Sage-ing® Leader Certification Program

You are invited to become part of the Certified Sage-ing Leader (CSL) Community!  The purpose of the year-long program is to develop facilitators to skillfully and compassionately lead adult groups in Sage-ing work from a place of personal experience, integrity, spiritual maturity and respect for persons of all faith and belief backgrounds.  This program requires a commitment to inner contemplative work, reading, study and providing small group facilitations during the internship year. Thus we describe the program as having both an INNER and OUTER curriculum.

Applications are now being accepted for the next program which begins April 24 – April 27, 2025 via the ZOOM Platform. There are pre-requisites for acceptance:
a.  Attend a Sage-ing International Signature Program:  Awakening the Sage Within or Deepening the Sage Within.  These programs are advertised in the Sage-ing International  Bulletin and on the website sage-ing.org
b.  Read the book:  From Age-ing to Sage-ing:  A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller
c.  Complete the Exercises for Sages in Training found in the appendix of the book.

Contact the Certification Program Coordinator if you have questions.

Click here to download the Application Form.

Overview

Over a 12-month period, in a small and intimate training group, the Sage-ing® Leader Certification Program provides participants a thorough grounding in facilitation skills – including use of the ZOOM platform – and the core concepts of Sage-ing® (including Expanding Elder Consciousnesses, Life Review, Life Repair/Forgiveness, Facing Mortality, Creating Legacy, and Discovering the Gifts of the Emerging Elder.)

This prepares them to present Sage-ing® events in their communities in a variety of formats (talks, classes, workshops, retreats, Wisdom Circles, and online/ZOOM events).

The Program Includes

  • Two training workshops (at the beginning and at the completion of the year) led by senior Certified Sage-ing® Leaders (CSLs) in a small group setting with a high degree of individual attention.

  • Fifteen (15) hours of practicum, developing and facilitating workshops or classes, both in person and online.

  • One-on-one mentoring by a senior CSL throughout the year.

  • Monthly Wisdom Circle gatherings via Zoom with CSL faculty and fellow Interns.

  • Training in online video-conferencing skills designed to make one a more tech-savvy elder and presenter.

Resources

As part of the Certification program you will receive all the resources that you require. Please see the list opposite.

Resources Provided

  • Copy of the Curriculum Resource Guide.
  • Script, Resource Guide and other materials for Awakening the Sage Within: An Introductory Sage-ing® Program.

  • One-on-one Mentor guidance.

  • Webinars on core topics led by senior Certified Sage-ing® Leaders.

  • Master copies of copyrighted materials for use in workshops.

  • Sample flyers for programs.

Benefits of Certification

In addition to mastering Sage-ing® content and facilitation skills, program participants receive copyrighted materials to help them create, market and present programs, classes, and workshops.

Each participant is assigned a Mentor to coach/give feedback on developing, marketing and presenting Sage-ing® events during their Internship.

People Who Will Benefit

  • Adult Educators.

  • Clergy and Lay Leaders.

  • Social Service Professionals.
  • Health Care Professionals.
  • Counselors and Mental Health Professionals.
  • Senior Center Personnel.
  • Residential Community Leaders.
  • Anyone who wants to share the vision of Sage-ing® in their community.

  • Anyone who wants to live as a Sage in the second half of life.

Application Process

To apply for the Certification program, please

  • Submit an application for the program.
  • Participate in a Zoom or telephone interview with the Certification Program Coordinator.

As is true for all healing practitioners, we must first apply “the practical work of translating theory into practice in the laboratory of our own life.” Sage-ing® International faculty have concluded that the skills development, introspective inner work and the practice presentations required in the Certification program take about a year to complete.

For more information, contact the Sage-ing® Leader Certification Program Coordinator: Jeanne Marsh, j.marsh@sage-ing.org

STUDENT FEEDBACK

“The CSL program has been a wonderful blessing to me and has opened up so many opportunities for this next part of my life.  It has given me an incredible community of elders to share it with”


Dennis Stamper, Class of 2020
“The CSL certificcation prepared me to facilitate conversations and joint inquiry with other elders about what it means to move toward wholeness in the latter chapters of our lives.”


Elizabeth Bell, Class of 2018

“One of the greatest gifts of the CSL certification has been to get to know and work with the group of Interns, to share experiences, to feel supported and to be supportive.”


Charlie Ivermee, Class of 2021

“The Certification Program provides a unique opportunity to be immersed in the fundamental concepts and life tools of Sage-ing®, and even more importantly to me, accelerated and focused my personal journey of aging in a consciously profound way.


Katie Lieberman, Class of 2020

“The program gave me the knowledge and experience needed to teach Sag-ing to others, and greatly deepened my own Sage-ing® journey. The program itself was delightful and led by two wonderful women sages”


Randall Krause, Class of 2021

“Apart from deepening my own understanding and practice of the sage-ing® concepts, the program provided me with valuable resources, wonderful connections to like-minded individuals, and the skills and training to facilitate workshops and share these revolutionary concepts with others.


Fatema Dewji, Class of 2022

PROGRAM FACULTY

Julia is a Board Certified Advanced Holistic Nurse and a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator. As she began her “refirement” years, she explored expressive arts for healing and self-discovery as an arts facilitator in hospice and published a guidebook, Art in Small Spaces. Julia brings creative expression, humor, and her perfectly-imperfect self to her facilitation of the Certified Sage-ing® Leadership program, guiding interns to “simplify and deepen” their journey.

Julia Riley, Faculty

After retiring from the corporate world in 2005, Jeanne received an MA from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Jeanne brings twenty-seven years experience in corporate Human Resources and Management Training and Development. Jeanne is also certified to administer and consult using the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator and facilitates “Connecting With Self” and Sage-ing® workshops in the Asheville, NC area as well as partnering with other Sage-ing® Leaders throughout the country.

Jeanne Marsh, Certification Program Coordinator