Three Live & Highly Interactive Learning Community Sessions
October 8, 15 & 22, 2026
2-4PM ET/1-3PM CT/12-2PM MT/11AM-1PM PT
Leadership begins within. The way we care for ourselves shapes the way we care for others, build community, navigate challenges, and create meaningful change.
Sacred Threads is a highly interactive learning community designed for people who are ready to move beyond inspiration and into transformation. Participants will have the unique opportunity to learn alongside—and be guided by—three extraordinary co-facilitators: Nyla Christian, Jonathan P. Edwards, and Julius E. Rhodes, nationally respected thought leaders whose diverse perspectives, lived experience, and deep expertise create a rich, engaging, and transformative learning environment. Together, they will facilitate meaningful dialogue, reflection, and practical application that empowers participants to grow as leaders, strengthen authentic relationships, and create lasting personal and community impact.
Together, we will design a stronger foundation of self-awareness and purpose, develop the skills, confidence, and relationships needed to lead authentically, and deliver meaningful action that creates lasting impact in our personal lives, workplaces, and communities.
Whether you are an emerging or experienced leader, Sacred Threads invites you to cultivate greater self-esteem, strengthen your leadership capacity, deepen authentic relationships, and explore pathways toward both personal and collective liberation.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this learning community, participants will be able to:
- Design a personal leadership framework by identifying the values, experiences, and strengths that shape their leadership and wellbeing.
- Develop practical strategies for increasing self-esteem, navigating challenges, fostering authentic engagement, and strengthening resilience.
- Deliver intentional actions that enhance leadership effectiveness while supporting individual, organizational, and community wellbeing.
- Build meaningful, peer-driven relationships that foster collaboration, mutual learning, and collective growth.
- Create personalized tools, action plans, and reflective practices that support ongoing personal and professional development.
- Integrate leadership, wellness, and community-centered practices that promote greater connection, empowerment, and internal liberation.
Sacred Threads is more than a professional development experience. It is a learning community where people come together to grow, connect, and transform—designing stronger foundations, developing authentic leadership, and delivering meaningful change in themselves, their organizations, and their communities.
If you need to be invoiced for the training or pay by check, please email: [email protected]
If you have questions about the content or other anything else, please email: [email protected]
About the facilitators: Nyla Christian, Jonathan P. Edwards, and Julius E. Rhodes
Nyla Christian builds spaces where culture, care, and strategy align—because that’s what transforms lives, systems, and legacies.
For over 17 years, Nyla has guided leaders, families, and institutions through recovery, realignment, and reconnection—designing care strategies that are culturally attuned, purpose-driven, and grounded in real-world outcomes. Her approach is shaped by lived experience, deep industry expertise, and sharpened by national leadership in wellness equity and systems change.
She currently serves as Executive Director of CAARD (Center for African American Recovery Development) and leads her consulting firm, LifeInspired Development, where she created the LifeInspired Pathway™—a signature model for aligning whole-self wellness with identity, purpose, and legacy.
Nyla’s work is rooted in real-world impact and informed by national service. She is a Nationally Certified Intervention Professional (NCIP), Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (CPRSS), and Nationally Certified Life Coach (NCLC)—and is honored to serve as Adjunct Faculty with Faces & Voices of Recovery, a SAMHSA-designated national thought leader, and a 2025 Recover Out Loud Award recipient.
Whether she is supporting high-performing individuals through complex transitions, partnering with families, or advising systems on equity and care strategy—Nyla brings the same approach each time: helping people and systems navigate wellness, recovery, and leadership with clarity, culture, and care.
Dr. Jonathan P. Edwards is a social scientist working at the intersection of public health, social work, and organizational development and brings more than 30 years of experience as a consumer, provider, architect and visionary of mental health and substance use services. In addition to his breadth of lived experience and credentials as Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Peer Specialist, Certified Personal Medicine Coach, Peer Supervision Professional, and Leadership Coach, Jonathan serves on the faculty of Columbia University School of Social Work, holds affiliate faculty status as a clinical instructor at Yale School of Medicine Program for Recovery and Community Health, and is currently employed by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care, and Treatment as a Program Consultant. Jonathan has made significant contributions to workforce development in behavioral health and the recovery sector overall; led one of the largest peer support programs within the New York City Hospital system; published numerous peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and the co-authored “What It Takes: Wisdom from Peer Support Specialists and Supervisors"; enhanced the development of National Practice Guidelines for Peer Support Specialists and Supervisors; served as a technical expert to inform National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification and a Recovery Research agenda; presented nationally and internationally; and has received numerous awards and acknowledgements.
Dr. Edwards received his M. Phil and Ph.D. in Social Welfare from CUNY Graduate Center; MSW from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College; and BA in industrial/organizational psychology from City College of CUNY. He serves on the Boards of New York Peer Specialist Certification, Friends of Recovery-New York, Mental Health News Education, and the Academy of Peer Services Advisory, Rutgers University.
Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR: Throughout his 30+ year career in the consumer products, durable and consumer goods, and healthcare industries Julius Rhodes has helped myriad leaders, and organizations; “BRAND: YOU.” His extensive experience in public service, associations, several leading-edge Fortune 100 firms and as a business owner, author, and trusted advisor has allowed him to support various entities in times of transition and change. Julius believes “Invest in Your People, and Your Business Will Prosper.” Based in Chicago, Illinois he is a much sought-after speaker, presenter, trainer and thought leader who has national exposure throughout the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, and he has facilitated sessions internationally in Canada, England, Mexico, and Nigeria. His group interaction has been described as ‘approachable, relevant, and applicable.’ His mission is to ‘engage, support, and inspire his partners through the application of practical and sustainable practices which create improved process efficiency, talent development, integration, and utilization.
He speaks to thousands annually at conferences, conventions, and on-site covering topics such as human resources, environmental, health and safety, leadership development, emotional intelligence, health and well being, change, diversity, equity and inclusion, future trends, and positive disruption, among others.
