Many people don’t realize they’ve learned to leave themselves.
They just know they’re tired.
Over-functioning.
Overlooking their own needs.
Holding everything together — while feeling increasingly disconnected from themselves.
As the signs build — burnout, anxiety, emotional exhaustion — something begins to feel unsustainable.
Not because people don’t notice,
but because turning toward themselves can feel unfamiliar.
If You’re Always the One Who Holds It Together
You may be capable, caring, and deeply invested in others —and still unsure how to stay connected to yourself.
You learned how to adapt.
How to keep the peace.
How to push through discomfort.
This often looks like:
- saying yes when you’re already depleted
- minimizing your needs to avoid disruption
- realizing how you felt only afterward
- being present for others while disconnected inside
These patterns didn’t form because you failed.
They formed because they once made sense.
What You’ll Find Here
This full-day experiential conference offers space to understand these patterns — without blame — and explore what it means to stay connected to yourself.
The day blends teaching with guided reflection, practical exercises, and intentional pauses so learning has time to land.
You’ll explore:
- how self-abandonment forms and why it persists
- how it shows up emotionally, physically, and relationally
- the difference between self-loyalty and self-sacrifice
- realistic ways to notice and interrupt these patterns
This day supports meaningful change through understanding and practice.
Why This Conference Feels Different
This isn’t a lecture or a passive learning day.
It’s not “here’s the information — go apply it later.”
Teaching, reflection, and exploration are woven together so insight doesn’t stay theoretical.
You won’t be talked at.
You’ll be invited to engage in ways that feel grounded — through journaling, discussion, quiet reflection, or simply listening.
No pressure to share.
No emotional performance.
Just real understanding, supported in real time.
“You didn’t lose yourself — you learned how to survive.”
WHY THIS TEAM IS DIFFERENT
This is not a motivational workshop or a wellness trend.
It is facilitated by experienced trauma clinicians who work daily with the very patterns being explored — self-abandonment, over-functioning, emotional exhaustion, and disconnection from self.
Rather than offering quick fixes or surface-level tools, this day is held with depth, clarity, and care. The environment is emotionally safe, grounded, and free from pressure to perform, disclose, or “fix” yourself.
The intention is not to change who you are —
but to help you reconnect with who you were before survival became your way of living.
MEET THE FACILITATION TEAM
Wendy Pearson, HBA, MEd, RP
Founder, CEO & Clinical Director · EMDR Certified Therapist
With over three decades of clinical experience, Wendy has supported individuals and families through trauma, attachment wounds, burnout, and life transitions. Her work focuses on helping people understand the patterns that required them to disconnect from themselves — not with judgment, but with compassion and clarity.
As Founder and Clinical Director of evolve Psychotherapy & Consulting Group Inc., Wendy provides supervision, training, and consultation to clinicians and organizations, including hospitals and leadership teams.
Awakening The Forgotten Self reflects the heart of Wendy’s work: helping people reconnect with who they were before adaptation became identity.
Sarah Montes, RPC, MPCC, CCAC
Registered Practitioner · Addiction Counsellor
Sarah supports individuals in understanding coping strategies that once helped them survive. Her grounded presence helps participants soften self-judgment and reconnect with themselves in ways that feel safe, compassionate, and attainable.
Sylvia Dearing, BA (Hons), MDiv (student); RP-Q
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Sylvia brings warmth and thoughtful curiosity to her facilitation. Her work supports reflection around meaning, values, and inner narrative, helping participants reconnect with parts of themselves that have long gone unheard.
Sarah Humphrey, B.A. (Hons), CYW, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker
Sarah’s work is grounded in attachment and relational understanding. Her steady, compassionate presence supports participants in exploring emotional patterns, boundaries, and reconnection with self and others.
Agenda
9:00 – 9:30 | Arrival, Orientation & Safety
Settling into the space, clarifying how the day will be held, and outlining the structure and flow.
9:30 – 9:50 | Seeing the Pattern Clearly
Naming common self-abandonment patterns and why many caring, capable people don’t recognize them at first.
9:50 – 10:30 | Why We Learn to Leave Ourselves
Exploring how self-abandonment develops and why choosing others over yourself once felt necessary.
10:30 – 10:45 | Break
10:45 – 12:15 | The Body’s Role in Self-Abandonment
Understanding how self-abandonment can show up through stress responses, tension, fatigue, and disconnection.
