THE JOY SPIRAL
Transformational Women’s Circle
Live from a place of joy instead of struggle.
Are you the person who carries the load for everything and everyone else?
Are you feeling burned out and disconnected?
Does the idea of your joy feel far away?
The Joy Spiral is a transformational program for women and femme-identifying folk to help you reconnect to your true self, re-ignite your joy, and unlock your healing.
I’m going to bet you care deeply and that you always have.
You show up: for your family, your clients, your community, the causes that matter.
You’ve built a life around being useful, dependable and doing good. But somewhere along the way, the reason you’re doing all this might have gotten buried under the weight of doing it.
You’re not sure exactly when it happened.
Maybe it’s perimenopause? (Probably).
Maybe it’s the state of everything. (Also, yes.)
But it’s gone from feeling fulfilling to being exhausting in a way that sleep doesn’t fix.
(And in your quiet moments you think maybe you should burn it all to the ground).
If everything from your hormones to your heart and mind are asking IS THIS IT, then the old way isn’t working for you anymore. And like many, you probably can’t yet see what to replace it with.
Deprioritising your joy might feel selfless, but it costs you.
It impacts your physical health and your emotional wellbeing. It impacts how effective you can be. And it can affect your work, the people you’re care about and the causes you’re passionate about.
Burnout isn’t just tiredness. It’s a slow erosion, built over years of not knowing how to connect to and prioritise yourself.
I’m here to tell you that your joy isn’t a luxury.
And it’s not just a nice meal or a glass of wine at the end of the day or the occasional night out.
Your joy is a map to what matters to you most.
It reveals the ways of being, living, relating and working that make you feel most alive.
The ways that feed you so you in turn can help others.
The Joy Spiral has been specifically designed for women just like YOU.
To help you find your way back to your joy so you can unlock the healing it brings and the gifts it carries.
“Thank you, Vicki, for weaving your magic! I really loved what you brought together for our group of women. Bringing more authentic joy into our world alongside the difficult social justice and environmental work many of us care passionately about - in these challenging times - is a truly radical act!”
Past Participant
What the Joy Spiral Is
The Joy Spiral is a small, intimate circle of women and femme-identifying folk - limited to just 8 in each program - who come together across four facilitated half-day sessions in an immersive experience to reconnect with what brings them to life.
We’ll use shamanic journeywork, archetype mapping, storytelling, shadow work, embodiment, applied improvisation, play, creativity and connection to move from burned out and disconnected to grounded, clear, supported, and joyfully re-energised for the next chapter of your life.
This program is currently in-person and based in Melbourne, Australia.
It is also carefully curated to ensure the best experience for all participants.
The first step is to book in a time to talk to me.
This is especially for you if:
You’ve spent your life caring for others, and you’re quietly exhausted by it
You have empathy fatigue, but you also can’t stop giving a shit
Perimenopause is kicking your arse and you’re SO ready for something different
You’ve been the responsible and capable one, but you can’t remember the last time you’ve done anything really transformative for yourself
You’ve felt called to something different for a long time, but you don’t know where to start
You’re not interested in hustle culture, toxic positivity, fitting in with the patriarchy, or being fixed. You want to be met just as you are.
You’re done struggling alone and you’re ready to be held and supported by a circle of women just like you.
“From my very first conversations with Vicki about the program… her calm presence, genuine curiosity and remarkable intuition created a sense of trust that made it easy to follow what felt like a quiet but certain calling…
The Joy Spiral isn’t a self-improvement program in the conventional sense… It’s about creating the conditions to reconnect with who you’ve always been.
Vicki has an extraordinary gift for bringing together the right people, asking the right questions and holding a space where people feel safe enough to truly see one another. I began the journey with strangers and left with deep friendships and immense gratitude. Through sharing stories and witnessing each other’s experiences, we discovered meaning that was richer through the process of discovery together.”
