CRYSTAL GURNEY
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"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”

- SOPHIA BUSH

You wanna get the scoop on me?  Here are the highlights!

I'm Crystal (she/her) and I'm a Community Builder, Artist, and Listener.

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​Community Builder

When I was little, I was that kid that was always creating a club.  It often seemed to me that people needed to be brought together and I did just that!  If there were shared interests or connections to be made, I'd typically figure out how to do that.  When I was 9, I created a cheerleading club for my apartment neighborhood friends.  I founded a club in high school to connect kids with disabilities to the activities that mainstream students had access to.  As an adult, I've had community building roles in my neighborhood, in the birth community, and beyond.  Our family likes to open our home, we volunteer at a local foodbank, and we try to go to our neighborhood meetings.  I think building community in personal ways and collective ways are so important.  Community is definitely one of my core values.

Artist

I've always been a maker of some sort, dabbling in lots of things, taking deep dives in things that really interest me.  I have used art journaling for personal growth and introspection for some time.   I love poetry, too, for its ability to distill deep truths into just the essence of what they are, or to give us a fresh way to see something.  I bring art and poetry into my groups and one on one work often.  I think that all of us are born inherently creative.  So many of us have been told the opposite, or our inner critic is strong and we don't know how to change the story and get back to that part of us that's just a child clutching a crayon with joy.  Art for me is a way to PLAY, to step into the unknown, to take risks, and to tell my story in a brave new way. What I can do with art, I can do in my life. This was an identity that was challenging for me to own.  I am an artist because I create, and because I am agent of change and creation in my own life.
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​Listener

See me over there in that group of awesome people?  That's a pic of one of the fabulous cohorts of folks I've had the privilege of teaching as a GPS Master Trainer.  Group Peer Support (GPS), and my experience facilitating 500+ groups, are a huge part of my journey toward being a better listener.  More recently, I've taken on studying the Hakomi method and have found even more skills and tools for deep listening. I've long been the kind of person who craves vulnerability and authenticity and more than just chit-chat.  But cultivating that means knowing how to listen.  Foundational to all the groups I facilitate are things like non-judgment and compassion as we listen to each other's stories.  We offer each other the gift of deep listening.  We all need places where we can be fully ourselves and be accepted.  We need places where we can share our stories and have them be held gently. We need people who can listen deeply without fixing or rescuing, where we can see and be seen.  This is what I try to bring to the work I do.

Other Interesting Bits and Influences

  • Master Trainer and Certified Facilitator for Group Peer Support (GPS) model
  • Facilitated 800+ groups over the past 9 years.
  • Hakomi level 1 & 2 through Seattle Hakomi Education Network
  • Founded Kitsap HOPE Circle
  • 5 years as a birth doula, attended 100+ births
  • Birth Art and Birth Story Listening through Birthing From Within
  • I prioritize ongoing learning around issues of anti-racism, equity, and social justice.
  • Ongoing work with Perinatal Support WA (PS-WA) to train and assist new support group leaders.
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​The Fun Stuff (and other stuff)

  • Between the two of us, we have 8 kids, ranging in age from 10 all the up to 27.  We have 5 grandbabies too!
  • I HATE BANANAS!!!  (it's true.  literally the ONLY food I don't like)
  • Kindness, curiosity, adventure, community, and creativity are all things I consider core values.
  • I read books and drink coffee at about the same pace.
  • I'm an Exvangelical.  Much was deconstructed and unlearned after 30 years in American Evangelical culture.
  • Shows I can binge watch:  The Good Place, Parks & Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Downton Abbey, Better Call Saul, Orange is the New Black
  • I have a thing for mermaids, selkies, and all sorts of things living between worlds.  The topics of "transition" and "liminal space" are frequently in my conversations. 
  • Things that I am trying my best to do on a daily-ish basis:  art journal, pull tarot/oracle cards for myself, walk around the block.
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  • Home
  • Groups
    • Seeds of Connection
    • Unexpecting Discussion Group
    • How to Pick & Eat a Poem
  • 1:1 Support
    • Hakomi Listening Sessions
    • Birth Trauma & Postpartum Support
    • For Helping Professionals
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact