Counter Culture Development Experiment To Officially Begin November 5

New Horizons Counter Culture Development Experiment begins 

officially with this gathering!

(End of) Summer In The Mountains 

Next (and final of season) scheduled date: November 5

A Community-Building Work Day and Potluck Dinner at -- 

New Horizons’ Harpers Ferry Retreat Center

Our schedule will be as follows –

• 11:15: – Gather and settle in; 
• 11:30 – 1:30: Community development seminar, interactive , discussion. Lead by Anastasia;
• 1:30 – 2:00: Lunch break;
• 2:00 – 4:30: Retreat Center remodeling projects along with practical applications of our “exceptional community” development approach. (Optional)
• 4:30 – 5:30 – Interactive assessing of applied community development skills.
• 5:30 – on: Relax, dinner, hangin’ out, campfire and more hangin’ out

For details and reservation* 
contact Anastasia at 240.409.5347

or email us at: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com

*Be sure to check to see if you are eligible to attend this gathering. It will be open only to “experiment” participants and closed to the general public.

On Our Elegant Solutions For Supporting Our Efforts

Did you know you can support New Horizons’ Conversations Projects by making In Kind Gift donations to our Harpers Ferry Retreat Center Remodeling Project?

We need your time, your talent – and – your treasures, all of which can be contributed by your joining us for our (End of) Summer In The Mountains event at our Harper’s Ferry Retreat Center.

Your In Kind Gifts are fully tax deductible!  It’s a real win-win deal.

Talk to Sue deVeer, our Remodeling Chairperson, about how she can place your “trash” on ebay to help you and us!  She can help you sell your treasures on ebay for our benefit and yours. Sue’s cell number is 240.367.4403.

Overcoming The Polarization of Politics: A Coffee House Conversation

Coming Soon!

Overcoming The Polarization of Politics: 
A Coffee House Conversation --
Sponsored by the New Horizons’ Small “Zones of Peace” Project

We are polarized! No doubt about it!

But Polarization does not need to be a way of life! 

Meaningful conversation can be your style.

That’s the “Zones of Peace” way, the exceptional way, the life as art way.

Overcoming The Polarization of Politics

"A Coffee House Conversation"

Frederick Friends Meeting House, 723 N. Market Street 

Saturday, November 19, 2016,  2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Potluck follows program. Bring a dish to share.

A small “zone of peace” can be anywhere.

Why not join us in building a “zone of peace” in Frederick’s backyard? 
(Outside area guests also welcome.)

Reserve early, space is limited!

(Donations are encouraged.)

For Details and Reservations, Contact: Anastasia Rosen-Jones

Email: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com Cell: 240.409.5347

A Beautiful, Inspiring Broadcast/Podcast

The Birthing Of A Movement (A Spiritual Perspective) on podcast.

Also read Anastasia's follow-up story, "The Spiritual Side of "Making Violence Obsolete"

Birth Of A Movement: 

Anastasia's Personal Backstory On 

"Making Violence Obsolete"

including Anastasia's Prophecy story!

Again -- More “Making Violence Obsolete” Back Story

Get the scoop!

The blog article below is re-posted from the Peace and Collaborative Development Network.

How We Begin “Making Violence Obsolete” At New Horizons
Monday, October 17, 2016

With the exception of one or two links, none are included in this post but are in the original article.

The New Horizons Support Network, Inc. has a long-held tradition and track record, theories and community development applications for a tried and true “Making Violence Obsolete” model.  Recently, we at New Horizons have re-framed our approach into an all-out movement under the names of the “Making Violence Obsolete” and the Counterculture Community Development Experiment initiatives.

We are now in the process of solidifying the base of this effort with a local community development experiment in Frederick, Maryland. This is to be our test site, taking what was once a therapeutic community approach to healing relationship and personality addictions, originating in an earlier therapeutic community model with notable success in the federal prison system, out into the mainstream world.

Our history is long and rich. Our approach is a hands-on, interactive model with plenty to offer in the way of creative brainstorming and collaborative infrastructure development tasks along with profound leadership training.

Now as we re-frame and remodel our approach, with plans to begin replicating what we accomplish in Frederick onto the broader regional and national scene, we are inviting you, the audience and active social justice participants of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network, to join us in moving our almost rock solid approach out into the greater world.

By visiting our three interconnected blog sites and listening to our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show programs, listed below, you will find starting places to inspire your own creative thinking and planning.  These will help you to begin familiarizing yourself with our approach for your own edification and expansiveness in application and skill development.

On the New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project site you will find articles on some of our principles and programs. At our Exploring Your Dark Side: The Adventure of A Lifetime site you will find background and highlights of our project’s development over the years. On my personal site, Anastasia The Storyteller, you will discover various back stories of mine that have shaped the development of our programs and projects.

Pay particular attention to the “pages” on these blogs such as “About Martin G. Groder, M.D.,” the “Bus Ride Story Adventure,” Essentials of Exceptional Leaders” and the pages on my personal site, the Lean In Legacy Template. You will also find stories of work with our Beloved, recently deceased, community development mentor, Murat Yagan, who lovingly taught how to merge common sense community living with the highest ideals of spirituality that he learned as an Abkhazian Wise Man.

For a start right here, I want to introduce you to our basic premise, intricately woven into all that we offer.  Enjoy. 

We are on our way now and we invite you to join us.

Destination “Awe” (if you believe)!!

For Details and Consultations, Contact Anastasia
Email: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com Cell: 240.409.5347

Making Violence Obsolete: How Do We Begin?

Our “Making Violence Obsolete” Premise is this --

Violence “could” become obsolete, “someday”, if we start, now, doing more and more of the right things and, together, stop doing the “wrong” ones!” 

If you look closely you will notice three key elements to our premise.

• An assumption regarding our destination is --

Violence “could” become obsolete, “someday,” if…

• A condition for reaching this destination is – 

"if" we start, now, doing more and more of the right things

• A second condition for reaching this destination is– 

"if" together, we stop doing the “wrong” ones!” 

What are the steps we must take in order to manifest this premise's suggestion?

First let us describe some of the aspects of our destination, which at New Horizons we call the peak of the "Mountain of Awe”  

Here are some of the articles already written and posted to this site that suggest what arrival at that destination might bring about; some of the rewards and conditions of reaching that state. 

• Climbing the Mountain of Awe
• Awe Defined
• Imagine

More to come….

We are on our way now! 

Destination "Awe" (if you believe)!!

New Horizons “Making Violence Obsolete” Movement and The Counterculture Community Development Experiment

The New Horizons “Making Violence Obsolete” Movement and the  Counterculture Community Development Experiment have the following quote as their shared theme -

“We do best to begin by carving out territories or zones of peace in our personal relations where violence and deceit won’t be used.” Mahatma Gandhi  

We begin our most concerted efforts on the local level, in Frederick, Maryland, proceeding as indicated in the mission statement below. We take this approach based our belief --- and -- our commitment to "building small "zones of peace" wherever we go.

Our Mission: 

To unite diverse groups (i.e. small “zones of peace”) by creating experimental countercultures as an approach to community unity, based on the development of enhanced communication and conflict resolution skills. 

Counterculture is defined here as a subculture situated within the mainstream whose values and norms of behavior differ from those of the traditional society surrounding it.

Our vision, at its fullest, is based on “thinking globally” while “acting locally.”

See details of here – and – join us in our commitment based on our premise that --

Violence could become obsolete, “someday”, if we start, now, doing more and more of the right things and, together, stop doing the “wrong” ones!”

For details and additional information, contact –

Anastasia Rosen-Jones, Executive Director, New Horizons Support Network, Inc.

Cell: 240.409.5347, Email: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com   

More Behind The Scenes of Making Violence Obsolete

Want to know "all" about how the New Horizons Small "Zones of Peace" Project and its various initiatives such as the Making Violence Obsolete and Counterculture Community Development Experiment have come to be?

