Foreword Message from Erik Krauss

It is my distinct privilege to introduce Robin Higgins’s outstanding resource: Pathways to Connection.  As you make your journey thorough this guide, you will discover an exceptional toolbox for facilitating social-emotional development, not just for college students, but with any group of people you might find yourself facilitating.

I feel personally connected to this project because I was fortunate enough to be Robin’s colleague at the University of Central Asia as we both were part of the team that opened that campus in a remote mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan. Robin had been hired to be the University Counselor tasked with, among many things, the job of helping our diverse group of students and faculty from several countries develop dialogues across their many cross-cultural differences.  It was an arduous task, because many of the various cultural groups harbored intense animosities toward one another. Despite this daunting challenge, Robin immediately went to work leading a series of workshops and activities, many of them highlighted in this book, that helped those on our campus bridge these cultural divides.

When reading Pathways to Connection I was immediately transported back to our Kyrgyzstan experience. I remember activities presented in this book like The Tree of Life and Personal Flags that I had participated in as part of Robin’s efforts to promote a healthy community on our campus. And I still look back on the many World Cafes that Robin and her teams of students would create that were so vital to developing positive interpersonal dialogues on our campus. While academics are the central focus of any university, the strategic lessons in this book that Robin applied so adeptly were vital to the success of our new campus, just as they can assist you in creating a positive culture within your group.

Robin facilitated these activities so seamlessly, and they had such a positive impact on our campus community, that I often wondered what magic she conjured to create and implement these impactful programs so effortlessly.  After reading Pathways to Connection, I’m pleased to announce that all of us now have access to Robin’s secrets in a clear and easy-to-follow series of lessons that anyone can apply to their own personal context.  All the activities are organized into distinctive subtopics such as Exploring Personal Identity, Facilitating Wellbeing & Resilience, and Weaving Webs of Trust and Safety to help the reader identify the activity that best fits their objectives.

Perhaps the most compelling reason I can provide for using Pathways to Connection is that it contains the most important ingredient required in this kind of book:  love.  Robin’s care and concern for the people she has worked with during her distinguished career shines through in each of the lessons.  I have witnessed her care when we were colleagues, reflected in her constant work to gently, yet persistently, foster social-emotional development in the communities she has served.  This book extends Robin’s wonderful legacy, and I hope you find it helpful in your efforts as well.