Pre-Conference Sessions and Speakers

Your Pre-Conference Speakers

Our speakers bring expert knowledge and personal insight into the impact of trauma, offering strategies for healing and resilience. With a compassionate approach, they share valuable tools for understanding and overcoming the effects of trauma in both personal and professional contexts.

Session Times (all are in EST) and Descriptions of Each Session

Connecting to the Wisdom Within through Breathwork and Somatics

length 60 minutes

So much of the wisdom within was formed in our pre verbal memory. It is embedded in our breath, our movements, and sensations. As we connect to these implicit memories we can learn to shift our nervous systems and engage with others and ourselves from a place of safety rather than a threat. Join me as we connect to the knowing within.

Join Amy

Medical Trauma: Case Study with Q&A

length 45 minutes

Thursday, July 24th 1pm ET

Vicarious Trauma: Case Study with Q&A

length 45 minutes

Thursday, October 2nd 1pm ET

Join Oak

Guided Neuro-Somatics: Why Releasing Trauma on the Cellular Level Is Important For Healing and Transformation

length 120 minutes, additional fee

Is an innovative workshop designed to delve into the profound effects of trauma on the body's cellular structure. Unlike traditional approaches that focus solely on the psychological aspects of trauma, this workshop addresses the physiological imprints left at the cellular level, where trauma can linger and disrupt overall health.

Guests will explore how trauma is stored in the body's cells and learn a neuro-somatics technique to release these deep-seated imprints. The workshop integrates the combination of art and neuroscience, trauma informed movements and relaxation techniques. By focusing on cellular health, the workshop aims to rejuvenate the body's natural healing mechanisms, promoting physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

Guests will leave with a deeper understanding of how trauma affects their bodies and be equipped with tools to support ongoing healing and transformation. "Releasing Trauma on the Cellular Level" offers a unique and powerful approach to recovery, empowering individuals to achieve holistic wellness by addressing trauma at its core.​

Materials Needed:

• white copy or sketch paper

• 3 size sharpies or Pitt Pens (fine, medium, and large)

• colored pencils

• open mind and working computer camera

Join Gina

Your Nervous System Is NOT The Enemy

length 60 minutes

Discover the Power of Nervous System Awareness, Regulation, and Healing

In this transformative workshop, we’ll explore how your nervous system is not broken — it’s brilliantly wired to protect you. The patterns you’ve developed in response to stress, trauma, or overwhelm aren’t signs of weakness — they’re signs of survival. But survival is not where your story has to end.

Join us as we unpack:

• How your nervous system responds to threat, disconnection, and emotional pain

• Why "shutting down," "freezing," or "overreacting" are actually intelligent responses

• The basics of Polyvagal Theory and how it applies to everyday life

• Tools for regulation, co-regulation, and building a sense of safety in your body

• Practices to shift from survival mode to connection, presence, and resilience

This workshop is for anyone who’s ever felt stuck, misunderstood by their own reactions, or exhausted by constant “self-improvement” that never seems to work. It’s time to work with your nervous system — not against it.

You are not broken. You are adaptive. You are resilient. And you can heal.

Tuesday, August 5th 10am ET

Saturday, october 11th 10am ET

The Truth Between the Lines

Framework: FRAME of Us™
Theme: Making Space for the Truth We Don’t Speak
Length: 1.5 hours
Price: $25 (additional cost to attend)

In a world that often demands clarity before comfort, this workshop is an invitation to meet the truths that live inside—but often remain unspoken. Using the FRAME of Us™ process (Feel – Reflect – Acknowledge – Mirror – Express), participants will engage in a guided visual journey that allows them to uncover and express a deeply held emotional truth—without having to explain it.

We will draw, reflect, and share space with others in quiet witnessing—not to be fixed or analyzed, but to be felt, honored, and softened around. No art skills are needed, just a willingness to see what your lines want to say.

Materials Needed:

• Plain paper, art paper,

• Markers or crayons or water colors and an open mind.

Drawing From Within: A Somatic Reconnection Ritual

Framework: WAVE for Grief™ (Anchored Visual Version)
Theme: Accessing Inner Wisdom Through Emotion-Led Linework
Length: 1 hour
Price: $25 (additional cost to attend)

Description:
Grief is not always about loss. Sometimes it is about change, transition, or letting go of a version of ourselves. In this gentle creative ritual, participants will begin with a photo or object (real or symbolic) and use intuitive visual techniques from the Somagraphica™ WAVE framework (Witness – Allow – Visualize – Embody) to reconnect with a part of themselves that is shifting or grieving.

You will be guided to create a visual field using intuitive line, shape, and an anchoring gesture that allows you to safely hold and integrate emotion in real-time. This session blends body awareness, image-based reflection, and creative clarity.

Materials Needed:

• Plain paper, art paper,

• Markers or crayons or water colors and an open mind.

• An anchoring image, picture or symbol that will be the base of your drawing.

• Glue to attach the image to the paper

Join Dr Jai

Rewriting the Story: Anxiety as a Messenger NOT a Monster

Join Stacey

What Post Traumatic Growth Actually Looks Like

This session will explore the realities of healing from complex trauma and moving into wellness and growth. Learn why complex trauma needs complex healing, how to navigate and tolerate the multiple layers of discomfort, and what it truly feels like to break through the traumatic aftereffects that used to cause suffering. Dive into the art of deep self-resonating, integrating the many parts of yourself, and re-discovering who you are on the other side.

tuesday, September 16th 7pm ET

Join Sara