Anastasia The Super Sleuth says -- 

Check it out!  Read more of the details on --

How The “Making Violence Obsolete” Project Was Conceived and Birthed

Behind The Scenes of Making Violence Obsolete

Your guide to exploring some of the basic tools New Horizons utilizes to develop strategies for “making violence obsolete” and “effectively" building small “zones of peace.”

Do you know that the “Making Violence Obsolete” project, sponsored by New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project has more than forty-five years of training, development and practical application experience and expertise behind it? 

The latter, the expertise alone, is based on mentors and trainers who have guided us with a knowledge and experience base that goes back as far as 26,000 years. You can read about our primary mentors, Martin G. Groder, M.D. and Murat Yagan at the links posted here.

Check them out!!

For the more recent developments and applications of these many resources, visit my, Anastasia’s, two other blog sites; Anastasia The Storyteller and Exploring Your Dark Side: The Adventure of A Lifetime. 

And be sure to take advantage of the learning tools offered on all three of our blog sites by utilizing the various inventories and page links to extended articles  The two most important of these are: the “Where Is Your Compassionate Warrior Hiding?”  inventory and the Spectrum of Love inventory. 

The importance of these two, as we weave them together, has to do with their relevance to the following premise.

Our Premise is this --

Violence “could” become obsolete, “someday”, if we start, now, doing more and more of the right things and, together, stop doing the “wrong” ones!”

The “Compassionate Warrior” inventory helps us identify personal traits that lead us down the path of “what not to do” while the “Spectrum of Love” inventory helps us identify what we need to be doing instead. We all have strengths and weaknesses that both of these spotlight. The challenge lies in what we decide to do about these.

Other teaching/learning tools presented on our blog sites are as follows:

• The Lean In Legacy Template
• Essentials of Exceptional Leadership
• The Bus Ride Story Adventure (Our number “One” top of the line training adventure experience!!!)

Stories from and about Anastasia

• Anastasia's Story

Be sure to check out all of these many teaching/learning tools to aid your merely “beginning” to familiarize yourself with the foundation principles and practices of our “Making Violence Obsolete” approach.  At its highest level we are offering to guide you on the adventure of a lifetime. 

Do you have what it takes to make the climb?

If you believe you might have what it takes in terms of stamina, dedication, devotion, passion and poise to climb the rugged Mountain of Awe we are pledged to help you mount, find out more about our various “How To Get Involved” programs.  Then arrange for your personal assessment and consultation to see if you can fully qualify for our training programs and get involved in a manner that is tailored to best suit you.

Contact Anastasia (contact information below), your guide to climbing the Mountain of Awe, for further and more personalized assistance.  (Awe defined.)

How To Get Involved

Consultations, Contact Anastasia 

Email: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com 

Cell: 240.409.5347

Making Violence Obsolete Project To Challenge U.S. “Subtle Violence” Patterns

We did it!  In a smallish, cozy group of handpicked participants we made a beginning with our “informal” launch of New Horizons’ “Making Violence Obsolete” project and its parallel Counterculture Community Development Experiment last Saturday afternoon. 

Into the early evening we continued, as once we got started people just seemed to want to talk and talk. They had found a handful of likeminded others with whom they could speak of some of their hopes and dreams, sharing – and – unburdening themselves about the state of our nation in these turbulent times.

"Subtle violence" isn't so
subtle when you're
the target.

The “Making Violence Obsolete” project had shown up at just the right time with a plan as to how to right the societal and political ills we are facing.  As for me the reality of the event exceeded my dreams. An exchange such as the one below was enough to lift my spirits!

Seminar participant: “Ok (some were heard to ask), “So you are a dreamer who can envision a future, somewhere off in the far distance, where violence could, ideally, be unnecessary, but what about today? Just look at the mess we are in. Turn on the television, surf the web.  We are living in a nightmare right now!”

“What do you suggest we do next?”

Anastasia: “Well, said I,  at New Horizons we set our minds and hearts to being exceptional leaders, intent on eliminating “subtle violence” every day in every way we can! We make a start with that which is right in front of our faces in our closest relationships, our friends and family, our neighborhoods and our local communities.

