Peaceworks programs are for youth, adults, individuals, and groups who seek to explore current strengths and challenges in a collaborative, supportive environment.
PeaceWorks New Hampshire, LLC is home to AVALON Healing Arts Barn Studio, located on a small working farm in the heart of the Monadnock Region of southern New Hampshire. The chickens, goats, ducks and other critters that call AVALON home, create a lively and rich learning environment. In collaboration with the animals, gardens, and woods, AVALON offers individuals and groups educational and healing sessions and workshops through experiential learning in nature that supports healthy communities. Peaceworks was founded, and is run by, Barbara Thorngren, M.Ed.
Barbara Thorngren, M.Ed.
PeaceWorks New Hampshire, LLC, embodies the culmination of Barbara’s 30 years of working in healthcare and education. PeaceWorks NH serves as the umbrella for her AVALON Healing Arts Barn Studio where she conducts on-site programs. Barbara offers the AVALON barn, and its seven acres of land with the fields, farm animals, forest and wildlife, as a dynamic environment and retreat for learning, exploring, problem-solving, resting, and rejuvenating.
Barbara is an educator and workshop facilitator specializing in experiential activities that enhance positive, constructive communication. She utilizes The Circle Way* process as the foundation of custom-designed meetings where she guides participants to explore their topics or issues and then collaborate to find creative solutions. She often invites her animals to co-facilitate these meetings and may also employ expressive arts activities. Barbara has specialized training in Collaborative Education and the Circle Process with a focus on teambuilding, communication and conflict transformation skills. Barbara’s work reflects shared responsibility and shared leadership, and is grounded in community service and conflict transformation.
““Peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth and the larger whole of which all are a part.””
In addition to teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college levels, Barbara has been a nurse, volunteer firefighter, and an emergency medical technician/first responder. She brings an element of health awareness and healing to every aspect of her work.
Barbara earned her Master of Education degree from Antioch New England Graduate School and is the former Education Department Chair, and Peace and Social Justice Studies Program Coordinator, at Nashua Community College in Nashua, NH. She has designed and led three international study abroad courses to the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She has also coordinated the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) at the NH State Prison for Men.
