Lori Austein is a Trainer in the Way of Council and has been facilitating Council groups in North America for 22 years. She was a co-coordinator of the Palms Council Project, a school-based council program serving over 1,000 students, before moving to B.C. Since then, she has served on circles to advance the practice of Council, including the Trainer’s Mentoring Circle, which shepherds the path and the people seeking to become facilitators and trainers.

She currently serves as the Bereavement Coordinator at Cowichan Hospice and is the co-director of Circles of Resilience, which offers online council training and resilience practices. Additionally, she has training in Restorative Justice and Mediation, as well as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and she volunteers with Warmland Restorative Justice.

Lori is informed by the various disciplines studied past and present, including her time as a lawyer and educator in California, and her current passion for depth psychology as a hypnotherapy teacher for The Wellness Institute and transpersonal life coach. She attended UCLA and then graduated cum laude from Pepperdine School of Law. Lori sees that the ability to listen deeply opens the path of authentic communication, creating a rich field for meaningful relationships and a more peaceful world.