In other words, we follow the words of Mahatma Gandhi, regarding building a peaceful world, when he said – 

“We do best to begin by carving out territories or zones of peace in our personal relations where violence and deceit won’t be used.”

One way we do this, at New Horizons, is by paying more and more attention to the “subtle violence” around us. The subtle violence we do by minimizing or ignoring smallish details about one another and circumstances around us (i.e called “discounting” in the language of Transactional Analysis (TA), my home base theoretical foundation as a psychotherapist). In this way we begin righting the slights right in front of our eyes.

In other words, we take a proactive position regarding the harmony we build, or lack thereof, with those closest to us  To us, this is how we participate in “thinking globally, acting local.” Thus we can begin to make an impact that can make a difference, sometimes almost immediately. To do otherwise is, frequently, to plant seeds of both subtle -- and -- potentially lethal violence.

For example, picture a child growing up in a home with outragous behavior on the part of adults due to mental illness, drug and/or alcohol addiction or domestic violence. Even if he or she is not physically abused, the "subtle violence" inflicted on her/him in that environment is seriously damaging.  And, has the potential to breed, in that child, future violence of both kinds, subtle and not so subtle. 

Ask me, I know. The deep and lasting damage inflicted on me through the subtle and not so sublte violence I experienced as a child due to my mother's mental illness affects me to this day, Not in the form of chemical addictions or violence in my life but in the wide range of "survival driven behaviors" that I have taken on at various periods of my life that have hurt me internally, body, mind and spirit, and have, at times, affected my loved ones. 

The way that ideal is implemented in our most impactful programs of today and yesterday, known as the “old” New Horizons “Total Learning Environment Concept,” a counterculture development approach , is set forth by the following rule and set of guidelines that has made New Horizons famous in certain circles and possibly notorious in others.

(“Old”) New Horizons Center Rules

(circa 1973 – 1998)

No Emotional/Psychological Abuse of NHC Participants or Staff (i.e. “subtle violence” = emotional abuse and discounting)

• If anyone informs you that they “feel abused” (or “discounted = subtle violence”) by you, you must stop whatever you are doing – and –
• Discover what you are doing that “feels abusive” or “discounting” to the other person;
• Discover what you could do instead that behavior that has been identified as “feeling abusive” or “discounting” to others.

Imagine living in a world where people adhere to such practices; a world free of “subtle violence,” a world on its way to deterring bloody, bruising, mortal violence. 

Don’t you think that heading in that direction might be well worth the effort, even if you never live to see it fully realized? I’ve been on this pathway, striving for "discount-free" living for more than forty years. I discovered it to be the most viable way for me to heal from the past damage done to me and build my joy and health as big as I can make it! I haven’t arrived at the destination yet but I wouldn’t have had my journey be otherwise

More to come.

New Horizons’ Making Violence Obsolete Movement Made A Start!

With our theme “Subtle violence is not so subtle.. when you’re the target! – winning the “Blue Ribbon” award for the most important, single topic of the day and our most important next step issue!

• Find out what this theme means for our “Making Violence Obsolete” movement and for you, personally. 
• Find out how you can get involved in this burgeoning and critically important effort.
• See yourself as an “active” part of our “making violence obsolete” movement; an effort going in the right direction of solutions for what ails our present society!
• Be a small “zones of peace” builder in Frederick (and everywhere you go). We will come to you to guide you, if you want us!

Here are some options for getting involved.

• Become an “active” participant in New Horizons’ Counterculture Community Development Experiment;
• Attend monthly professional level, educational-discussion seminars. Next seminar tba;
• Become a volunteer on one of our committees;
• Bring the “Making Violence Obsolete” Project into your group or organization
• Make a donation. We need time, talents and treasures, most especially cash!

Contact Anastasia for a personal interview to discover your “Making Violence Obsolete” aptitude.

Join the “Making Violence Obsolete” Team!

For Details and Consultations, Contact Anastasia Rosen-Jones

Email: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com Cell: 240.409.5347