New Way of Healing

Trust & Trauma is a collaborative and dynamic discussion between two survivor friends about the role that trust plays in all aspects of our trauma responses. Packed with real life experiences, perspective, tears, and a whole lot of laughs, two witty women provide a raw look at survivor life.  We invite you to experience a candid look at the messy, yet always empowering journey that happens when we harness the magical healing power of sharing our stories. You don’t have to do this alone.

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Friendship Breakups: How We Cope, Learn, and Create
Hosted by: Shanon Page & Gail Dickert

Sunday July 3rd – Sunday August 14th, 2022
10am-11:30am CST via Zoom

Let’s Talk About Friendship Breakups

Many of us have lost friends that we thought we would have forever. Sometimes naturally due to time, distance, and life in general; but what about the times when the friendship dissolves for no apparent reason? Or when a friend walks away from you? Or when you realize that you need to walk away from an unhealthy friendship?

Who do you turn to for support?

These losses hurt a lot, and for trauma survivors already working through attachment challenges, abandonment wounds, and mountains of grief, we’d rather hold on to unhealthy relationships than to face the pain of another loss.

Why this Discussion Series is so Important:

Whether you are the friend left behind, or the friend who needs to leave – this discussion series will offer the support and perspective to help you move through the challenges and the discomfort.

Join us for a 4-part discussion series on Friendship Breakups: How we Cope, Learn, and Create. Attend all four 90 minute Live discussions, participate in our Q&As, and take advantage of additional support emails as part of a healing package. 

Topics

Over the course of this series we will explore the challenges of friendship breakups as trauma survivors. Why are they so difficult and how do we move through them? Join Shanon & Gail as they tackle the following questions one discussion at a time.

• Discussion #1: Is Friendship a breeding ground for trauma triggers and how do we manage it?
• Discussion #2: How do trauma survivors communicate boundaries in friendship and why is it so fucking hard? 
• Discussion #3:  If I know I am deserving of healthy friendships, what are the barriers to having them?
• Discussion #4: What does a healthy friendship look like for a trauma survivor and how do I get one?

Trust & Trauma Healing Package

Prioritize yourself and your healing and save when you register for all four discussion. What you get:

• Registration into (4) 90 minute LIVE discussions with Q&A 
• Weekly support emails on each topic with journal prompts and additional information to support your healing journey
• Connection with other survivors who understand what you are experiencing
• A safe space of empowerment and support 

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Individual Discussion Registration:

Discussion #1: Is Friendship a breeding ground for trauma triggers and how do we manage it?

Join us Sunday July 3rd, 2022 at 10am central time via zoom

During this 90 minute discussion Gail and Shanon will talk about why this is such an important topic to address as survivors. Listen as we share personal friendship stories and talk about first hand experience with the triggers, the choices, expectations that we have, and our needs, wants, and fears. Then we will show you have this all leads back to trust. Followed by Q&A with participants.

Discussion #2: How do trauma survivors communicate boundaries in friendship and why is it so fucking hard?

Join us Sunday July 17th, 2022 at 10am central time via zoom

In part two of this four part series, Gail and Shanon will address the challenges of identifying and communicating boundaries in friendship. What do we say? How do we say it? And who do we say it to? Finally, why are boundaries so fucking hard??? Followed by Q&A with participants

Discussion #3:  If I know I am deserving of healthy friendships, what are the barriers to having them?

Join us Sunday July 31st, 2022 at 10am central time via zoom

During this third discussion it is time to address why all of this is so difficult for us as trauma survivors. Join Gail and Shanon again as they explore the influence of abandonment wounds, lack of safety, and the learning curve we survivors face when figuring out how to be mindful about reconciliation and repair. Do you give too many second chances? Let’s talk about why that might be. Followed by Q&A with participants.

Discussion #4:  What does a healthy friendship look like for a trauma survivor and how do I get one?

Join us Sunday Aug 13th, 2022 at 10am central time via zoom

In this final discussion to wrap up the series on Friendship Breakups Gail and Shanon will walk you through ways you can ensure you feel safe and valued in your friendships. We’ll also help you figure out if you are the toxic friend and how to take positive steps to redirect and repair. Finally we will recap the prior week’s topics and reiterate ways to prioritize self-respect, communicate boundaries, and expectations, and we will empower you to recognize when it is time to put yourself first and move on.

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Meet The Speakers

Gail Dickert

Gail resides in the Washington, DC area with her wife, child, and forest of friends. She has four self-published works reflecting complex trauma, recovery, and children’s fiction.

After 20 years of supporting children and young families with nature-based pedagogy, service-learning, and youth empowerment, she took a hiatus from her career in non-profit leadership to focus on writing and advocacy that reflects her eco-feminist values, sex positive views, and dedication to family. She is a pandemic-inspired stay-at-home mom and earned her Master of Social Work degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore with a focus on Community Action and Social Policy.

She aspires to apply her studies in social change to writing LGBTQ+ fiction that is explicitly anti-racist and addresses structural oppression, as well as nurturing eco-centric and inclusive schooling options for children/youth in her community.  #RecoveryInRealTime is her trauma “anti-workbook,” published in 2016, designed to promote social awareness of how trauma recovery happens as a lifetime cycle in which survivors can feel in charge of our long-range hopes of moving through the grief. Gail is a survivor of religious abuse, sexual abuse, conversion therapy, and sexual assault. 

Shanon Page

Shanon is the mother of two and the wife to wonderful man. She is a writer, an advocate, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect.

After 20 years of dissociation, her life spiraled and in March of 2017 she was diagnosed with (complex) PTSD. She was 37 years old. To aid in her healing she has utilized convention therapy as well as EMDR. Additionally she uses reiki, metaphysical practices, and the survivor community as resources and tools for healing and self-care.

Before she focused on her healing journey began and began providing peer support and advocacy to survivors, she worked in the non-profit sector organizing community around important issues and helping people connect with the tools and resources to help them live their best life.