12:15 – 1:00 | Lunch
Lunch will be provided. (Please let us know about dietary restrictions.)
1:00 – 2:30 | Why Returning to Yourself Can Feel Hard
Exploring why reconnecting can feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar, including fear, guilt, emotional intensity, or uncertainty.
2:30 – 2:45 | Break
2:45 – 3:40 | Practicing Self-Loyalty in Real Life
Translating insight into grounded ways of staying connected to yourself in everyday situations.
3:40 – 4:00 | Integration & Closing
Ticket price is $180. HST is added automatically at checkout.
What You’ll Take With You
By the end of the day, participants leave with:
- clearer understanding of internal patterns
- language for experiences they’ve felt but never named
- increased awareness of limits and needs
- practical ways to stay connected to themselves —tools that translate into real life.
A Final Word
If you’ve spent much of your life holding it together
or putting yourself last without meaning to —
there is nothing wrong with you.
You learned how to adapt.
This day isn’t about becoming more.
It’s about coming back.
Not all at once.
Not perfectly.
Just honestly.
Awakening the Forgotten Self is a full-day experiential workshop for people who have learned — often quietly and over time — to put themselves second in order to keep relationships, peace, or stability.
Many people don’t realize they’re leaving themselves until their body, energy, or health starts to push back. They’re tired. Over-functioning. Carrying more than their share. Giving endlessly while feeling increasingly disconnected from themselves.
This day is an invitation to slow down and look more closely — through a relational lens that pays attention to lived experience, emotions, and the signals we often override — at how self-abandonment develops, why it makes sense, and what it might look like to begin returning to yourself without losing connection to others. This work is reflective and experiential in nature; it is not therapy or diagnostic.
Through guided teaching, reflection, and gentle experiential practices, participants will explore the patterns they’ve carried, the stress responses underneath them, and small, realistic ways to notice and interrupt self-abandonment in daily life.
This workshop is designed to be:
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grounding, supportive, and choice-based
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emotionally meaningful without being overwhelming
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practical, accessible, and deeply human
You do not need prior therapy experience to attend.
What Makes This Day Different
This is not a conference you attend just to learn more.
It’s a day designed to help you recognize yourself — in patterns you’ve lived with for years but may never have named.
Awakening the Forgotten Self focuses on how self-abandonment actually shows up in real life, in relationships, and in moments of stress — and what it looks like to begin returning to yourself in small, sustainable ways. The pace is intentional, the atmosphere is supportive, and participation is always in choice.
Many people leave feeling seen, less alone, and better able to catch themselves in moments they used to miss — with language and tools they can use immediately.
Agenda
9:00 – 9:30 | Arrival, Orientation & Safety
Settling into the space, clarifying how the day will be held, and creating a container where depth, choice, and pacing are prioritized.
9:30 – 9:50 | Seeing the Pattern Clearly
Naming common self-abandonment patterns and why so many caring, capable people don’t recognize them at first.
9:50 – 10:30 | Why We Learn to Leave Ourselves
Exploring how self-abandonment forms in relationship, and why choosing others over yourself once felt necessary.
10:30 – 10:45 | Break
10:45 – 12:15 | The Body’s Role in Self-Abandonment
Understanding how self-abandonment lives in stress responses and everyday signals, often before conscious awareness.
12:15 – 1:00 | Lunch
Lunch will be provided. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions.
1:00 – 2:30 | Why We Leave — and Why Returning Feels Risky
Exploring why coming back to yourself can feel risky — especially if you worry about losing others, feeling overwhelmed by emotion, or being seen as selfish for choosing yourself. This section names the internal patterns that quietly keep you disconnected.
2:30 – 2:45 | Break
2:45 – 3:40 | Practicing Self-Loyalty in Real Life
Translating insight into realistic, relationally safe ways of staying connected to yourself.
3:40 – 4:00 | Integration & Closing
(The day concludes at 4:00 p.m.)
Who This Is For
This workshop may be a good fit if you:
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feel responsible for others’ feelings or well-being
- see yourself as 'selfless' or a people pleaser
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struggle to say no without guilt
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often override your own needs or limits
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notice resentment, exhaustion, or numbness creeping in
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want to understand yourself more deeply, not just cope better
This day isn’t about fixing yourself — it’s about understanding yourself. Many people come because they’re tired of pushing through patterns they don’t fully understand. This experience offers clarity, relief in realizing you’re not alone, and practical ways to notice and respond to yourself differently in everyday life.
