Same Light, Many Candles: Working with Vulnerable Children and Mothers within Toxically Stressed Communities

For fourteen remarkable years, the Sophia Project in California served over one hundred mothers and children, all of whom were at risk of or had experienced homelessness and abuse.

Drawing on the principles of Camphill and a Waldorf approach to child development, staff worked intensively with families, introducing them to daily rhythms and routines, assisting with job applications, shopping and tax forms, and even tutoring to pass tests and exams. Over a period of five years, the families regained confidence and independence. None returned to homelessness or abuse.

Same Light, Many Candles is a definitive account of the Sophia Project: its origins, the journey, the families and its eventual end. Both moving and inspiring, it powerfully demonstrates the effect on real lives of structured, caring intervention based on Waldorf principles.