Behind the Language Healing Circle®
The Language Healing Circles® were developed based on an idea by Matyas Le Brun during the creation of the “1000 Families Challenge” project.
This association has multiple objectives: To support families, through information and tools, in the reintroduction of Breton into the parent-child relationship (where the disconnection occurred), but also, more broadly, of all minority languages, whether indigenous, immigrant, or sign language. The goal is to support linguistic revitalization while creating reparations for the affected populations. Through this, the goal is to rediscover one’s heritage, identity, and culture, to recreate intergenerational bonds, to find spaces of justice through empathy and dialogue, and to open up to other linguistic minorities around the world.
Among the association’s activities:
— The association’s flagship project is the “1000 Homes, 1000 Aspirations” project (based on the Māori model of the same name) to support parenting in the language concerned, notably by providing books for children and parents based on psychosocial pedagogies (NVC, Filliozat, Alvarez, etc.).
— The first step is the “Ober War Dro” Linguistic Repair Circles project.
— Our shared goal is to replicate the “Unan & Unan” project, based on the “Mentor-Apprentice Program” developed by sociolinguist specializing in language revitalization Leanne Hinton and widely used among Indigenous peoples in Canada (First People’s Cultural Council), Hawaii, the USA, and the Sámi in Scandinavia.
— Finally, to expand our entire approach, we would like to organize trips to meet other people from minorities engaged in similar linguistic processes. The first trip will take place in 2026 in Morocco to share with the Amazigh people (in preparation).
Matyas Le Brun learned Breton with the adult education organization Stumdi in 2010 and speaks it every day to his children. He was selected in 2025 to participate in an international seminar “Ready to Revitalize” offered by the Endangered Language Project, which brings together people working in their communities to revitalize their language.
Trained in group facilitation since 2017, he has been leading speaking circles since 2020 and managing teams as a cultural project leader. He is currently training in Nonviolent Communication© (NVC) and Restorative Circles© using Dominic Barter’s method with Déclic CNV and co-education. A regular in groups, he has been leading dance and wellness classes and trainings (Tai Chi, Qi Gong, visualization, relaxation, meditation) since 2011.
Trained as an architect and then working in film production and set design, he shared the lives of Sámi reindeer herders in the Arctic for three years and worked as a journalist-reporter on the issue of indigenous peoples’ rights. He founded the environmental education association “Veahkki” and visits classes in France to talk about the Sámi way of life, culture, and language.
He published “Douar-Neizh, Terre ce Nid, Land as my nest” in the Breton language and was invited to the USA by the New York Breton association ‘Breizh Amerika’ (Charles Kergaravat) and the Endangered Language Alliance to read his poems in Breton and English, accompanied by musicians.
Amélie Pornin learned Breton in Stumdi in 2011 and subsequently worked in Diwan schools in Brittany while developing her own teaching tools.
A social psychology trainer specializing in group dynamics and conflict management, Amélie is an activist with the AIDES association, which supports the rights and recognition of the most vulnerable people (homeless people, drug users, LGBTQIA+ people, migrants, etc.) using Restorative Justice tools.
Language learning has always been a fascinating and extremely enriching subject for her. Having lived abroad for several years, she is fluent in English, and passionate about Hebrew, she is self-taught.
Florence-Marie (or Bleunwenn-Maïna) has always been interested in languages and cultures, but as a teenager, when she wanted to learn Breton, her parents told her that “Breton is useless, it’s better to learn English.” Not knowing what to say, she learned English and traveled the world.
She has traveled to several countries, with different nations, and for over 10 years has been a member of the “De la Plume A l’Ecran” association, which promotes indigenous cinema in France. But it is in Brittany that she feels deeply moved by each fest noz.
She has been a nurse, air traffic controller, risk analyst, author, and trainer on human and organizational issues before falling into ecology and changing careers. She became an activist, facilitator, and then trainer of “work that connects,” an approach that offers various teaching methods, including discussion circles on the state of the world. She then trained as a psychotherapist in Relational Intelligence (a trauma therapy method involving the nervous system, protective and wounded parts, and attachment), and supports individuals, particularly through complex traumas. She is passionate about collective traumas, including linguistic traumas and systemic oppression.
She is currently learning Breton; she now knows what to say: a language is a unique way of perceiving the world. A language is useful “for living and loving,” for being human, for thinking differently about the chaos of the world, for nurturing connections, including the precious connection to a territory…