Quote - Wen Shwu Lee

Wen Shwu Lee is a corporate counsellor and coach based in Taipei, Taiwan. She runs her own business, which focuses on integrating personal growth with professional training. She has a Diploma in Counselling from The Haven and a graduate certificate in Executive Coaching from Royal Roads University. She now regularly assists and leads programs, including assisting Come Alive and Mini Phase, in Canada, China and Taiwan.

What brought you to The Haven?

I first heard about The Haven from the Shiuh-Li Foundation in Taiwan, which promotes personal growth programs. I was very stuck in life and wanted to break through my rigid life style. A group of us from Taipei came to a Mandarin Mini-Phase at The Haven in 1997. It was a really eye-opening experience of connecting and relating to others.

What programs have you done?

After the Mini-Phase I went back to Taiwan - I was working at Hewlett Packard as a marketing manager at the time. I found myself undergoing a process of transformation, working through layers of excitement, fear, surprise, sadness. Ben, Jock and Joann came to Taiwan the next year and I did a Come Alive with them. After that, a group of friends and I formed a check-in/reading group - this has been a really important part of my continuous growth. By 2001 I realised that this was my passion, so I quit my job and came to Canada in 2002. After studying fine arts at UBC for two years, I began to concentrate on my intern studies at The Haven. With the DipC training I began to embed Haven's teaching into my life, and model what I believed.

How have the programs benefitted you?

The biggest benefit for me has been acceptance of myself, integrating my whole selves. I spent the first part of my life striving for my 'ideal self'. After coming to The Haven, I began to explore more of my authentic self, especially my creativity. Now I am happy to have some balance in my life of both the personal and professional. I am able to have much better relationships too - this is very useful in my work, which I enjoy much more now. It was challenging for me to do all this in a second language, but what I learned is that if I speak and listen with my heart, rather than with my head, there is no barrier to deep connection. The connection is there, whatever the language.