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practice, guidance, and community transform surviving to thriving.
Brooke Summers-Perry
Co-Founder / Director of Operations
As the real estate market boomed, I was topping out as a mom, design director, and mentor for a teen service-learning group. When all three roles were blossoming, I could no longer thrive in any of them. Something had to give. I didn’t see quitting my day job as a choice. I was the higher income earner in the house. Parts of me were at odds with the others.
In 2007, I crashed right before the market did.
I turned inward. I needed to craft a better life. I read the Art of Happiness six times. I consumed the self-help section at the bookstore, took parenting and personality classes, and participated in workshops and practice groups. I was redesigning my life. When I shifted my life from surviving back to thriving, I wanted to share the practices. I wanted to remove the barriers, the reading volumes of theories and hours of lectures. I began integrating and simplifying practices.
Now, in various settings, facilitating and practicing with folks as young as six and as old as 96, we raise our self-awareness and self-acceptance. We get more realistic with our expectations and develop healthier boundaries. We find and use our voices and discover ways to bring our best selves to each of our roles and relationships without having to switch on and off or compartmentalize our values.
Chase Summers-Perry
Co-Founder / Director of Creative Media
In 2018 I was studying graphic design, marketing, and communications at the University of Houston. After trying out the dorms my freshman year, I had moved into a garage apartment my second year in college. During that time it felt hard to focus on school, deliver pizzas, and have a social life with my friends. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, who I wanted to be, or what job I possibly wanted. My mom has always been the person to go to and we just so happened to find time in the mornings to get out of the house and walk a couple miles. We started out wanting to exercise together and getting connected. We quickly saw how much we shared interests and skills. She wanted to share with people ways of emotionally taking care of themselves, which I needed. I wanted to have purpose, be productive, and creative, which she needed.
Then the pandemic happened. We started talking about Mom’s practices and how people my age need them too. I realized that I could use my skills in graphics and web design to add value to the practices. We just took it from there.
our team.
Brooke Summers-Perry
Co-Founder / Director of Operations
Chase Summers-Perry
Co-Founder / Director of Creative Media
Kiara Carter
Director of Creative Programming
Richard Wingfield
Advisor / Facilitator
Tamika Evans
Advisor / Facilitator
Geoff Wheeler
Advisor / Facilitator
our community partners.
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JAH Grief services
With a mission to empower bereaved individuals through creative expression and avenues for authentic connection, JAH Grief Services provides support to those grieving as well as helping professionals. Founder Jodie Gonzalez created a guidebook focused on writing as a path toward healing, which directs much of their work.
We Practice Life is collaborating with JAH Grief Services to design and deliver a Grief Practice Pack.
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autumn counseling
Autumn Counseling is delighted to partner with We Practice Life to bring life enhancing, creative and compassionate services to our Houston community. Autumn Counseling is a therapy services provider located in the Heights neighborhood, and home to We Practice Life’s Creative Cafe in our Spark Studio. We provide individual counseling, couples counseling and EMDR, with some sliding scale services.
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parents of trans youth
Parents of Trans Youth provides learning, support, and community to parents and caregivers of transgender and gender diverse kids. Using honesty, vulnerability, joy, and humor, founder Mandy Giles shares the fundamentals of supporting trans kids with parents as well as with wider audiences.
We Practice Life promotes the important work of Parents of Trans Youth by advocating for education and support for individuals, families, and in business and education settings.
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Learning communities network
Learning Communities Network brings together groups of people who want to learn together with others. We create a live, online experience for those seeking to deepen their knowledge and strengthen collaborative practices in their lives.
We Practice Life’s online community and course platform hosts FACILITATION FUNDAMENTALS, led by facilitation master Siobhan Riordan. This self-paced course embraces leadership, learning and group development in a whole new way.
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Emerge Book Circles
Emerge Book Circles focuses on bringing book-learning to organizations, and individual leaders, to make it more social and transformational. The participants move beyond just consuming ideas in isolation, to connecting those ideas to themselves, their colleagues, and their work.
We Practice Life promotes Emerge Book Circle’s impact on learning environments within workplace settings.
