minds

• Practical skills such as building and vehicle maintenance, gardening, electrical, plumbing, cooking, bookkeeping, administration, animal care, childcare, healing modalities, and farming

• 'Non-practical' skills such as conflict resolution, non-violent communication, Indigenous wisdoms, art, improv, singing and music

• A reasonable level of emotional and physical health at time of application

• Willingness to grow

• Willingness to lean into conflict

• Willingness to delve into shadow

• A commitment to embodying the principles and practices of decolonisation and Indigenous perspectives

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If you are interested in what life as a permanent Anam Cara resident is like check out this page.

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For expressions of interest in residency please visit this page to begin the application process.