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Writing is Healing

Writing is Healing is a course to inspire the use of words as a means to heal. Find guidance and encouragement no matter your past experience. 

Live Zoom Call Rules
110 hours in total

Open to enrollment anytime 

382 pages

Open to enrollment anytime

24 challenges

Online
Course

3 Certificates

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ONLY $97

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Invest in yourself

An online healing community created for NPE's, by NPE's.

What You'll Get From "Writing is Healing"

As a student, you'll get a few great benefits from being here:

Time for yourself

 We've designed Writing is Healing to encourage and inspire you on a time schedule that fits your life.

Freedom to try new things

As you dive into the course content, we hope you'll feel free to explore and try out different techniques to find news ways to heal through writing.

Encouragement to look inward

 We know self-discoveries can change the way we live in the world and interact with others. Spend the time you need to look inward, and everyone in your world benefits.  

Virtual support

Find and share encouragement and support with fellow students during our once-a-month live Zoom calls! We'll check in on your progress and break-throughs. 

Why DNA Family Discoveries Lead to a Need for Healing

Who Is Affected?

DNA surprise discoveries have ripples throughout a family. Those who are immediately involved in the discovery (the person who learns that their father is not biologically related to them, for example) see the biggest upset to their understanding of their past and self. Your identity is based on the past, and what you have taken for granted about your life and truth.When a DNA discovery upsets the truth and forces a change to the way you perceive yourself and others, emotional reactions are normal and expected. Pain, anger, clarity, relief---all of these are common reactions. The degree to which you feel different emotions is unique to you, and the emotions you have will change over time.Siblings, discovered biological fathers, spouses, children, friends, and even genealogists and search angels involved in making shocking discoveries find it hard to make an adjustment back to life as it was "before" an unexpected discovery.

Unexpectedly Becoming the Support Person

When it is the other person in your marriage, partnership, or relationship whose world is rocked, it can be hard to know how to help. If you are a person who likes to take action and fix things when something goes wrong, it can be upsetting to not know how to fix the situation. 
Before anything can be done to "fix" a situation, we have to step back and realize what is happening. Let's do that now!
First, let's understand what family discoveries and DNA surprises CAN do, with the understanding that every situation and every person is different.
Impacts of family DNA discoveries

DNA surprises can:
  •  disrupt your idea of the past 
  •  make you question something you held as the "truth"
  •  make you question everything you held as the "truth"
  • change your image of a person (whether living or deceased)
  • disrupt your everyday life and thoughts
  • can overtake your thoughts without your permission
  • create complexity where simplicity once existed
  • create strains in relationships
  •  lead to hurt feelings
  •  lead to confusion about the behaviors or words of someone else
  •  reveal difficult decisions that have to be made
  •  lead to conversations that until now you were able to avoid
  •  lead you to reassess your personal values and how your values align with a spouse, child, sibling, and other people in your life
  •  can come at a time when you are the least ready to respond to it (other existing family situations and stressors making it hard to prioritize)


Some people describe feeling "on edge" or scared of what could come next. Will the phone ring unexpectedly? Could there be a knock at the door? Will another surprise come to light after this first one? 

Everyone reacts to surprise discoveries in different ways, and some people may not have a need to heal. Sometimes discoveries hold joy and relief. Every story and every situation is unique, and everyone has needs that are important to notice and address. 

After a life-altering event, step back and take stock of your life and what has happened. Realize adjusting to change takes time, and that's okay. Give yourself the time and space you need to find some stability before reacting. 

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ONLY $97

Brianne Kirkpatrick, MS, LCGC

Genetic Counselor, author, writer
About
Meet Brianne Kirkpatrick. She is a genetic counselor, consultant, author, and founder of Watershed DNA. Brianne helps people understand and cope with unexpected DNA match results, prepare to share a DNA secret, or get “unstuck” in a family search. An alumnus of Indiana University and Northwestern University, Brianne is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, American Board of Genetic Counseling, American Counseling Association, and International Society of Genetic Genealogy. She lives in central Virginia with her husband and their three children.

Course reviews

Writing has been helping me process all the thoughts and feelings that swim around in my head.
-prior participant in 'Writing is Healing'
The writing has given me an effective process to better understand myself, the people I love and how I got to where I am in life.
- prior participant in 'Writing is Healing'