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GO Bytes
We created GObytes to bring together positive, engaged, and inspired business owners and professionals to learn and master practices for getting organized so that we can be more productive, less stressed, and create more space for doing the things we love.
Whether you are just getting started on your quest to "Get Organized" or you are diligently working thru your second, third, or tenth serious attempt at calming the chaos of your busy and distracted life, we would love for you to join the GObytes community.
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national alliance on mental illness
in 1988 by a group of dedicated and caring family members of those living with difficult, yet treatable, mental illnesses founded this 501(c)3 organization. These family members sought to establish a grassroots organization that would address the increasing need for families and persons affected by mental illness to have a powerful voice in the mental health community.
We Practice Life develops and delivers art and writing curriculum and offers facilitator training for NAMI Greater Houston’s Restorative Justice program.
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Compassionate Houston
Compassionate Houston serves as a lightning rod for Houstonians with a “Passion for Compassion,” aimed to cultivate the compassionate culture of Greater Houston in collaboration with our network of partners through programs designed to spread the message of common humanity.
We Practice Life collaborates with Compassionate Houston to introduce and welcome new partnerships and innovative solutions to shift systems toward compassion.
Client History - Presentations by Brooke (with point of contact)
Houston Botanic Garden - Explore, Experiment, Express Summer Series 2022 (Dany Millikin)
Federation of Houston Professional Women– Beyond Fragmentation: Living Fully (Anita Long)
Writespace - Whole Artist Series – Nature as a Creative Writing Prompt (Jamie Portwood)
Ibrahim Islamic Center - Creative Experience for the Community of Youth (Meleekah Villegas)
Blackwood Land Institute - Creative Writing inspired by Nature: a workshop for Montessori teacher training (Cath Conlon)
University of Houston - UH Wellness Workshop (Court Stein)
University of California Berkeley Campus Missioner - Discernment Retreat (Tom Poynor)
Beehive Co-op Preschool - Parenting with Compassionate Communication and Enneagram (Lisa Gale)
Palmer Episcopal - Women’s Retreat (Lynn Morstead)
Field Elementary - In-service Program, integrating Social Emotional Learning in all subjects and lessons. (Principal John Hendrickson)
Compassionate Houston - Supper Club, Meaningful Conversations (with Lindsay Espejel with Cita Breitenwisher)
Latimer Dental Arts – Team-Building Retreat (Compassionate Communication and the Enneagram) and Coaching (Dr. Susan Latimer
Houston Botanic Garden - Team-Building Retreat and Coaching (Compassionate Communication and the Enneagram) (Claudia Gee Vassar)
Frame Dance Studios – Color in Motion - expressing emotions through movement (Lydia Hance)
Yogaleena Studio – Enneagram, Life Transitions and Transformation (Carolina Valle)
Westbury UMC - Youth art Project All Saints 2019 a three-session weekly workshop (Pastor Bodie Gilbert)
Westbury UMC - Youth art project - Mother’s Day 2019 - a three-session weekly workshop (Pastor Bodie Gilbert)
Nonviolent (Compassionate) Communication as Spiritual Practice
At St Paul’s United Methodist
At Nia Moves
At Memorial Presbyterian
St Andrew’s Episcopal Houston - Lenten Program (Carissa Baldwin-McGinnis) Living a Fully and Balanced Life (Compassionate Communication)
St Andrew’s Episcopal Preschool - Teacher In-service (Nancy Simpson) Perspectives, Personalities, and Possibilities in the Classroom
Brigid’s Place - Cultivating Inner Beauty with the Enneagram (Lauren Santerre)
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Enneagram / Compassionate Communication Parenting (Gail Williford)2014
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Ordinary Women Group -Nonviolent Communication for bridging political (Frida Hale) divides - in groups of friends and family members - surviving the holidays in 2017
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Encourage Workshop Series (4 topics / 4 workshops) (Karyn Richards-Kuan)
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Youth Parent Education (Jennifer West)
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Preschool Parenting with Compassionate Communication (Debra Fischer)
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Conspire Circles (with Rev. Dr. Matthew Russell)
St Paul’s United Methodist Houston - Ordinary Life Presentations (for Bill Kerley)