Goodbye Nathan & Welcome Molly!

Dear Still Harbor community,

I write to you during a big season of change at Still Harbor. 

For the past two years, Nathan Bakken and I have worked closely together as the Co-Directors of Still Harbor and as the co-instructors for Still Harbor's Spiritual Direction Practicum. Nathan and I were also previously on Still Harbor’s Board of Directors. And before that, we were students together in the Practicum that we now teach.

Nathan’s leadership, friendship, and presence have profoundly shaped my time at Still Harbor, both as a learner and as a teacher. Nathan brings a joy to this work that can be lost in logistics and spreadsheets. Students who have had Nathan as an instructor in the Practicum know them as much for their invaluable wisdom as they know them for their post-class dance moves.

Their commitment to living their values and making space for other queer and trans spiritual leaders has fundamentally changed Still Harbor for the better and for the long haul. And now it’s time to say goodbye.

Nathan is moving on to their next journey and transitioning out of their Co-Director role, as well as their role as the co-instructor of the Spiritual Direction Practicum.

As much as I will miss them, I am excited to follow their work beyond Still Harbor and continue to consider them a Still Harbor community member and friend. 

This transition is bittersweet. As Nathan departs their role as co-instructor of the Practicum, I get to welcome another stellar spiritual leader to Still Harbor’s team.

My dear friend Rev. Molly Bolton (she/her, they/them) will serve as the co-instructor for this coming year’s Spiritual Direction Practicum. 

Molly is a spiritual director, grief group facilitator, former chaplain, and poet who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Eastern Cherokee Land. Molly was also the first person who mentioned spiritual direction to me. I can’t wait for the next Practicum cohort to get to know her wisdom, humor, care, and spiritual leadership.

I will continue to teach the Practicum and will also continue guiding Still Harbor’s work overall in a new role as the Director of Programs. I’ll be working with the Board of the Directors to design more programmatic offerings for our community.

Please join me in celebrating Molly and my new role while also wishing Nathan well!

Embracing this season of change,

Marchaé Grair
Still Harbor’s Director of Programs

P.S. Applications will open soon for our 2023-2024 Spiritual Direction Practicum, which begins in early October! Stay tuned for more details.