Frequently asked
Questions, answered.
What the framework is, who it is for, and how to take a first step. Still have a question? Reach out and Shannon will answer it directly.
The framework
About The 9 Responses to Change.
- Who is Shannon Barnes?
- Shannon D. Barnes is the creator of The 9 Responses to Change. Over years of facilitation, retreat work, and deep listening, Shannon refined a living framework for meeting transition with more awareness and less self-judgment. The work is based in Southern California and offered to individuals, teams, and practitioners.
- Is this therapy, coaching, or a personality test?
- None of those. The 9 Responses to Change is a human development framework offered for reflection, facilitation, and coaching. It is a map for self-understanding, not a diagnosis, a personality type, or a prescriptive path. You keep full authorship of what you notice and what you do with it.
- Who is the framework for?
- Anyone navigating change. It serves individuals in the middle of a personal transition, leaders guiding teams through restructuring or growth, and coaches, therapists, facilitators, and HR professionals who want a research-informed lens for their work. No background is required, only curiosity about how you respond.
- What are the 7 Actions of Agency and the Agency Awareness Toolkit?
- Alongside the 9 Responses, Shannon developed the 7 Actions of Agency and the Agency Awareness Toolkit: a facilitation-ready system of assessments, reflection journals, and guided worksheets. Together they translate insight into action, helping people move from naming their response to actively working with it.
- How do I get started?
- Begin with a free discovery session, a 60-minute live introduction to the framework hosted by Shannon over Zoom. It is a low-pressure first look and a chance to name your own response to change. Deeper workshops and retreats are available afterward for those who want to continue.
- What informs the framework?
- It grows from years of applied facilitation and from teachers who understood that transformation is rarely tidy and always worth it, among them William Bridges, Tara Brach, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Richard Rohr, and Pema Chödrön. The result is intellectually grounded and built to stay humanly accessible.
- Does this site collect my information?
- No. This site has no forms and stores nothing about you. When you register for a session, that is handled on Eventbrite under its own privacy policy, which is where live dates, sign-ups, and reminders live. You can reach Shannon directly by email anytime.