![](https://omapittsburgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AdobeStock_457808711-scaled.jpeg)
YOU ARE NOT ALONE--Online Panel Discussion
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Eastern Time
Zoom Webinar
$5 Donation Requested
Includes replay sent to attendees within 48 hrs.
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."
-William James, American Philosopher.
We make choices every day, with our thoughts and actions. The role of choice in trauma recovery is incredibly significant. When someone experiences trauma, they often feel a loss of control and a sense of helplessness. Reintroducing choice into their lives can help counteract these feelings and empower them in their recovery journey. Through practices such as meditation, mindfulness, positive affirmations, and self-care, we work to release the power of the heavy energies associated with trauma recovery and work towards resilience.
August is National Wellness Month
As summer winds down, let's choose to put some self-care on the calendar while still enjoying the summer vibe. Whether it is focusing on the positive, or taking small actions to benefit you and those you love, or even taking some time for an activity or to rest. Acknowledging how we feel, better knowing ourselves and what motivates us, and making positive choices for ourselves can be done in the present moment one step at a time.
This month, our featured panelist is Marilyn Carpenter. Her interest in holistic wellness, healing, and personal development have led down a variety of paths, some by foot and others through self-exploration and learning from others. We don’t know what we don’t know, so being curious, willing to explore, and also being able to ask for help, has amazing potential to enhance our lives and support us on our journeys.
In these monthly conversations, YANA panelists share stories of their own personal journey, as well as provide resources and tools to help individuals reclaim their lives after trauma. We believe that sharing our personal stories of survival and holistic techniques can support you in the sacred process of reclaiming yourself in healing. You deserve to be respected and heard!
It can be a lonely journey, but You Are Not Alone.
The format of this event is a group panel that discusses and has conversations around different aspects of healing from trauma. We have anywhere between 4-9 people on the panel and are always open to anyone wanting to join the panel.
We set this event up as a Zoom webinar, not a meeting, to maintain anonymity of our attendees, so you will not be seen unless you request to be. There is a chat room, and you can ask questions and be invited to unmute yourself if you want. Your name will be displayed in the chat, so please feel free to change your name to protect your identity in any way that you see fit.
*** If you feel you are in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which offers free, 24/7 call, text and chat access to trained crisis counselors. Text or call 988 to be connected to a crisis center nearest to you. If you are in an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. OMA Center for Mind, Body, and Spirit does not offer crisis counseling or emergency services.***
It is critical that our efforts strengthen, so we can begin to heal these invisible wounds. They are crucial in promoting the healthy development of children and adults and healthy behaviors in families, schools and communities, thereby reducing the likelihood of trauma.
$5 Donation Requested. Your gift will be used to help us attain our goal of establishing a community and retreat center for the local community. Your generosity of any amount is greatly appreciated.
If you cannot afford a ticket, we offer scholarship assistance. Click for more information.
All registered attendees will receive a replay within 48 hrs of the original broadcast.
This panel conversation is part of OMA's Trauma Program. YOU ARE NOT ALONE is an OMA Webinar Series featuring a panel conversation on trauma and recovery—We are all connected on this journey of healing, of both self and humanity, from our own individual traumas as well as our collective traumas.
Panelists: Marilyn Carpenter, Deb Carter, Angela Failor, Callie Gropp, Gail Hunter, Laura Kustaborder, Mai Nguyen, Anna Smith, Leza Vivio.
Let’s all drop the pretense that we are either normal, or abnormal…
We are all in the same support group: ordinary people who must deal with the struggles that come with being human. We all carry this heavy weight—a trauma, whether from childhood abuse, childhood adverse experiences (ACE's),domestic violence, gaslighting, bullying, emotional/ verbal abuse and manipulation, medical trauma, and injury. We all at the same time struggle to meet our basic human needs for connection, community, acceptance, and validation among ones who share our culture and language, or not, for authenticity–the capacity to feel what we feel and to be in touch with our bodies and to express what we feel when we need to.
Fundamentally, that is the ultimate trauma, the disconnection from ourselves…
In this webinar series we believe that in the presence of compassion, healing is possible. Only with compassion can we bear our pain. In the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying the author says, whatever you do don’t shut off your pain. Accept your pain and remain vulnerable. –Mai Nguyen, Panelist