The Right Use of Power Training for
Non-Profit &
Social Impact Leaders
September 17, 2026
The Right Use of Power training is a globally recognized, experiential learning program designed to support non-profit and social impact leaders in understanding, holding, and using power responsibly within mission driven organizations and community contexts. This training will bring together leaders from across the non-profit, charity, and social impact sectors to strengthen ethical leadership, deepen self-awareness, and build healthier, more sustainable organizations.
Non-profit and social impact work is often grounded in purpose, care, and service — yet it also involves complex power dynamics. Leaders are regularly navigating limited resources, funding pressures, accountability to multiple stakeholders, community expectations, and the emotional weight of the issues their organizations exist to address. Within this, they are asked to make decisions that affect staff, volunteers, clients, and communities, often under significant constraints.
In these environments, the use of power matters deeply.
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Leadership in the social impact sector carries both formal and informal power, through decision-making authority, access to funding, influence over narratives, and responsibility for shaping organizational culture and direction. Even in values-driven environments, power can become difficult to see clearly, especially when urgency, burnout, and competing priorities are present.
The Right Use of Power offers a practical and relational framework for understanding these dynamics with greater clarity and intention. Rather than framing power as something to minimize or avoid, this training helps leaders recognize how power is always present — and how it can be used ethically to strengthen trust, accountability, collaboration, and impact.
Through experiential learning, reflection, and real-world application, participants develop greater awareness of their leadership impact, deepen their understanding of organizational and relational power dynamics, and strengthen their ability to lead with integrity in complex systems. The training also supports leaders in sustaining themselves and their teams while advancing meaningful, community-centred change.
Basics Training - September 15
Our Basics Training is a 7-hour live learning experience for people who want to deepen their understanding of power and learn how to use power with both strength and compassion in frontline and helping relationships.
Empowering, relevant, and dynamic, our program is presented through engaging presentations, facilitated discussions, and experiential practices.
In our Basics Training you have the opportunity to:
Learn about the five types of power alongside helping professionals from around the world in a connected and reflective learning environment.
Expand your understanding of how power shows up in therapeutic, caregiving, and support relationships, creating more awareness, safety, and trust.
Deepen your awareness of your own personal power, role, and impact on clients, colleagues, and systems.
Explore power differentials, boundaries, vulnerability, and authority to better navigate complex client relationships ethically and effectively.
Build greater capacity to recognize unconscious patterns, reduce the risk of misuse of power, and strengthen relational accountability.
Develop practical skills for maintaining presence, empathy, and professionalism while working in emotionally intense environments.
Training Details:
September 15, 2026
9:00am-4:00pm
Sunalta Community Hall
1627 10 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T3C 0J7
Lunch included
About your facilitators
Dr. Amanda Aguilera
Amanda currently serves as the Executive Director of the Right Use of Power Institute. She is a consultant and facilitator in the area of power-and-equity consciousness and conflict resolution. Driven by her core values of curiosity, courage, and connection, Amanda is adept at putting things together in new ways, creating visuals that help make learning more accessible, and communicating complex ideas in simple ways.
Amanda has a commitment to be courageous in the service of reducing and repairing harm in relationship and promoting the cultural shift toward power-and-equity consciousness, conflict positivity and conflict competency.
Jeff Couillard
Jeff spent many years leading teams and helping to build world-class addiction treatment programs. He developed a skill set and approach to change that is grounded in the human experience and a deep understanding of power and motivation.
He has worked with a wide range of leaders (and their teams) over the years, on a single mission - to help build world-class, human-centred organizations that create the kind of impact that we usually only dream about.
Jeff loves all things teaching, facilitating, speaking and consulting. His sweet spot is helping leaders and teams engage in meaningful dialogue, identifying challenges and opportunities and creating the conditions for high levels of trust and engagement.
Leah Fink
Leah is dedicated to transforming mental health in the workplace. She partners with organizations to identify gaps in workplace practices, creating environments where employees feel supported, engaged, and able to perform at their best. Central to her work is helping leaders understand the impact of power dynamics, and how leadership and culture shape safety, trust, and inclusion.
Drawing on her experience as a registered social worker and background in addictions and mental health, Leah brings a strengths-based, human-centered approach to every engagement. She helps organizations navigate leadership, power, and cultural challenges to reduce disengagement, strengthen relationships, and turn wasted resources into healthier teams, stronger workplaces, and better outcomes.