The workshop: What to expect
In this workshop we provide pathways to help you get to and express your feelings in a safe and supportive environment. The work can be physically demanding. (If you have special physical concerns, don’t worry. We’ll work with you to help you do the work you need in a way that works for you.)
Our focus is to help you do whatever you need to do for your own healing. As we heal, we nurture a much deeper connection to our authentic selves. This healing can have a ripple effect for other relationships in our lives.
While this is not psychotherapy, participants often find that this work helps them move forward in their lives and assists them in any ongoing therapy. For many, it is the first big step in recovering from old, deep seated wounds, as well as from current traumas and loss.
Underlying this process is a belief in unconditional love and acceptance.
The workshop: Who should attend
Persons who have experienced loss of any kind - death of a loved one, friend or pet, loss of a marriage, loss of health or abilities, loss of a job or career, etc.
Survivors of sexual abuse
Survivors of physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse
Adult children of narcissistic parents
Adult children of alcoholics
Veterans and survivors of traumatic experiences
Those impacted by dysfunctional families and/or systems
People struggling with addictions
Caregiving professionals: therapists, doctors, nurses, and others in the medical field, clergy (Note for professionals: Coming to this workshop is an opportunity for you to do your own work. It’s not a workshop for sitting and taking notes.)
This workshop is NOT recommended for people diagnosed with psychotic disorders or those actively abusing alcohol and/or drugs.
The workshop: Where we’re staying
Located about 30 minutes from the Ashevllle (NC) airport and just off of I-40, Montreat Conference Center will be our host. We will be staying in a lodge with clean, simple rooms… and a front porch complete with rocking chairs! There are a limited number of single rooms available, and will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
Please note that the lodge does have a few stairs for getting in and out of the building.
Meals will be served in the dining room, a short walk away. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free meal options are available if you request them by March 30.
Here’s what Montreat says about their food:
“The Galax Dining Room in Assembly Inn prepares fresh, delicious meals, using quality ingredients. Throughout the year we work hard to source our produce locally. We use local honey, stone ground grits and cornmeal from Rutherford County, specialty desserts from Charlotte, and North Carolina pork products. The meats we serve are all natural, free of antibiotics, gluten, and MSG. Our seafood is wild caught and domestic, and our salads are homemade and fresh cut; no bagged products are used. All meals are served buffet-style in the large dining room.”
Edgebrook workshop is not affiliated with Montreat Conference Center.
The workshop: How it began
One of the lessons that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (EKR) learned in listening to dying patients was the importance of tending to what she called “unfinished business.” Sometimes the unfinished business was the words of love and appreciation that they’d never gotten around to saying. Sometimes it was anger or regret that they’d carried for too long. Sometimes it was the old wounds that they’d carried but never healed, even wounds from childhood.
As a way of being able to reach more people with her work, EKR began having Life, Death, and Transition workshops. They were for people who were dying or profoundly ill.
And their caregivers.
And people in helping professions.
And really, anyone who had any kind of unfinished business.
After many years, the time for the EKR workshops began drawing to a close. Her staff, having seen how powerful and healing these workshops could be, made a commitment to carrying them forward. Part of that commitment included training new people to help staff these workshops.
That’s where we come in. All of us came to this work through different paths, but all of us invested in getting the training to be able to lead these workshops. Every Edgebrook staff member was trained by members of EKR’s staff. We, too, have seen the power and healing of this workshop, and have made the commitment to carry it forward for another generation. Edgebrook has hosted 45 workshops over the course of 24 years.
Meet the staff
All of our staff were trained by the staff of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross workshops.
Peggy Haymes
Peggy is a long time staff member, having worked with with Safe Harbors workshops for adult survivors of abuse, Life, Loss and Healing workshops, and Edgebrook. She is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice, an ordained minister and also works as a consultant and coach. “These workshops offered me healing on a deep level. Being a part of them is one of the great gifts of my life.”
Paul Matteson
Paul began his training in Externalization at the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center in Headwaters, VA, and continued this process in other programs, including training at Safe Harbors in Burbank, CA. Paul works in his private practice as a psychotherapist, and facilitates groups for men who have been sexually abused. “Externalization workshops changed my life. I love how this process allows each participant to find their way to healing and moving forward in life.”
Mike Yow
Mike is a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, trained in EMDR and worked at Fellowship Hall inpatient treatment center for addictions for 30 years. He began his training in the Externalization process at the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center in 1995. Mike’s educational background is in religion/philosophy. “This work allows us to be emotionally and spiritually honest for perhaps the first time in our lives…it transformed my life”.
Mahala Motzny
Mahala is a licensed addiction counselor and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Having. worked in residential addiction treatment, she is currently in private practice focusing on trauma, grief, addictions, and recovery.. Mahala is trained in EMDR and Brainspotting techniques. “This work has offered me safety, presence and wholeness in my life. It is a humbling gift to be part of these workshops.”
Ned Rocket
Ned has worked in healthcare for 20 years, primarily as an ICU nurse. He has substantial Externalization Workshop experience and has been a staff member of Edgebrook for over 5 years. “I am honored to be part of this work and these workshops.”
Liz Colburn
Liz found her passion for the externalization process while facilitating children at The Center for Grieving Children in Portland, Me. She has trained and worked with the Elisabeth-Kubler Ross Center staff and has worked with Hospice of Maine. Currently Liz works with her “Spiritual Companioning” practice in Portland, Maine. “Each time I staff a workshop I’m profoundly struck by the power and beauty of the human spirit as it finds its voice and speaks its truth.”