A published author, retreat leader, speaker, and soul care guide, I delight in nature, horizon views, and discovering authenticity and beauty in ordinary life through deep listening and presence with someone, the lens of a camera, or in the power of words.
I value substance and transparency, poetry and rhythm, stories of courage, humor, wilderness, and the human spirit.
Teens and college students inspire me. For dozens of years I led retreats, leadership programs, and help people make meaning from whatever life brings. I’m a rather simple person, but my “yes” brings many extraordinary opportunities and people into my life.
Adventurous and creative, I trust the unknown, and know through tough personal experiences that there is always a reason to hope … no matter what.
I’m also the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District director of communications, community, and government relations, and I view my role as a storyteller. Whether it is pitching stories or responding to media, crisis communication, or celebrating what is right in public education in 42 diverse schools, daily work life includes problem solving, the heart of a good story. I seek the story elements to bring solutions and deliver delight to individuals and organizations, oversee school and district digital platforms, engage in meaningful communications with students and publics, offer communications workshops to school administrators, and advocate with community partners and legislators about all things instructional and non-instructional. I’m completing professional certification in transformational leadership coaching and facilitation.
My Labrador Retriever and I live in the woods in Kasilof, Alaska, and I hope to connect with you through blogging, books, social networking, a soon to come podcast, and my website.
Where do you experience the significant in ordinary, everyday life? I look forward to a conversation, and to your stories.
Become curious. Be brave, believe,
Pegge (Bernecker) Erkeneff
Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Links:
- Twitter @Pegge
- FaceBook Pegge Erkeneff
- Website, www.eNewFields.com
A little more:
Spiritual Guidance
Quite simply, spiritual direction is spiritual care in the form of compassionate listening, discerned action, and embodied presence. My continued work with Spiritual Directors International as founding editor of Listen: A Seeker’s Resource for Spiritual Direction, the media review editor for Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, and the video editor for the “SDI Learns From…” YouTube series of educational videos offers me valuable insight into spiritual direction from a global perspective across tradition, within an international learning community. As a supervisor and former trainer of spiritual guides I am often awed by how the Spirit calls and draws people into service and deep knowledge of Self.
Campus and Youth Ministry
During the seventeen years I spent in pastoral ministry, most recently as director of campus ministry, I learned the importance of incarnational spirituality: greeting the spirit in daily life, in ordinary and unexpected places and times. While in parish ministry I formed student leaders, led over eighty weekend retreats for teens, young adults and women, designed curriculum, and served on numerous councils and committees. My work at Colorado State University with leadership programs in the Student Leadership and Civic Engagement office broadened my perspectives of inclusiveness, privilege and leadership development.
Foundations
A degree in English from the University of California, Irvine, and advanced biblical studies through the Denver Catholic Biblical School contribute to my love of learning and expression in literature, poetry, and the written language. Discernment of a monastic vocation initiated a profound appreciation and understanding of the contemplative life and movements of the Spirit. When I volunteered as a Restorative Justice facilitator I witnessed the intersection between healing and forgiveness that occurs when people share their stories and listen to one another. My concern for abused women and children inspired me to become a foster parent, and continues in volunteer presence with people on the margins.
Trauma, Grief, and Loss
On January 24, 2006, my only son Justin died unexpectedly by suicide. I continue to listen and discern how I am invited to work in new ways with grief, unexpected trauma, suicide and mental illness, suffering and healing, images of God, and young people.
In 2007 I moved to the wildness of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska from Northern Colorado, USA. The vast land provided me a sturdy outer landscape that helped me to make difficult choices. My gratitude for the beauty and wildness of creation deepens every day.