Past participant
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A transformational and immersive journey across four facilitated half-day sessions kicking off in September 2026
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We kick off with introductions and open the sacred circle. We’ll go on a shamanic drumming journey together to call in your joy. We’ll move our bodies and dance with both our joy and the shadows that rise alongside it. We’ll name what’s blocking you, identify the gift the shadows offer us and learn how to work with them, not against them. (Sunday, 20 September 2026)
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In session 2 we’ll begin to play with the possibilities and pathways available to us and identify the archetypes and stories that unlock our greatest joy. You’ll be guided in how to develop your own Personal Joy Archetype Map (PJAM) and explore how joy comes alive for you through play and creativity. (Sunday, 4 October 2026)
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We’ll dive deeper into our shadow and joy work in Session 3, and experience what taking joyful action feels like in our bodies. Using your PJAM, we’ll look at the steps we need to take to get beyond fear, and practice that in the room together. We’ll explore together what courageous joy looks like and what it unlocks. (Sunday, 18 October 2026)
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In our final session, we’ll explore how compassion nourishes us and look at why it’s so important to how we experience joy. We’ll practice holding each other compassionately and feel what it’s like to be held with compassion in turn. We’ll mark the culmination of our journey together with a collective celebration of everything of our journey (Sunday, 1 November 2026)
KICKING OFF IN SEPTEMBER 2026
What’s included:
16 hours of facilitated workshopping and circle
A personal joy archetype map that’s yours to keep and use for life
Community and connection with values-aligned women and femme-identifying folk
What’s app support between sessions
Access to alumni programs, experiences and workshops
A sisterhood that doesn’t end when the program does
“When I saw the post advertising The Joy Spiral, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Although my life was full of things I loved, I was struggling at the edge of burnout, and the things I usually enjoyed felt like duties and tasks to achieve. I decided to do something outside my usual and contacted Vicki about signing up.
The program wasn’t what I expected; it was so much more.
It gave me the space to recognise why I was struggling to connect with my joy and was an important reminder that doing so wasn’t a selfish act, because it transforms the way you show up in your life for the things that matter.
Doing this work with a small group of women in the safe and magical space created by Vicki was truly beautiful, and it’s an experience I continue to benefit from and treasure months down the track.”
Past participant
Meet your facilitator
Hi! I’m Vasiliki! (But you can call me Vicki)
I’m the founder and creative director of The Story Shaman. I’m a storyteller, creative guide, and circle holder who weaves myth, story, strategy, improvisation, spirituality and ritual to help big hearted women who have spent a lifetime caring for others to reconnect with their joy, reclaim their medicine, and take action with courage.
Deeply intuitive, with over 30 years’ experience in storytelling, improvisation, communications, spiritual practice and facilitation, I love creating spaces that are deeply held and joyfully alive... where curiosity is welcomed, creativity and courage is unleashed, and community becomes a living, breathing force for good.
I’m also a published writer and commentator. You can catch me every third Wednesday on ABC Radio Melbourne’s, Spin Doctor program on ABC Drive.
“This program arrived at a significant crossroads in my life after a challenging period in my career. It reminded me that my circumstances are not who I am. Beneath the uncertainty was a strength, a certainty and a quiet energy that had never disappeared… it had simply become obscured. The Joy Spiral became a path back to that knowing.
What Vicki creates is difficult to describe because it’s less about the activities themselves and more about what emerges between them. Through thoughtful experiences, meaningful conversations and her extraordinary ability to hold space, something shifts.
If you’re fortunate enough to have met Vicki and discovered the Joy Spiral, I’d trust the path that brought you here…”
Past participant
You get:
16 hours of in-person workshopping and circle
8 weeks of What’s App support and between session personal guidance
Your own personal Joy Archetype Map to take away
Lifelong connection to values-aligned community
Alumni priority access and pricing for follow-up workshops
Access to your own joy and medicine
EARLY BIRD PRICE before 6 September 2026
Sign up before 6 September 2026 and pay in full for only $1200
FULL PRICE after 6 September 2026
Sign up after 6 September 2026 and pay in full for $1450
PAY BY INSTALMENTS AVAILABLE AT FULL PRICE
Pay an initial deposit of 15% and then the remainder in instalments
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The intimacy and depth of this work depends on everyone in the circle turning up for each other. If you have a genuine conflict on one date, reach out and we can discuss options. But this is not a drop-in program. Your commitment is part of what makes this work.
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Past participants have reported genuine therapeutic benefits from completing the Joy Spiral program, and have found it immensely empowering to do alongside other more traditional therapy. I do not however claim to be a therapist, nor is this program positioned as therapy.
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I understand that it can be hard to make genuine time for yourself, particularly if you’re used to being there for everyone else. But there will never be a perfect time to invest in your own joy. And the cost of waiting, is another year living from the same depleted place.
If however, you really want to participate but you have genuine clashes, let’s talk. -
Investing in yourself can feel like a challenge when you’re used to putting everyone else first. But there’s also a cost to you of not reconnecting to your joy and continuing to live from a depleted and exhausted place. If the time or cost is making you pause, ask yourself why you think you’re not worth it, and then remind yourself that you absolutely ARE.