“These weeks spent with Dr. Liz, and other adoptees, have been life-affirming and life-giving. This is an invaluable tool and a beautiful connection. Every adoptee would benefit from this experience.” - S. Phillips
“ Liz took me by the hand, literally, and guided me to a space where I was encouraged to be seen and heard through my writing. I first worked with Liz one on one, then in a small group. The intimate setting lent itself to connection and growth, and I came away with necessary insights about myself and other adoptees.” - Molly M.
Workshops & 1:1 Coaching
I facilitate a variety of writing for healing and social change workshops online and in person. Workshops listed below can be individual or done in a sequence depending on your goals. I’m happy to develop a workshop tailored to your needs, just ask!
I offer trauma informed coaching for adoptees (adults & teens) and adoptive families, and women using the methodology developed from my 2021 pilot of Migrating Toward Wholeness© with the Rudd Adoption Research Program at UMass-Amherst and expanded upon in my book Adult Adoptees and Writing to Heal. My process is emergent and tailored to the needs of each individual. All Migrating Toward Wholeness© programs are at least a 6-week commitment with options for longer-term work and include:
Weekly Zoom call 75-90 minutes
Email and text support
Personalized guided writing and coaching to help understand and process embodied trauma
Personalized weekly workbook pages and a full personalized workbook at the end of our sessions
As your coach my job is to be a mirror, to reflect back what I hear in each session and offer support and guidance using the tools and insights I’ve developed over more than 25 years of personal and professional experiences as a writer, educator, actor, coach, and facilitator. My lived experience as an adoptee informs each facet of my trauma informed approach. My goal is to guide you through a process of self-discovery using your writing to illuminate the journey as we migrate toward wholeness together.
"I was in the agonizing throes of coming out of the fog when I ran across a writing workshop of Liz DeBetta. I had never written anything before, but I was desperate for community, sharing, and understanding. Her guidance and wisdom of writing to heal was the catalyst for me to examine the charred pieces of my origin story and rewrite the narrative." - Akara S.
"Liz creates a sacred space for adoptees to come together to write from the body where the hurt lives and in doing so discover the beauty that lies hidden within us." - Bruce P.
Current Offerings
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3-Month Migrating Toward Wholeness© Individualized Coaching Program
A 3-month journey with Dr. Liz that can be done one on one or with families to more deeply engage with the Migrating Toward Wholeness process and integrate your individual goals over an extended period.
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3-Day Migrating Toward Wholeness© Mini-retreat
Join me for a restorative online experience designed specifically for adoptees. This 3-day mini-retreat is your chance to explore the healing power of expressive writing using my unique Migrating Toward Wholeness© process in a supportive community of fellow adoptees.
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6-Week Migrating Toward Wholeness©
This 6-week small group session is your chance to explore the healing power of writing in a sustained and supportive community of fellow adoptees. This interactive process is modeled after the Migrating Toward Wholeness© experience I piloted with the Rudd Adoption Research Program .
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-Expressing the Primal Wound: Poetry as Healing
-Expressing the Primal Wound: Navigating Fear, Grief, and Ambiguous Loss
-Migrating Toward Wholeness: Adult Adoptees and Writing to Heal
-Rewriting the Truth: Making Room for Adoptee Narratives
-Coming Out of the Fog and Grieving the Ghosts: A Workshop on Writing to Heal -
-Power, Privilege and Oppression: Using Reflective Writing as Tool for
Learning/Unlearning
-Bridging Differences: Storytelling for Empathy and Social Justice
-Untellable Stories: Stories as Activism
-Women, Connectedness, and Self Care
-Social Injustice and Poetic Possibility: The Power of Spoken Word
-Stories of Silence, Stories of Strength: A Workshop on Reclamation of Self as An Act of Resistance -
-Subversive Stories: Writing the Self
-Refusing Silence: Words as Witness
-Finding Voice by Storying the Self: An introspective, reflective writing journey for creative artists and curious souls
-Poetry and Performance: Healing through Self-expression
Women’s Narratives: Intentional Writing Circles (series of 3):
-Storying the Self: Creative Writing Workshop
-Invoking Ancestors: Situating the Self
-Subversive Selves: Bearing Witness